I'm looking for input from people who have played or run ToA.
I've just read the entry in ToA about the four elemental cells on level 4. These are on pp. 158-160, area 47 on the map. I took issue with the solutions to the water and air cells. To get out of the water cell, a character has to break open and eat one of the snails or oysters on the wall. For the air cell, a character has to break open and breathe through the bones of the aaracockra skeleton in the wall. My basic issue is: why would any player think to do that?
In the fire cell, the solution is tied to the burning candle. It stands out in the descriptive text since there's a fire theme. In the earth cell, it's the medusa statue's amulet, which stands out because no other room contains anything like that.
True, the snails and oysters stand out from the features of the other rooms, and the characters have several rounds to try stuff out. I can just about accept this as a suitable challenge. Breathing the air out of the bones of a skeleton though…There's a body of a creature in each room, and that body is related to the element. In this one room, though, the skeleton is the key to surviving and escaping. Worse, the module specifies that the characters will likely start suffocating immediately, so might only have one round before dying!
Have you been through these traps? Did anyone figure them out? I know ToA is meant to be brutal, but one guess or insta-death? Too much.
I'm looking for input from people who have played or run ToA.
I've just read the entry in ToA about the four elemental cells on level 4. These are on pp. 158-160, area 47 on the map. I took issue with the solutions to the water and air cells. To get out of the water cell, a character has to break open and eat one of the snails or oysters on the wall. For the air cell, a character has to break open and breathe through the bones of the aaracockra skeleton in the wall. My basic issue is: why would any player think to do that?
In the fire cell, the solution is tied to the burning candle. It stands out in the descriptive text since there's a fire theme. In the earth cell, it's the medusa statue's amulet, which stands out because no other room contains anything like that.
True, the snails and oysters stand out from the features of the other rooms, and the characters have several rounds to try stuff out. I can just about accept this as a suitable challenge. Breathing the air out of the bones of a skeleton though…There's a body of a creature in each room, and that body is related to the element. In this one room, though, the skeleton is the key to surviving and escaping. Worse, the module specifies that the characters will likely start suffocating immediately, so might only have one round before dying!
Have you been through these traps? Did anyone figure them out? I know ToA is meant to be brutal, but one guess or insta-death? Too much.
Thanks in advance for any input! Happy New Year!
ToA is designed to commit murder. I removed the other corpses to help the players.
I'm looking for input from people who have played or run ToA.
I've just read the entry in ToA about the four elemental cells on level 4. These are on pp. 158-160, area 47 on the map. I took issue with the solutions to the water and air cells. To get out of the water cell, a character has to break open and eat one of the snails or oysters on the wall. For the air cell, a character has to break open and breathe through the bones of the aaracockra skeleton in the wall. My basic issue is: why would any player think to do that?
In the fire cell, the solution is tied to the burning candle. It stands out in the descriptive text since there's a fire theme. In the earth cell, it's the medusa statue's amulet, which stands out because no other room contains anything like that.
True, the snails and oysters stand out from the features of the other rooms, and the characters have several rounds to try stuff out. I can just about accept this as a suitable challenge. Breathing the air out of the bones of a skeleton though…There's a body of a creature in each room, and that body is related to the element. In this one room, though, the skeleton is the key to surviving and escaping. Worse, the module specifies that the characters will likely start suffocating immediately, so might only have one round before dying!
Have you been through these traps? Did anyone figure them out? I know ToA is meant to be brutal, but one guess or insta-death? Too much.
Thanks in advance for any input! Happy New Year!
I've played through ToA including those rooms. We did manage it.
The key lies in how the DM describes the rooms so as to focus the attention of the characters. For example, the DM should be clear in stating when there are no secret doors - liberally use passive perception since the first thing the characters WOULD do is carefully look around the room. The walls are smooth and seamless except for the specifically described features. This focuses the character attention on the items that are important to solving the rooms.
The DM also needs to be very explicit in their description of the rooms. For example, in the room with no air the DM needs to be very explicit in stating that there is no air in the room (DMs choice as to whether it is a vacuum or inert gas). The DM also needs to emphasize that it is the skeleton holding the candle.
One change I might recommend is to have the oysters and mussels clustered near where the candle attaches to the wall in the water room. In every other room, the candle location is associated with finding the exit method so putting the oysters and mussels on the wall near the candle might give the players a clue where to look for the answers.
Not everyone might know that some avian bones are hollow. In addition, the ones in ToA have been modified to be hollowed out and stoppered with wax. There are two ways to help with this one. The first is to foreshadow it, ideally much earlier in the module, especially if the players meet the aarakokra, have one of them describe how their larger bones are hollow to enable flight and actually contain air much like other birds. If you put the knowledge in the game much earlier someone might remember it when seeing the aarakokra bones on the wall. The second point is that since the bones are treated as bone tubes with wax keeping the air in place, you might want to add a Perception or Investigation DC for someone searching the skeleton to identify something unusual about the big bones - e.g. seeing wax on the ends at the joints.
It is still possible that your players would miss all these hints but the DM can usually guide their attention to the important elements in the room so that the players can focus their attention and time on the features that matter.
P.S. One failed save in the earth room is likely to be deadly depending on what precautions the players have taken so watch out for that one.
I'm looking for input from people who have played or run ToA.
I've just read the entry in ToA about the four elemental cells on level 4. These are on pp. 158-160, area 47 on the map. I took issue with the solutions to the water and air cells. To get out of the water cell, a character has to break open and eat one of the snails or oysters on the wall. For the air cell, a character has to break open and breathe through the bones of the aaracockra skeleton in the wall. My basic issue is: why would any player think to do that?
In the fire cell, the solution is tied to the burning candle. It stands out in the descriptive text since there's a fire theme. In the earth cell, it's the medusa statue's amulet, which stands out because no other room contains anything like that.
True, the snails and oysters stand out from the features of the other rooms, and the characters have several rounds to try stuff out. I can just about accept this as a suitable challenge. Breathing the air out of the bones of a skeleton though…There's a body of a creature in each room, and that body is related to the element. In this one room, though, the skeleton is the key to surviving and escaping. Worse, the module specifies that the characters will likely start suffocating immediately, so might only have one round before dying!
Have you been through these traps? Did anyone figure them out? I know ToA is meant to be brutal, but one guess or insta-death? Too much.
Thanks in advance for any input! Happy New Year!
ToA is designed to commit murder. I removed the other corpses to help the players.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
I've played through ToA including those rooms. We did manage it.
The key lies in how the DM describes the rooms so as to focus the attention of the characters. For example, the DM should be clear in stating when there are no secret doors - liberally use passive perception since the first thing the characters WOULD do is carefully look around the room. The walls are smooth and seamless except for the specifically described features. This focuses the character attention on the items that are important to solving the rooms.
The DM also needs to be very explicit in their description of the rooms. For example, in the room with no air the DM needs to be very explicit in stating that there is no air in the room (DMs choice as to whether it is a vacuum or inert gas). The DM also needs to emphasize that it is the skeleton holding the candle.
One change I might recommend is to have the oysters and mussels clustered near where the candle attaches to the wall in the water room. In every other room, the candle location is associated with finding the exit method so putting the oysters and mussels on the wall near the candle might give the players a clue where to look for the answers.
Not everyone might know that some avian bones are hollow. In addition, the ones in ToA have been modified to be hollowed out and stoppered with wax. There are two ways to help with this one. The first is to foreshadow it, ideally much earlier in the module, especially if the players meet the aarakokra, have one of them describe how their larger bones are hollow to enable flight and actually contain air much like other birds. If you put the knowledge in the game much earlier someone might remember it when seeing the aarakokra bones on the wall. The second point is that since the bones are treated as bone tubes with wax keeping the air in place, you might want to add a Perception or Investigation DC for someone searching the skeleton to identify something unusual about the big bones - e.g. seeing wax on the ends at the joints.
It is still possible that your players would miss all these hints but the DM can usually guide their attention to the important elements in the room so that the players can focus their attention and time on the features that matter.
P.S. One failed save in the earth room is likely to be deadly depending on what precautions the players have taken so watch out for that one.