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Generating Enhanced Tomb Guardians

by Mike on 26 November 2018

This article is one in a series of artices I wrote for running the D&D hardcover adventure Tomb of Annihilation. You can find links to all of the articles below:

There is only one real wandering monster in the Tomb of the Nine Gods in Tomb of Annihilation, the Tomb Guardian. These armored flesh golems are no joke but they can get stale if we run them again and again.

Today we'll offer a generator to create enhanced tomb guardians. Each of these still uses the default statistics for the flesh golem with an armor class of 18 for the armor bolted onto its body, though some might be more dexterous and wearing leather armor but we can still give them an AC of 18. Each of them is also empowered beyond the normal tomb guardian as Withers enhances his creations, all with different races, with enchanted weapons and armor.

A Random Enhanced Tomb Guardian Generator

Here are twenty randomly generated enhanced tomb guardians. Reload the page for a new set.

Each enhanced tomb guardian uses the statistics of a flesh golem with an armor class of 18. Enhanced tomb guardians add 7 (2d6) damage onto each weapon attack of the damage type defined by descriptors on the weapons. You can use the proper dice for each weapon, doubling the normal dice and adding the flesh golem's strength bonus, or, if you're lazy, you can just use the default damage the flesh golem already inflicts plus the bonus damage.

The spells the enhanced tomb guardian can cast do not require any components and are cast at 5th level. They have a DC of 15 and a +7 spell attack bonus. Spells with a duration are cast before combat begins and the enhanced tomb guardian does not need to concentrate to keep a spell going.

Want to build your own enhanced tomb guardians at the table? Use the tables below to roll for your tomb guardians.

Origin

What creature or creatures make up the tomb guardian? Roll 1d12 and consult the following:

  1. Dragonborn
  2. Dwarven
  3. Elven
  4. Abyssal
  5. Orcish
  6. Dark Elven
  7. Demonic
  8. Human
  9. Gorilla
  10. Ogre
  11. Giant
  12. Hobgoblin

Weapons

Roll 1d12 twice on this list to determine what weapons the tomb guardian wields.

  1. Dagger
  2. Mace
  3. Spear
  4. Battleaxe
  5. Flail
  6. Longsword
  7. Morningstar
  8. Scimitar
  9. Shortsword
  10. Warhammer
  11. Spiked Gauntlet
  12. Spiked Chain

Elemental

Some tomb guardians might have an elemental bond. Roll 1d4, on a 4, roll 1d10 on this table to determine what elemental condition it might have. If Withers feels like the characters are having too easy a time, he might send more tomb guardians with these bonds.

  1. Fire
  2. Cold
  3. Necrotic
  4. Poison
  5. Acidic
  6. Thunderous
  7. Lightning
  8. Radiant
  9. Force
  10. Psychic

Spellbound

Withers has implanted spells on some tomb guardians as well. If the characters are having an easy time, he might send these spellbound tomb guardians to thwart the party.

  1. Shield
  2. Lightning Bolt
  3. Fireball
  4. Spirit Guardians
  5. Cloudkill
  6. Sleep
  7. Burning Hands
  8. Cone of Cold
  9. Improved Invisibility
  10. Haste
  11. Globe of Invulnerability
  12. Glyph of Warding

Adding Flavor to Tomb Guardians

These enhanced tomb guardians are intended to change up the threat the characters face when facing one of these thematic tomb guardians. We add these interesting abilities not to punish our players (that's Acererak's job) but to keep things interesting. Each time our players see one of these enhanced tomb guardians coming for them, they'll know they're going to be facing something unique and chaotic.

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