Pharaoh is a quest to lift a curse that has left a once-flourishing desert kingdom in a perpetual state of inhospitable ruin. This beloved adventure from first edition Dungeons & Dragons has been restored as part of the Quests from the Infinite Staircase collection.

Pharaoh takes players through a trap-filled tomb to test their skill against a gauntlet of challenges. Here’s a sneak peek into the adventure!

• Pharaoh Adventure Overview
• Monster of the Week: Nafik
• Pharaoh Adventure Hooks

Warning! This article contains minor spoilers for Pharaoh. If you want to experience this adventure for the first time as a player, you’ll want to turn back now!

Pharaoh Adventure Overview

Character level: 7 – If the table is using story-based level advancement, players reach level 8 by the adventure’s conclusion.

Location: Raurin, a vast desert.

Themes: Curses, Trapped Souls

Long ago, the kingdom of Bakar flourished along the life-giving waters of the River Athis. The pharaohs of Bakar believed that if their bodies were prepared with specific funerary rites and then entombed with their wealth, they could ascend to their chosen afterlife. Centuries ago, the pharaoh Amun Sa grew paranoid that graverobbers would defile his tomb and hinder his afterlife. He commissioned a pyramid to serve as a theft-proof tomb and funded it by waging war on Bakar’s neighbors and by taking his own people into destitution.

The citizens of Bakar revolted against Amun Sa. He appeared before them holding his royal implements and he invoked the gods to curse his people. Amun Sa decreed that if they should ever kill him, the River Athis would run dry. From the crowd, a single spear pierced his heart, killing him. Soon, true to his curse, the river dried up and Bakar fell to ruins.

Before Amun Sa’s soul could enter the afterlife, it was stopped by a god of death. The god chastised the pharaoh for spending his life obsessed with his death, and for making a legacy of stone rather than of stewardship of his people. The god was bound to fulfill Amun Sa’s curse, but in kind cursed the pharaoh’s spirit to roam the desert until the thing he most feared comes to pass. The only way for Amun Sa’s soul and the land of Bakar to heal is for a mortal to steal his treasures from his pyramid.

Eons of tortuous solitude have taught the long-dead pharaoh the error of his ways. Now he wanders the desert in search of brave mortals to overcome the traps and perils set about in his tomb.

A True Fan’s Labor of Love

Like many of D&D’s works and settings over the years, Pharaoh came from the hearts and minds of fans. The adventure was originally published in 1980 by gaming company DayStar West Media, owned by Tracy and Laura Hickman. TSR, the original publisher of D&D, loved the quest so much that they hired Tracy to work for the game officially. They also purchased and reprinted Pharaoh and its two sequel adventures as official D&D releases.

Monster of the Week: Nafik

The toughest monster that your players will face in Amun Sa’s tomb is this CR 6 mummy lord. In the interest of not spoiling the plot, we’ll hold back on what relation Nafik had to the former pharaoh and what his interest is in attacking the players. We’ll focus instead on what makes him a threat.

Nafik Tactics

Nafik has a Multiattack that he can use every round. One of these attacks is always his Dreadful Glare, an attack that allows him to target one creature he can see within 60 feet. If that creature fails a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw they become Frightened of him until the end of his next turn. A target that succeeds on their saving throw is immune to Nafik’s Dreadful Glare for the next 24 hours.

For the other attack, Nafik can choose between a ranged spell attack or a melee weapon attack. The ranged attack is Unholy Beam, and on a hit it deals 8d6 Necrotic damage and the next attack roll made against the target before the end of Nafik’s next turn has advantage. Nafik’s melee weapon attack carries a curse, Rotting Fist deals 2d6 + 4 Bludgeoning damage on a hit, plus 6d6 Necrotic damage. If the target fails a DC 14 Constitution saving throw they are cursed with Mummy Rot which prevents them from healing, lowers their maximum Hit Points for every 24 hours the curse remains, and can even kill the creature if their Hit Point maximum drops to 0. The Remove Curse spell or similar magic will remove the curse.

Nafik’s key ability though is Rejuvenation. If Nafik is destroyed but his heart is left intact, he will gain a new body in 24 hours with his full hit points. So your players will want to make finding and destroying Nafik’s heart a priority if they don’t want to face a vengeful mummy lord with the power to curse them as part of their daily routine.

Pharaoh Adventure Hooks

Artist: HAZEM AMEEN

If your players need a little motivation to head into a place known as the Desert of Desolation, here are some plot hook options from Quests from the Infinite Staircase to choose from:

Exiled

In this adventure hook, the adventurers may be in search of absolution similar to Amun Sa. This hook suggests they committed a crime or earned the ire of a powerful figure who exiled them to the Desert of Desolation. Left without food or water, the players could then come across the spirit of the pharaoh and be given the chance to save themselves by helping him. The players may not have committed a heinous crime themselves for this hook, their exile could simply be the result of crossing the wrong villain in their adventures.

River Restoration

A slightly less self-serving alternative to the exile hook, this one leans more on the tales of the River Athis and how a curse dried it up. The players could then be coming to the Desert of Desolation with heroic intent, to try to restore the river by removing the curse. There are a few ways to bait this particular hook as well. The river is said to have healing powers so the players could be looking for a way to cure a stubborn ailment. They could also have been hired by the Tears of Athis, a newly formed group of historians and priests who are actively dedicated to lifting the curse.

Patron Mission from Nafas the Genie

While each of the adventures in Quests from the Infinite Staircase can work as a standalone story, they can also function well together as a connected series of adventures in a campaign. An optional way to do this is through the use of a noble genie named Nafas who can function as a group patron.

Nafas dwells in the Infinite Staircase, an extradimensional, plane-connecting spiral staircase. Nafas can hear the wishes of yearning creatures from across the multiverse but is unable to leave the Infinite Staircase himself, so he sends adventurers to the other planes to aid him in granting wishes he deems worthy.

If your campaign is using Nafas as a patron, he can hear Amun Sa’s desire to end the curse on Bakar. He sincerely believes that the long-dead pharaoh has gained an understanding of the error of his ways and can send the players to go aid him.

Preorder Quests from the Infinite Staircase Today!

The door to the Infinite Staircase will soon open. Jump into some of D&D’s most beloved adventures and see what all the fuss was about—or bask in nostalgia as you relive stories you haven’t seen in years.

Releasing July 16, you can preorder a digital or physical copy of Quests from the Infinite Staircase from the D&D Beyond marketplace, or preorder both to save money on your purchase!

See you in the Desert of Desolation!

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.