Trials


Advice


I need some ideas to help me get started building the dungeon.

The players are going to have to face a hugely powerful serpent-folk enchanter who's been kind of a running . . . not exactly enemy, because he's mostly left them alone (seeing them as no threat, but also useful if he can trick them into doing things), but he's been somebody they knew they'd have to deal with eventually. Things are coming to a head faster than I expected and they're going to have to deal with him, but they're under-leveled. Massively, especially considered that most of the players are combat oriented classes and therefore have low will saves.
Earlier in the campaign, they freed a Taiga giant. I noticed that the Taiga giants are immune to illusions and enchantments because of their ancestor worship, so my thought was that, to give them a fighting chance, I can send them to the tribe to learn how the giants are immune. I'm not going to give them immunity to the enchanter's primary attacks, obviously, but I can give them some bonuses to even the playing field (at least enough so that they can save against his spells, which only one of them can currently). But to do that, the idea will be that they have to complete a series of trials to prove themselves worthy of the aid of the Taiga's ancestor spirits. I've got the map of the proving grounds ready and some of it filled out, but I need some ideas for trials. Puzzles, basically.

So, assuming a party of 12th level and the purpose is to prove the characters have the wisdom, strength, and skill to be considered adults in a giant society, what sort of trials would people think are appropriate? They shouldn't be fatal, because the idea is to test the young adults of the tribe, not endanger them, but they should be the sort of thing that a young giant would have to stretch himself to pass. They should also play into the theme of respecting ancestors.

Any ideas?


Too simple perhaps, but have the giants place two obelisks on wooden platforms not far from each other and let the PCs try to get both stones to "meet".


Well the giants venerate their ancestors with rituals, so why not play on that idea? You could come up with a general sequence - something like "find a sponsor, acquire sacrifice, purify/fast, imbibe giant equivalent-LSD, execute ritual, commune with spirits." Scatter riddles throughout so that the players aren't 100% certain what they're supposed to do, and just run with what they decide. Benefits can be in a spectrum based on how happy the ancestors are/how useful the questions asked/information gained from the communion is.

The obvious choice of sponsor would be the giant they saved, but perhaps they have to impress other members of the village/tribal elders. This could play into deciding which sacrifice(s) they choose. Sacrifice(s) [one for the entire party, or one per member?] could be anything from proving their worth by aquiring some dire remorhaz venom/an egg to retrieving a lost 'artifact' and returning it to the village (give them some options at varying difficulties). The ritual cleansing aspect might involve connecting with the sponsor and learning their lineage/the proper chants/greetings to present to the ancestors. Next the dream sequence involving the ritual they were taught by their sponsor, followed by communing with the elders.


What if The PCs contact their own ancestors for aid. so the trial involves building some kind of shrine to their ancestors as a test of skill; then protect the shrine from something that seeks to destroy it maybe an evil spirit or some kind is spirit eating creature native to the region; and finally meditate before the shrine to enter the spirit world and speak with your ancestor and convince them that you deserve their help, alternatively the PCs have to get past some king of "Guardian of the Veil" who asks them a riddle that they need to solve to pass, either way, that would be the test of wisdom. just my 50cp Hope it helps


Unarmed combat is always an option-have them fight one of the adults...
Mental challenges like puzzle solving are usually fun...

For actual giant themed puzzles, hrm...

try this?


The ancestral worship aspect reminds me of a puzzle I put into a homebrew adventure about 15 years ago, and you might be able to adapt it to your needs. I'd be quite pleased if you found it a source of inspiration -- any of you.

The particular event was the need to enter a long-abandoned dwarven clanhold, and the entrance was warded with a rather complex puzzle. A single large dwarven statue faced the main gate from a distance of about 80 or 90 feet, and the path from that statue to the gate was flanked by six inward-facing dwarf statues. The most noticeable thing was that the lone statue had six different items that could be removed and handled; if I remember correctly, they were: helm, shield, weapon, ring, cloak, and belt. The six flanking statues were unadorned and in postures that matched the first statue, but had Dwarven inscriptions upon their bases; the writings were meant to be clues about the proper way to distribute the six items. I can't recall the phrases I used, but something like "Family's Strength" was meant to correspond to the belt, "Blood's Pride" would have represented the ring, and so on. If the items were placed on their corresponding statues, the gate opened, because "only a true dwarf would understand, and we only want true dwarves in our home"-type thing. However, incorrect placement activated the defenses -- the six statues animated as med-lethality, nigh-unkillable constructs for a certain number of rounds before returning to their original positions. Once an item was placed, it could not be removed until either the gate was successfully opened or the trap was triggered. Any time the trap was activated, the six items reappeared on the first statue, so it could be attempted again. If, by some miraculous chance, one of the statues was destroyed while animated, there were two primary paths to choose: 1) either destroy all the statues in a protracted series of battles, at which point the gate would open (even the proudest dwarves know when to admit defeat), or 2) wait 1d4 days for the statue to reform and try it again. And, in the event that all the statues were destroyed and the gate opened, it would only remain so for a handful of minutes before closing and locking (from both without *and* within) until the guardian statues reformed 24 hours later.

So, this puzzle had a few elements that I think really helped: 1) there were only so many possible incorrect combinations, which meant that it *could* be solved by the process of elimination, 2) rampant destruction (for which many of us are so in/famous) was still a (temporary) solution, and 3) it provided an angle for further roleplaying and plot events to take place in that location.

Now, I am aware that, mechanically speaking, the requisite amount of power to create such a security system is certainly in the domain of 17th-level spellcasters with a large amount of time on their hands, but that really wasn't the point. Location-based encounters are a good thing, sometimes.

To go just a little bit deeper: some of you may recognize that this was inspired by the puzzle at the gates of Moria in the Fellowship of the Ring. I took it a step further -- I broke out the Angerthas Moria from the appendices in Return of the King and actually wrote out the statue inscriptions in Tolkien's adapted dwarf-runes. I made the mistake of turning that into another level of the puzzle during the game session -- noob DM mistake. I wanted my players to translate the runes, and *then* engage the "physical" aspect of the puzzle. Took too long.

So, I reckon you could refluff this for giant flavor and get what you're looking for. I hope this helps!

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