Need help, "Trial of Faith" puzzle for my Players - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

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#1 daspian Aug 22, 2015 15:34:30	so i've come down with 3 trials for my players to progress through, the first being a room filled with an immense statue that presents the players with 10 riddles, each player has 3 attempts per riddle, if they fail they get blasted HARD.... adjoined to this room are 3 other rooms with various objects, amongst them are objects that are clues to 8 of the 10 riddles... however 2 of the 10 riddles you must answer purely on your own wit and merit. this is the Trial of the Mind The second trial they approach and find the group that they were chasing that was ahead of them exploring these ancient netherese ruins (2 thayan wizards and 3 bandits) before a fight breaks out, the statue in the center of the room activates and thrums to life and starts the next trial... the Trial of Might, suddenly 2 ogres roar out of the shadows of the room and charge forward; thus a 3-way fight begins Ogres Vs. Thayans Vs. Players the final trial is the one i'm confused on how to present it is the Trial of Faith, this one i am stumped on how to present, any suggestions? additional helpful info: they're level level 1. it takes place in an ancient netherese ruins they are exploring. i mean "trial of faith" in a non-religious tone, as the ruins are of an ancient empire that was ruled by mages, i feel like the trial would be something more... in personal faith or something. if it is gonna be a religious faith i feel like it should be directed to Mystryll (who during the time of that empire was the current god of magic; before she split/died and turned into Mystra. i didn't wanna do something cheesy like the classic indiana jones trial of faith cause it'd be to obvious (everyone has pretty much seen that movie) and i didnt wanna do something to "religious themed" as i feel like it'd be odd to do for an empire that was filled with mages who inevitably destroyed their own empire because one of them tried to kill the god of magic and take her power... not very "devout" for a worshipper =S
#2 WorBlade Aug 22, 2015 23:33:21	Perhaps Faith in their comrades. They get seperated into rooms they are trapped in. It is flodding, zaps them for 2 or 3 damage, or otherwise is a danger that might kill them eventually but not right away.There is a lever in the room. They get told that if they have faith in their comrades they will be released from the room. (Note that there is no promise of being alive when released). Or the first person to pull the level gets released and a reward while the rest of the party gets sent to an elemental plane. (Likely fatal for 1st level). As they slowly take damage or get close to drowning anyne that pulls the lever is released but fails. Anyone that toughs it out is relesaed before death and passes. Obviously you cannot let them talk to each other for the rounds you turn up the heat.
#3 BRJN Aug 23, 2015 10:30:19	The 3e adventure Anauroch: Empire of Shade had an encounter where you had to figure out a magical statue to Amanuator, the Netherese god of the sun. (If you did, the statue turned on the lights throughout the ruined cathedral.) You might want to use that, if you can find a copy. An overweeningly arrogant society of mages might want to have faith in themselves to overcome whatever the gods throw at them due to jealosy. One Netherese god was Talos (god of storms) under a pseudonym. Put them in a room that turns into a thunderstorm - use the classic flood trap but it takes an hour to fill up, a few charges of Call Lightning that will strike between specific spots on the floor and ceiling, and a DEX Save to indicate buffeting winds. Perception checks (at disadvantage) due to blowing rain. The goal is to take down an obviously-magical door that has to be soaking wet before the PCs can damage / open it. (Suppose it's made of sandstone and just sort of melts after it gets wet.) You can use the PH spells to simulate all the conditions, and provide mechanics to cope with the described effects.
#4 daspian Aug 23, 2015 13:24:20	i googled that anauroch: empire of shade PDF and that statue of amaunator part was really cool and inspired me to do the following: " the next room is lavishly decorated and resembles almost a form of shrine... the players see a large golem statue that resembles the previous statues that gave them their trials, in the center of the room they also see 3 other statues, each resembling a female figure and seems to be untouched by time. The Trial-Golem statue tells them the following: "First ye must offer praise to the Lady of Mysteries, but not before you kneel before her Mother." the trick is that both of them are her mother as Mystryll was born from both Shar and Selune and two players must kneel in front of both the Shar and Selune statue at the time and correctly say the statues names. then have a middle player offer praise and say the name of the middle statue. if they only kneel in front of Shar the room is filled with bright light as if by the moon that deals immense radiant damage. if they only kneel in front of Selune, the room is filled with pure darkness that no magic can pierce and snuffs out all light source, they start taking immense necrotic damage. i would describe each statue without saying the name of the who the statue is, if they pass a history or religion check then they figure it out. i felt like these 3 deities had an immense history in the Netheril Empire... as Mystryl was the goddess of magic at the time and all spellcasters worshipped her, she was also the one that was eventually the cause of the downfall of the netheril empire due to a netherse mage trying to steal her power.. Shar being the creator of the Shadow Weave which the Netheril eventually turned to... And Selune being the goddess of the moon, the enemy of shar and also who helped create Mystryl. Statue on Left: Shar: A beautiful yet intimidating human woman that glows with eyes as dark as night, she is seeen wearing black leather armor that coalesces around her as if it is a part of her and made of shadow, in her hand is a black disc with a purple border and seems to suck the light of everything around it. Statue in Middle:Mystryl:The statue resembles beautiful human woman that glows with intense blue eyes wearing gracefully refined blue-white robes of fine, thick silk. the statue glows with an aura that shimmers every color of the rainbow and also blue-white aura. she is seen holding a symbol of a single blue-white star. Statue on Right:Selune: You see a beautiful human female whose eyes glow luminscent like the moon, she wears a beautiful shimmering silver gown that sparkles like the moonlight. sparkling around her glowing silver eyes are 7 small stars that twinkle silver and hover near her head.
(Reply to #4) Macv12	daspian wrote:
#6 daspian Aug 23, 2015 23:40:56	no insults lol i posted here for a reason asking for help, yea i tend to get carried away with numbers and forget that its low-level, instead of penalizing them with damage for failing maybe i'll do something else that's still a negitive... but not "insta-death" if they only kneel in front of Shar the player kneeling has angered Selune who retaliates by causing their eyes to glow silver and blinding them for 1 hour. if they only kneel in front of Selune, has angered Shar who retaliates by causing their eyes to turn black and blinding them for 1 hour. this way it's not necessarily a insta-hard damage, but still feels like that deity was angered and a bit of risk. as for the knowledge about deities, most of them have good knowledge about faerun, you're right about the skill check i'll remove that and it'll be just a puzzle they have to solve on their own. yea it does feel like a Trial of Lore more than Faith... ha maybe i'll rename it =P idk i was having issues with previous ideas for a faith challenge cause i felt it didn't make sense enough to be in a netherese ruins; i feel like mages are less religious and more well logical scholarly types so the "trial of faith" would be less religous themed or something... but then i realized that they did worship alot of deities like Shar Selune and Mystryll and i just got a bit confused now ha

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

daspian

Aug 22, 2015 15:34:30

so i've come down with 3 trials for my players to progress through, the first being a room filled with an immense statue that presents the players with 10 riddles, each player has 3 attempts per riddle, if they fail they get blasted HARD.... adjoined to this room are 3 other rooms with various objects, amongst them are objects that are clues to 8 of the 10 riddles... however 2 of the 10 riddles you must answer purely on your own wit and merit. this is the Trial of the Mind

The second trial they approach and find the group that they were chasing that was ahead of them exploring these ancient netherese ruins (2 thayan wizards and 3 bandits) before a fight breaks out, the statue in the center of the room activates and thrums to life and starts the next trial... the Trial of Might, suddenly 2 ogres roar out of the shadows of the room and charge forward; thus a 3-way fight begins Ogres Vs. Thayans Vs. Players

the final trial is the one i'm confused on how to present it is the Trial of Faith, this one i am stumped on how to present, any suggestions?

additional helpful info:

they're level level 1.

it takes place in an ancient netherese ruins they are exploring.

i mean "trial of faith" in a non-religious tone, as the ruins are of an ancient empire that was ruled by mages, i feel like the trial would be something more... in personal faith or something.

if it is gonna be a religious faith i feel like it should be directed to Mystryll (who during the time of that empire was the current god of magic; before she split/died and turned into Mystra.

i didn't wanna do something cheesy like the classic indiana jones trial of faith cause it'd be to obvious (everyone has pretty much seen that movie)

and i didnt wanna do something to "religious themed" as i feel like it'd be odd to do for an empire that was filled with mages who inevitably destroyed their own empire because one of them tried to kill the god of magic and take her power... not very "devout" for a worshipper =S

WorBlade

Aug 22, 2015 23:33:21

Perhaps Faith in their comrades. They get seperated into rooms they are trapped in. It is flodding, zaps them for 2 or 3 damage, or otherwise is a danger that might kill them eventually but not right away.There is a lever in the room. They get told that if they have faith in their comrades they will be released from the room. (Note that there is no promise of being alive when released). Or the first person to pull the level gets released and a reward while the rest of the party gets sent to an elemental plane. (Likely fatal for 1st level). As they slowly take damage or get close to drowning anyne that pulls the lever is released but fails. Anyone that toughs it out is relesaed before death and passes. Obviously you cannot let them talk to each other for the rounds you turn up the heat.

BRJN

Aug 23, 2015 10:30:19

The 3e adventure Anauroch: Empire of Shade had an encounter where you had to figure out a magical statue to Amanuator, the Netherese god of the sun. (If you did, the statue turned on the lights throughout the ruined cathedral.) You might want to use that, if you can find a copy.

An overweeningly arrogant society of mages might want to have faith in themselves to overcome whatever the gods throw at them due to jealosy. One Netherese god was Talos (god of storms) under a pseudonym. Put them in a room that turns into a thunderstorm - use the classic flood trap but it takes an hour to fill up, a few charges of Call Lightning that will strike between specific spots on the floor and ceiling, and a DEX Save to indicate buffeting winds. Perception checks (at disadvantage) due to blowing rain. The goal is to take down an obviously-magical door that has to be soaking wet before the PCs can damage / open it. (Suppose it's made of sandstone and just sort of melts after it gets wet.)

You can use the PH spells to simulate all the conditions, and provide mechanics to cope with the described effects.

daspian

Aug 23, 2015 13:24:20

i googled that anauroch: empire of shade PDF and that statue of amaunator part was really cool and inspired me to do the following:

" the next room is lavishly decorated and resembles almost a form of shrine... the players see a large golem statue that resembles the previous statues that gave them their trials, in the center of the room they also see 3 other statues, each resembling a female figure and seems to be untouched by time. The Trial-Golem statue tells them the following:

"First ye must offer praise to the Lady of Mysteries, but not before you kneel before her Mother."

the trick is that both of them are her mother as Mystryll was born from both Shar and Selune and two players must kneel in front of both the Shar and Selune statue at the time and correctly say the statues names. then have a middle player offer praise and say the name of the middle statue.

if they only kneel in front of Shar the room is filled with bright light as if by the moon that deals immense radiant damage.

if they only kneel in front of Selune, the room is filled with pure darkness that no magic can pierce and snuffs out all light source, they start taking immense necrotic damage.

i would describe each statue without saying the name of the who the statue is, if they pass a history or religion check then they figure it out.

i felt like these 3 deities had an immense history in the Netheril Empire... as Mystryl was the goddess of magic at the time and all spellcasters worshipped her, she was also the one that was eventually the cause of the downfall of the netheril empire due to a netherse mage trying to steal her power.. Shar being the creator of the Shadow Weave which the Netheril eventually turned to... And Selune being the goddess of the moon, the enemy of shar and also who helped create Mystryl.

Statue on Left: Shar: A beautiful yet intimidating human woman that glows with eyes as dark as night, she is seeen wearing black leather armor that coalesces around her as if it is a part of her and made of shadow, in her hand is a black disc with a purple border and seems to suck the light of everything around it.

Statue in Middle:Mystryl:The statue resembles beautiful human woman that glows with intense blue eyes wearing gracefully refined blue-white robes of fine, thick silk. the statue glows with an aura that shimmers every color of the rainbow and also blue-white aura. she is seen holding a symbol of a single blue-white star.

Statue on Right:Selune: You see a beautiful human female whose eyes glow luminscent like the moon, she wears a beautiful shimmering silver gown that sparkles like the moonlight. sparkling around her glowing silver eyes are 7 small stars that twinkle silver and hover near her head.

(Reply to #4)

Macv12

daspian wrote:

daspian

Aug 23, 2015 23:40:56

no insults lol i posted here for a reason asking for help, yea i tend to get carried away with numbers and forget that its low-level, instead of penalizing them with damage for failing maybe i'll do something else that's still a negitive... but not "insta-death"

if they only kneel in front of Shar the player kneeling has angered Selune who retaliates by causing their eyes to glow silver and blinding them for 1 hour.

if they only kneel in front of Selune, has angered Shar who retaliates by causing their eyes to turn black and blinding them for 1 hour.

this way it's not necessarily a insta-hard damage, but still feels like that deity was angered and a bit of risk.

as for the knowledge about deities, most of them have good knowledge about faerun, you're right about the skill check i'll remove that and it'll be just a puzzle they have to solve on their own.

yea it does feel like a Trial of Lore more than Faith... ha maybe i'll rename it =P

idk i was having issues with previous ideas for a faith challenge cause i felt it didn't make sense enough to be in a netherese ruins; i feel like mages are less religious and more well logical scholarly types so the "trial of faith" would be less religous themed or something... but then i realized that they did worship alot of deities like Shar Selune and Mystryll and i just got a bit confused now ha