Party takes refuge in a cave during a big storm/for the night.
When they wake up, they found that there was a staff from (enemy faction) stuck into the ground in the centre of their campsite, and a force field bubble was emanating from it, which enveloped their campsite.
There were I think five wheels on it with different colored (4 colors I think) gems, and then 10 or so red crystals at the top, along with a big green one that looked like a button.
It was essentially a game of mastermind. They arranged the wheels in a certain order and pressed the green gem. Gems that were the correct color but not in the correct place glowed dully, gems that were in the correct place glowed brightly, and gems that were wrong didn't glow.
Every time they got it wrong, one of the red crystals on top shattered, and the sphere got smaller, threatening to crush them. Also, after 5 tries, the 5 of them were so close together that they had to start making fortitude checks or panic, and the operator had to make a balance check to operate the controls without accidentally doing it incorrectly in cramped quarters.
They got out of it with one red crystal remaining, and three out of the five had passed out, (meaning that they weren't allowed to help try to figure out the puzzle sequences).
I'm not sure if I would have truly TPKed them if they had failed to solve it because I had a whole lot more of the adventure already written, but I definitely would have given them permanent maimings.
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A gauntlet is used to test people passing through it, not necessarily kill them. It is designed to deny entrance to the wicked and allow the virtuous, stymie the foolish and admit the cunning, or otherwise separate the wheat from the chaff. This is the best place for puzzles/riddles.
A tomb is usually built to keep everyone out. Traps should be dangerous and tricky. Any tomb designer worth his salt would not allow entrance to any grave-robber able to figure out simple puzzles.
A lair is rarely guarded by puzzles, and any traps are designed to be easily bypassed by the inhabitants. No one wants to risk death every time they go out for a breath of fresh air.
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dangerous magic suppressed by antimagic fields. The party dispels and the 3 DREAD WRAITHS that were trapped inside suddenly have a surprise round.
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Here's a puzzle that I've been saving for a special occasion. It involves a little bit of magic, but mostly real-world physics. It's also great for a dungeon with a "steam" theme, such as a dwarven clockwork tomb or something.
The party comes upon a magically locked door. The room also contains the following:
- a crumpled iron canister, with a tightly sealing lid
- an intact brass canister, with a tightly sealing lid
- a wand of "heat metal" (possibly magically linked to the room if you don't want them to take it with them)
- a source of cool, pure water, such as a fountain or fresh pool
- a pedestal, labeled with an iron-inlaid rune meaning "whole"
- a second pedestal, labeled with a brass-inlaid rune meaning "crumpled"
The canisters are too sturdy for all but the most impressive strength checks. Can you figure it out?
put the canisters on the proper pedestals and the door pops open
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Wizard tower in a lake. Front door has a dead guy's severed arm hanging from it, so you can't say I didn't warn them.
Trap 1) The door has three stained-glass windows around it - the ones to either side are valuable antiques pulled from a cathedral. The one above it is a binding circle with colored glass to disguise it. A storm elemental is bound to the circle, with instructions to fry anyone who touches the door without the password.
The interior of the tower is mostly a large staircase leading to a heavy door. There is also a statue of the wizard (decoy) and four tapestries showing the Wizard being awesome (conceal portals to the rest of the Wizard's home)
Trap 2) The staircase is triggered by weight to collapse into a slide after a brief delay. As this is triggered, a portal is revealed at the foot of the stairs. This portal exists approximately 15 feet over the lake, which is deep enough to make drowning a risk for anyone in heavy armor. This is all powered by hydraulics and water pressure.
Trap 3) When the slide is cleared of weight, it will reset. If it has not reset within a short period, a grate in the ceiling at the top of the slide will open and lake water will begin gushing down the slide. This will close automatically, then the slide will test for weight and reset or trigger the flush again.
Trap 4) If the trapped stairs are disabled, the heroes can approach the heavy door to the second story. This is heavily locked, but shows no active magic or mechanical traps beyond the locking mechanism. The room beyond is filled entirely with water, fed by a portal at the bottom of the lake. If this door is unlocked, the doors will swing open and flood the tower with water. The front door opens inward, so if the door and windows are intact there is a very real risk of drowning.
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A room is roughly conical in shape, with the floor serving as the base, and the ceiling is so high up your light source doesn't quite penetrate the shadows up there. In the center of the room is a dragon's egg, held tight in a gold stand shaped like claws that's bolted to the floor. Ooh, you think this room is trapped? Maybe? The rogue rolls a '1', but c'mon, everyone knows it's a trap.
The dumb fighter steps closer to the egg and…into an anti-gravity field! He takes a bunch of d6's damage from the fall to the ceiling. What he finds there, and what the party would have found had they figured out a way to get some light up there, is some skeletons in rusty armor. The key word here being "rusty." ...because a panel halfway up opens up and water starts pouring in. And because of the anti-gravity, it falls up. Now the party is in a race against time to figure out how to get their wounded warrior buddy out of there before he drowns. And as DM, you drop this on them (heh) only after the laughter regarding the anti-gravity fall dies down. They think it's over. Ok Mr. DM, that was a good one! Now how do I get back up- er, down? "Well, that's the thing, see, because OH HEY HERE COMES WATER!"
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Put a row of levers/switches in front of a locked door. One opens the door, the rest trigger a spear trap, arrow from wall, chute, and the like. It's fun to put as many as there are characters, so they think they all have to pull one. Hey, whoever built the door is going to know which one to pull. You can figure it out by which is most used if you take the time to inspect.
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If I were a wealthy old rogue with a chip on my shoulder, I'd mess with some people's heads like this. The idea is to create an environment that makes the party paranoid. And then up the consequences.
Create an environment where ordinary objects become threatening. Examples:
- Doors are all ajar. A few doors have buckets of acid or green slime to fall on the first person through.
- Traps often target a different person than the one who triggers it. For example, a tripwire that drops something nasty on the person 5-20' behind you.
- Weak but deadly monsters... gas spores hiding behind doors, disease-carrying stuff dropping on heads, etc.
- As the players get partway in, start introducing traps that cripple them. Trapped chests that break a hand, clubs that spring out of the walls and break kneecaps. Floors that collapse and sprain ankles. (Broken/sprained legs slow the party down....)
Then, as the players are about halfway in and probably cautious as hell, let them suddenly realize that there is a time limit to this dungeon. Perhaps a gas is being introduced... could be as simple as smoke that chokes out the oxygen. Should they press on or retreat?
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a pit trap with narrowing sides, until the victim is wedged tight. Trap could be cleared by something that eats them from the bottom.
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I especialy like the gem-encrusted column that's filled with noxious gas - when you pull off a gem, you get blasted with gas.
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