Surrogate

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 the tiniest mote of the soul, and infusing a nearby humanoid with the heroic spirit of the original adventurer — 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 may not 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 forgoes the use of a surrogate and instead plays another Adventurers League 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 (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 they don’t choose a “+1” resource, and can’t multiclass or gain feats when they gain a level

  • The rewards earned by the surrogate are tracked separately than the original character’s rewards using a surrogate logsheet.

Transferring/Keeping/Rewards. Once free of the curse, rewards earned by any surrogates (including the pregen’s listed gear) are transferred to another character, and the surrogate removed from play.

All of the rewards catalogued on the surrogate’s 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.