TEXT: Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.  
  D&D Adventurers League ToA Player Primer v1.3 
   
   
  1 
   
   
   
   
  The following guidance applies to Adventurers 
  League players and DMs alike. It is generally safe for 
  players to read—spoilers are minimal. 
   The biggest, most awesome thing about our Season 
  7 DDAL adventures is that they’re designed to be run 
  right alongside Tomb of Annihilation. DDAL07-01 A 
  City on the Edge can be run as 5-hour adventure 
  hook for Tomb of Annihilation that introduces the 
  characters to Chult and her faction representatives. 
  Later, DDAL07-02 Over the Edge sends the 
  characters deep into the dangerous jungles! 
   From there, the Tier 1 and 2 adventures expand 
  on Tomb of Annihilation’s story and set the stage for 
  Tier 3 and 4 play, which pick up right after the 
  characters complete the hardcover adventure. 
   CCC adventures play a larger role this season. In 
  exchange, they will be included to a greater extent in 
  Season 7’s DM Quest Program! 
  While Old Omuan is used frequently throughout the 
  adventure, it isn’t available to characters. Chultan 
  characters using the Option: Human Languages 
  optional rule in SCAG may choose Chultan in 
  addition to Common. Chultan is an exotic language 
  written using the same alphabet as Draconic. 
   
   
  Something evil is trapping the souls of the dead and 
  draining life from all who have been raised from 
  death by magic. This worldwide “death curse” not 
  only prevents the raising of the dead, but also causes 
  creatures that were previously raised from the dead 
  to wither and die. The source of this death curse lies 
  in a trap-filled tomb hidden beneath a lost city in the 
  depths of a vast jungle. The curse is an ever-present 
  threat in Season 7 play. 
  The curse is the fundamental aspect of Tomb of 
  Annihilation. As such, it is applied to any D&D 
  Adventurers League character playing a Tier 1 or 2 
  Season 7 adventure after August 15th, 2017, and 
  Tier 1 or 2 CCC adventures after August 24th, 2017.  
   Any character can choose to be rid of the curse by: 
   Defeating Acererak. A character who seeks out 
  the cause of the curse and frees Faerûn from its 
  effects by completing the final chapter of Tomb of 
  Annihilation is freed from the effects of the curse. 
  Surrogates that do so free their original character. 
   Waiting It Out. Alternatively, characters can wait 
  until others have done their dirty work by retiring 
  from adventuring until the release of Season 7’s Tier 
  3 adventures (January 2018), or by starting any Tier 
  3 or 4 non-hardcover (non-DDHC) adventure, and 
  resuming adventuring following Acererak’s defeat. A 
  character choosing this option can’t play Tomb of 
  Annihilation, or any Season 7 Tier 1 or 2 
  adventures—with or without a surrogate; these 
  doors to adventure are forever closed to them. 
  The below effects of the curse are in addition to 
  those provided in Tomb of Annihilation: 
  • The souls of humanoid creatures who die while 
  subject to the curse are trapped. Typical means of 
  avoiding this do not function.  
  • No spell or effect—mortal or divine—can return 
  the dead to life; the soul remains trapped and any 
  such attempts automatically fail. Rumor is that 
  one person found deep in the jungles of Chult 
  knows a way around this, but at a steep price.  
  • Faction charity is unavailable.  
  • Characters who have been previously raised from 
  the dead find their hit point maximum reduced by 
  1 each day at midnight, at the beginning of each 
  non-DDHC adventure, and for each downtime day 
  spent. The season starts after the curse has been 
  active for 20 days—thus any previously-dead 
  creatures subject to the curse find their maximum 
  
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  D&D Adventurers League ToA Player Primer v1.3 
   
   
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  hit points reduced by 20 at the onset of the 
  storyline. This reduction can’t be resisted or 
  restored, and the reduced hit point maximum can’t 
  be increased by spells or effects such as aid—
  although you can still get temporary hit points. 
  Characters that advance in level increase their hit 
  points as normal.  
  • Characters whose souls are trapped within the 
  Soulmonger run the risk of their soul being 
  devoured (see Soul Devouring, below). 
  In meat grinder mode, a death saving throw 
  succeeds on a roll of 15 (instead of 10) or higher. A 
  character playing an adventure in meat grinder 
  mode earns 10% more XP and gp. The character can 
  potentially receive more than an adventure’s normal 
  maximum reward. 
   This option is available only while under the 
  effects of the Death Curse. Each player decides 
  whether or not they wish to use it, and their decision 
  only applies to their own, individual characters; DMs 
  can’t make this decision for them. Once made, the 
  decision is final; it can’t be changed. Surrogates can’t 
  choose this option. 
  I foresee a great many deaths in the search for the 
  Soulmonger. In anticipation of this calamity, I have 
  placed an umbral snare over the entire peninsula. 
   Until such time as we can know the true nature of 
  the Death Curse, every spell of seeing and ritual of 
  knowing shall be cast south to Chult, and her jungles 
  shall teem with boots of Thayan and adventurer alike. 
  —Szass Tam, Zulkir of Thay 
  A powerful ritual has been cast over the entire 
  peninsula of Chult. While the umbral snare isn’t 
  powerful enough to completely forestall death, it’s 
  able to capitalize on the fleeting moment at the time 
  of its inception—capturing a tiny mote of the heroic 
  spirit of the original adventurer, and infusing with it 
  a nearby humanoid—a surrogate. 
   Characters who die while subject to the curse may 
  continue playing using a surrogate—a temporary 
  pregenerated character—of the same tier. Available 
  surrogates are downloaded from the Dungeon 
  Masters Guild. Surrogates can’t be played outside of 
  CCC adventures, Tomb of Annihilation, or the season 
  7 DD-series adventures. 
   A character’s surrogate is the key to its salvation 
  from the Soulmonger, and continues adventuring 
  after the primary character’s death. A slain surrogate 
  may be replaced by another one of the same tier. If 
  the player doesn’t declare a surrogate and instead 
  continues the adventure with another non-surrogate 
  character, the original character’s soul is devoured. 
   DMs running Tomb of Annihilation should work 
  with players to construct avenues for surrogates to 
  join their new-found group. They should arrive 
  before the next encounter, but after the one where 
  their character died. Maybe the surrogate is an agent 
  from another faction sent to spy on a character? A 
  guide? Another adventurer lost in the jungle?  
   If a cursed character dies during an Adventurers 
  League adventure, the surrogate arrives at the 
  beginning of the next session—though the DM still 
  rolls to determine if the original character’s soul is 
  devoured as normal (see Soul Devouring, below). 
   Surrogate Rewards. Surrogates receive and apply 
  rewards as normal, with the following exceptions: 
  • They earn rewards normally. However, any magic 
  items owned by the original character count 
  against the surrogate’s magic item total. If the 
  original character’s soul is devoured, only the 
  items obtained by its surrogates count in this way; 
  • They advance in level normally, but don’t choose a 
  “+1” resource, and can’t multiclass or gain feats; 
  • Rewards earned by a character’s surrogates are 
  tracked separately from the original character’s 
  rewards using a surrogate logsheet. 
  Transferring/Keeping/Rewards. Once free of the 
  curse, rewards accumulated by the original 
  character’s surrogate(s)—including the pregen’s 
  listed gear (but less any that was lost, destroyed, or 
  spent)—are transferred to another character, and 
  the surrogate is removed from play. 
  All of the cumulative rewards earned by a 
  character’s surrogates must be transferred to the 
  same character. The recipient of these rewards is 
  determined as follows: 
  • Original Character Raised. Rewards earned by a 
  surrogate are transferred to the original character. 
  • Original Character’s Soul Devoured. Rewards 
  earned by a surrogate are transferred to a new, 
  level 1 character. 
   Replaying the Adventure. A surrogate can’t play 
  any adventures or chapters that the primary 
  character played, and the primary character can’t 
  play any of the same played by its surrogate. 
  The soul of any humanoid that dies while subject to 
  the curse is trapped until freed or devoured by the 
  atropal. If a surrogate (see below) is at the table, the 
  DM must roll a d20 at dawn each day and at the end 
  of each non-DDHC adventure to determine if that 
  surrogate’s original character’s is consumed. On a 
  
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  D&D Adventurers League ToA Player Primer v1.3 
   
   
  3 
  result of a 1, the soul is devoured. Rolling a “handful 
  of d20s” isn’t recommended unless the same group 
  of players have been playing together throughout 
  the storyline season. A player can choose to abandon 
  their character to their fate and declare their 
  character’s soul devoured by not declaring a 
  surrogate (see Surrogate Characters, above). 
   Once their soul has been devoured, nothing can 
  return that creature to life—including divine 
  intervention. These unfortunate characters—along 
  with their equipment—are removed from play. 
  While these rules aren’t used, please see “Surrogate 
  Characters,” above for guidance regarding tier 2 
  pregenerated characters. 
  As usual, D&D Adventurers League adventures take 
  place within Faerûn. Guidance regarding placing the 
  adventure in other campaign settings isn’t used. 
  Characters with abilities that require their having 
  seen specific creatures (such as a druid’s Wild Shape, 
  etc.) should be instructed to document such 
  encounters on their adventure logsheets. 
   
  The following guidance applies: 
  Although not under a separate Treasure subheading, 
  the characters receive and may keep the rewards for 
  completing any of the quests found on pages 16 – 18. 
  The following modifications apply to the listed 
  Merchant Princes: 
  While the merchant princes are happy to sell the 
  items over which they hold monopoly, doing so can 
  be time consuming. Characters wishing to purchase 
  goods from the merchant princes must spend 10 
  downtime days arranging a meeting, negotiating 
  prices, and coordinating for impartial intermediaries 
  to accept, transfer gold during the transaction. At the 
  end of the ten days, you may make one purchase—
  either a single permanent magic item, or up to their 
  limit in other items (see, below). This downtime 
  activity is available only to characters spending 
  downtime during Tomb of Annihilation or Season 7 
  DDAL adventure sessions. 
   Additionally, the following merchant princes have 
  the following modifications to their entries: 
  Ekene-Afa. This Merchant Prince has a small 
  selection of magic items (p.25) readily available for a 
  modest price. These items can’t be traded and the 
  permanent magic items increases the character’s 
  magic item count by one. The character may 
  purchase a single item or no more than 10 pieces of 
  +1 ammunition in a single transaction before she 
  refuses the character further service. 
  Ifan Talro’a. Animals purchased from this 
  merchant prince aren’t available as familiars. 
  Jessamine. This soft-spoken Merchant Prince sells 
  some of the most potent poisons in Faerûn. 
  However, she is discriminating in her dealings. 
  Characters may purchase no more than 2,000 gp 
  worth of goods in a single transaction before she 
  refuses the character further service. 
  Wakanga O’tamu. This charismatic Merchant 
  Prince sells potions and scrolls, but he frowns on 
  those who might deny others the opportunity to 
  enjoy his wares. Characters may purchase 750 gp 
  worth of potions and scrolls in a single transaction 
  before he refuses further the character service. The 
  scrolls contain only spells found in the PHB. 
  If the characters complete Wakanga’s quest, the 
  returned item in question is removed from the 
  character’s magic item count, and the characters 
  may choose spells from the PHB once their levels 
  have been determined, as normal. 
  The following additional guidance applies: 
  As the special items made available for sale by the 
  Merchant Princes aren’t typically otherwise 
  available for purchase (certain poisons, scrolls, etc.), 
  they aren’t available through the black market. 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/Adventure League/S07 - Tomb of Annihilation/DDAL - Death Curse ToA Player Primer v1.3.pdf