Q: Can I run TOA as is, with 5 players, and not have to make encounter adjustments? Or will it be too easy?
I am a somewhat new DM and I am about to run Cellar of Death / Tomb of Annihilation. I currently have 4 committed players and a 5th player who is interested in playing. However, I typically like to stay at 4 players. The publications are typically geared at a 4 player party. And I know if you remove or add players you have to make adjustments to the encounters etc. I really don't want to do this as I just want to focus my mental energy on the module without having to worry about modifying encounters.
My unsolicited advice is to prepare hard for this module. The situation as presented is very, very deadly. It starts as a Hexcrawler Sandbox, with NPC guides that may or may not be the best at getting your PCs to the final goal. How you run it is important: I adjusted my normal play style and rolled all combat dice in the open. The players never finished the Tomb of the 9 Gods. The Traps did what they were designed to do and killed the LAST group to enter it. By that time the players were on an average of their 3rd PC, and just said a collective "To Heck With This!" The reason for this is twofold- One: Almost all of the traps are designed with PRECISELY one way to escape. If your players are not thinking EXACTLY right, they die! The second is that because I was rolling openly, I was hamstrung in my curating function as a DM. ToA is very lethal when run this way. I know many groups say they got through the module...yadda yadda yadda... All I can say is that my group found it a meat grinder. YMMV.
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Hey guys, I could use some advice here.
Q: Can I run TOA as is, with 5 players, and not have to make encounter adjustments? Or will it be too easy?
I am a somewhat new DM and I am about to run Cellar of Death / Tomb of Annihilation. I currently have 4 committed players and a 5th player who is interested in playing. However, I typically like to stay at 4 players. The publications are typically geared at a 4 player party. And I know if you remove or add players you have to make adjustments to the encounters etc. I really don't want to do this as I just want to focus my mental energy on the module without having to worry about modifying encounters.
Thoughts? Thanks all!
Per the book's introductions, it's meant for up to 6 players actually. So 5 players should be no problem.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/toa/introduction
Also, per the Dungeon Master's Guide, encounters difficulty is unchanged between a party of 4 and 5.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/creating-adventures#CreatingaCombatEncounter
Jesse, I love you so hard.
My unsolicited advice is to prepare hard for this module. The situation as presented is very, very deadly. It starts as a Hexcrawler Sandbox, with NPC guides that may or may not be the best at getting your PCs to the final goal. How you run it is important: I adjusted my normal play style and rolled all combat dice in the open. The players never finished the Tomb of the 9 Gods. The Traps did what they were designed to do and killed the LAST group to enter it. By that time the players were on an average of their 3rd PC, and just said a collective "To Heck With This!" The reason for this is twofold- One: Almost all of the traps are designed with PRECISELY one way to escape. If your players are not thinking EXACTLY right, they die! The second is that because I was rolling openly, I was hamstrung in my curating function as a DM. ToA is very lethal when run this way. I know many groups say they got through the module...yadda yadda yadda... All I can say is that my group found it a meat grinder. YMMV.