Specifically, the PC's will enter the 'lobby', where they can choose 4 doors, each one leads to an element section etc. Of course there'll be plenty of mobs for them to kill, but I want to give them a mental workout too. Unfortunately they're rather smart when it comes to puzzles; the last time I chucked one at them, one player knew the answer was the fibonacci sequence after I'd written down 4 scrambled numbers out of 10...
One puzzle I was thinking of was a logic puzzle in the fire element zone; there's an area of intense flames ahead of the PCs that they can't hope to pass through and survive. So, there's a whole bunch of potions on the side, and a logic puzzle they have to crack to make sure they don't drink the Instantaneous Death potion instead of the Fire Immunity one (yes, this is along the lines of the HP1 book). It's a bit harder for the other elements, however... and hence I'm in need of a bit of inspiration.
1) Figuring out how to turn the breeze to a particular place by opening and closing valves or doors or louvers. (This is probably a variation on one of those place the mirrors so a beam of light shines on the Dingus.)
2) A sequence of notes on a pipe organ--maybe only tangentially related to air.
3) Something a bit same-y to your scads of potions example would be scads of incense and making sure the right kind gets into the censer and swung around.
(Maybe the third could be combined with the first to ensure the vapors of incense make it to a certain window or duct waaaay up there.)
Water
What can you do with water?
Physical obstacle - swimming through it to find something or 'nother. There's a lot of this in D&D Online.
Cause it to flow to the right place/drain a room - this is another lever or valve puzzle, with the trick being figuring out that getting the water into or out of the place is the Right Thing To Do.
You can use water to float something up to where you are - the flip side of the one above. I suppose figuring out that the Dingus floats is the trick here... that and knowing where the valve is to start/stop the flow.
Maybe you can shoot the water into a clown's mouth and blow up a balloon like at a carnival midway? That's not a puzzle, perhaps, but a variant on target shooting. And maybe a little silly. But if it is a statue of the Dread Lord Esquamoso and not a clown... well you get the idea.
Earth
Balancing, sliding or rotating stones could be fun. Unlock the door by finding the proper alignment of stones. Tangrams might be the way to unlock it... especially if they discover that a particular grouping is the one they need in a previous room in the dungeon.
Speaking of "sliding", if you combine the stones with Water (in the form of ice) you could have a go at curling: you can't touch the Dingus for some reason, but you can indirectly move it by sliding the stones.
Or it could be a balance game. The Dingus is just out of reach at the end of what looks like the stone tongue of a reptile idol. If someone just climbs up on there they learn the hard way that you are dumped into the belly of the idol. Oops.
Sand probably counts as "earth", too. Some of the stuff mentioned for water could be adapted to sand. (I think that was an old Tomb Raider episode...) Or one or more hour glasses.
Thanks for the suggestions too, they're definitely intruiging, even if some aren't quite serious enough :P I particularly like the 'direct the air like light with mirrors'... maybe there's a powerful narrow jet of air coming from a hole in the wall, and there's a few things that can direct it towards a valve which opens the next door... not sure what those'd be though...
Probably shafts of wind blowing up and down. The characters would have to move along the wind by using some sort of winged or flat apparatus that allowed them to move along the currents--they would have to make sure to turn or stop, or they may fly right into the downward currents...
[Wing Flaps, Carpet] Either independently commandeered wings or a 10x10 carpet that can fit up to three characters.
Main skills: Athletics, History
Athletics: Used to actually steer the apparatus
History: Used to determine the air flow within 10 squares around you
Athletics DC 10 to keep the wings/ carpet straight
DC 20 to move/ turn the wings/ carpet in a chosen direction (without tipping everyone off)
DC 25 to stop the wings/ carpet from flying forwards (set it in idle).
- Moving the wings/ carpet would cost 4 squares of movement as a Move action. Halting the wings/ carpet's movement would cost a Standard action.
History DC 20 to determine the airflow within 10 squares of your current position
Earth:
Either:
Pushing Walls: Walls that pop out and push people off if they were caught in front of their path of movement.
Sandtrap: The floor is actually slanted to the center and snad fills in from the middle outwards. Locate the switch to stop the sand from flowing or else everyone will sink into the sand within 10- 20 rounds.
Statue Placement: Earth statues must be moved to a specific place (switch) to open the exit.
Fire:
Either:
Fire Trap: Funnels of flame sprout up in random places. You have to make it to the other side without stopping on a square that will potentially sprout burning flames.
Musical Flames: Several flame vents have misplaced or broken seals that output various tunes when rearranged. The tunes act as a key to opening up a door. Repairing a broken seal is a Dungeoneering DC 20.
Water:
Either:
Sandtrap Variant: Instead of snad, water fills up from the center.
Waterfall: Characters must travel upstream to the end of the tunnel where the water comes out from. At the other end is a waterfall with a pitfall. The raft can fit everyone in it.
Athletics DC 20: moves the raft upstream 2 squares per successful DC check per turn. Failure results in the raft being pushed downstream 2 squares. DC 30+ moves the raft upstream 4 squares.
Freeze Path: Water flows down a narrow path and there are several objects that look like crystals. Using those, the crystals turn the flow in water into ice temporarily (2 - 4 rounds). If anyone is still on the ice and it melts, the person will be pulled by the raging water and into a pitfall. Basically a reverse of the above with Ice involved.
(though I'm unsure why knowing where jets of air would come from would involve History :P)Actually, I really like your 'Freeze Path' idea... but instead of a narrow path, the room is filled with water (still flowing rather fast, so they don't necessarily want to swim in it), and in it, strategically placed, are 'arcane ice crystals' which freeze the water in an area of burst 2 around them. These ice blocks can support the whole party (6 PCs) for 2 minutes (timed in real life) as the water washes underneath and thins out the ice. The crystals would have to be activated by someone touching them (with a warm-blooded hand, otherwise the shaman in the party would keep sending his bloody spirit bear :P), and they'd be probably 3ft by 3ft and made of ice, so it'd be difficult to get onto one.
Edit: oh yeah, and the end door would have a lock they'd have to pick, so no way they could do that while swimming (hence they'd have to go the ice-platform way).
I think for earth, I'd want something balance-related... like a giant see-saw (maybe even a 2D one, rather than just the uni-axial ones)... any ideas along that line?
For air, I like the magic-carpet idea, but it's not particularly out-of-game intelligence they need there, its more a case of successfull rolls, and I want these puzzles to be something they use their own IQ rather than the character's Int score for...
Cheers for all the ideas guys
Earth:
I made a tunnel-sequence where, upon the party's arrival, many giant-ant-minions began pouring into the tunnel. The party had to quickly realize that they had to fight through quickly rather than stand and beat them back. Once they reached the end, they could blockade the tunnel using strength checks/ ranged powers to drop boulders and blockade the exit.
Air:
Long rectangular room with levers placed in the middle, at the end, to the side on a tall pillar, and on the ceiling toward the end. There was constant air buffeting the party back (effectively slowing them if they moved toward the end), and occasionally a giant burst capable of pushing a PC (or NPC) several squares back, to the side into a trap, etc. The party had to use a variety of skills to avoid getting pushed back whilst trying to get to the levers and fight off several bat creatures.
Water:
My favorite puzzle of the dungeon. When they enter the room, there are dragon-looking heads mounted on the top of the walls with wide-open mouths. The party astutely predicted they would pour water into the room, which they did when the door was closed (there was nothing else notable in the room aside from the prevailing architecture of the temple, and an obsidian-looking wall on one side). The water was freezing cold and would hurt the party if they swam in it, which most of them didn't have a choice but to wade. Pillars would appear after a short while from the ground, and finding a switch on them would open the door and allow the water to flow out. Forcing open the door would have the same effect. The room would fill up with water in one minute (real time), adding a sense of urgency. Every time they drained the room, a clue would appear on the black wall, and the clues would (more obviously, over time) imply that the solution was actually to let the room fill up. Allowing the room to fill would open up the way forward. The trade-off for getting the clues is that the party suffers more damage for having to swim in the frigid waters more.
Didn't really have any puzzle elements to the fire section, other than fire-type traps and terrain in the encounters.
Hope this was helpful!
As for the puzzles, I like the air one... maybe I should make them move stuff around in a room using jets of air...
If you can't find anything, though, you can always take a different monster and re-flavor it to suit your needs...a goblin could be a space-alien if I wanted it to, I just call it something different and describe it differently, maybe change one of it's power-types, and there we go.