I have a puzzle I want to present to my party, but part of it involves knowing the directions of the compass. I am not 100% familiar with every race, build, and spell, so I don't know whether they can easily find North, or if I need to put a compass or Sundial in the room!
The party is level 10; an Artificer-Paladin, a Monk of elements, a Cleric of Light, a hexblade warlock, and a bear totem barbarian.
If there was a Ranger I'd know (they can't get lost) but otherwise, I don't know. It's inside a room below ground, so no sun to navigate by.
There is the Orb of Direction, a common wondrous item. They also could probably do an investigation check or something to try and suss out the direction of North.
Personally, I would build it into the puzzle. Have the western wall be engraved with a relief of a setting Sun and folks returning from the fields; the Eastern wall with a rising Sun and folks going out to the fields to start their day. They could then use that information to determine which wall is North, extrapolating from the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Or, if you are not doing a dungeon where reliefs would be appropriate, you could have a hole in the ceiling where sunlight can barely get through, and the shadows it cast could tell them the direction (you can find north by using shadows if you wait a couple minutes and look at the change). Or you could have some kind of structure and moss growing on only one side - the old adage that moss only grows on the north side of rocks and trees might be fiction in the real world, but it could be real in the D&D world.
Divination? “Locate object” or similar on something you know to be to the north of you maybe? Then draw a line on the ground pointing at it in “the room”.
I thought wizards knew the location of their familiars but rereading the spell, it doesn’t say that. You could maybe do something with spell range; place your familiar 95 feet to the south, and if you move 5 feet north, you’ll no longer be able to communicate with it or use its senses. By juggling the location of your familiar you could tell what direction it was in.
These are based on you knowing which way is north “outside” the dungeon/room ahead of time. You could do something similar to tell if, say, the room you’re in has rotated or something - you might not know which way is north, but you know that the rock you dropped at the entrance to the dungeon is now 90 degrees away from where it was before you all fell asleep, or whatever.
As a DM I’d probably allow a nature check to tell north. Or an int check for remembering direction changes? If there’s a window, then even if it’s night, they could figure it out from e.g. sun bleaching on furniture, curtains, books etc. If they can see a plant, they can probably tell which way’s north?
This is all really interesting though. :) Does Faerun have a north pole? Do lodestones (naturally occurring compasses) work? There are a few references to compasses in saltmarsh, so I’m going to assume for my own campaigns that compasses are a thing that could be made, and that oceangoing ships probably have them, but they’re not the sort of thing adventurers would normally have. The party could do a favour for an artificer to get one, maybe.
There's a way to find North, through shoving a long stick in the ground, and watching the way that the stick's shadow travels. Plant the stick firmly into the ground, then mark the tip of its shadow with a new rock every 20 minutes or so, in order to gauge a decent curve. Guesstimate the center of that curve. That's your North.
Frame challenge: Don't put anything in the room. Make it the players' problem.
Did the players think ahead and bring any tools? No? No-one has a cartographers kit or a lodestone or similar? Too bad. Looks like they need to find another solution.
If (when?) they find a solution it will probably be a really cunning one which impresses the GM and makes their day.
Frame challenge: Don't put anything in the room. Make it the players' problem.
Did the players think ahead and bring any tools? No? No-one has a cartographers kit or a lodestone or similar? Too bad. Looks like they need to find another solution.
If (when?) they find a solution it will probably be a really cunning one which impresses the GM and makes their day.
Assuming they don't rage-quit in frustration at being given a puzzle with absolutely no apparent means of solving it.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
There's a way to find North, through shoving a long stick in the ground, and watching the way that the stick's shadow travels. Plant the stick firmly into the ground, then mark the tip of its shadow with a new rock every 20 minutes or so, in order to gauge a decent curve. Guesstimate the center of that curve. That's your North.
This only works if:
Your world has a revolution about a single sun that is on the same plane as the planet's equator
your planet revolves as it orbits
Your world is round
your stick is planted at least 5 degrees north of the equator
and several other factors....
Also, OP describes players as being in a room which probably means they have no access to sunlight.
Yes, but while I too am sure the OP no longer needs the answer the question is still valid for other DMs (and players). Finding directions both in enclosed spaces and in the underdark are always problematic. I would say that at least navigator’s tools and probably cartographer’s tools would include a compass. I know my hiking/camping survival kit includes one as well as does my field geology gear.
I have a puzzle I want to present to my party, but part of it involves knowing the directions of the compass. I am not 100% familiar with every race, build, and spell, so I don't know whether they can easily find North, or if I need to put a compass or Sundial in the room!
The party is level 10; an Artificer-Paladin, a Monk of elements, a Cleric of Light, a hexblade warlock, and a bear totem barbarian.
If there was a Ranger I'd know (they can't get lost) but otherwise, I don't know. It's inside a room below ground, so no sun to navigate by.
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Unless one of them has the Keen Mind feat none of them should have a way to know this inherently
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There is the Orb of Direction, a common wondrous item. They also could probably do an investigation check or something to try and suss out the direction of North.
Personally, I would build it into the puzzle. Have the western wall be engraved with a relief of a setting Sun and folks returning from the fields; the Eastern wall with a rising Sun and folks going out to the fields to start their day. They could then use that information to determine which wall is North, extrapolating from the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Or, if you are not doing a dungeon where reliefs would be appropriate, you could have a hole in the ceiling where sunlight can barely get through, and the shadows it cast could tell them the direction (you can find north by using shadows if you wait a couple minutes and look at the change). Or you could have some kind of structure and moss growing on only one side - the old adage that moss only grows on the north side of rocks and trees might be fiction in the real world, but it could be real in the D&D world.
I would think this falls under DM fiat.
It would seem that the survival skill should allow this....maybe even nature.
Divination? “Locate object” or similar on something you know to be to the north of you maybe? Then draw a line on the ground pointing at it in “the room”.
I thought wizards knew the location of their familiars but rereading the spell, it doesn’t say that. You could maybe do something with spell range; place your familiar 95 feet to the south, and if you move 5 feet north, you’ll no longer be able to communicate with it or use its senses. By juggling the location of your familiar you could tell what direction it was in.
These are based on you knowing which way is north “outside” the dungeon/room ahead of time. You could do something similar to tell if, say, the room you’re in has rotated or something - you might not know which way is north, but you know that the rock you dropped at the entrance to the dungeon is now 90 degrees away from where it was before you all fell asleep, or whatever.
As a DM I’d probably allow a nature check to tell north. Or an int check for remembering direction changes? If there’s a window, then even if it’s night, they could figure it out from e.g. sun bleaching on furniture, curtains, books etc. If they can see a plant, they can probably tell which way’s north?
This is all really interesting though. :) Does Faerun have a north pole? Do lodestones (naturally occurring compasses) work? There are a few references to compasses in saltmarsh, so I’m going to assume for my own campaigns that compasses are a thing that could be made, and that oceangoing ships probably have them, but they’re not the sort of thing adventurers would normally have. The party could do a favour for an artificer to get one, maybe.
There's a way to find North, through shoving a long stick in the ground, and watching the way that the stick's shadow travels.
Plant the stick firmly into the ground, then mark the tip of its shadow with a new rock every 20 minutes or so, in order to gauge a decent curve.
Guesstimate the center of that curve. That's your North.
I suggest a compass common magic item in my campaign world they're very common you can buy them at genral store for 2g.
perhaps just put an inlaid mosaic of a compass on the floor
Frame challenge: Don't put anything in the room. Make it the players' problem.
Did the players think ahead and bring any tools? No? No-one has a cartographers kit or a lodestone or similar? Too bad. Looks like they need to find another solution.
If (when?) they find a solution it will probably be a really cunning one which impresses the GM and makes their day.
Assuming they don't rage-quit in frustration at being given a puzzle with absolutely no apparent means of solving it.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
DnD 3.5e had a level 0 spell (what we now know as a cantrip) called Know Direction that your could use.
This only works if:
Your world has a revolution about a single sun that is on the same plane as the planet's equator
your planet revolves as it orbits
Your world is round
your stick is planted at least 5 degrees north of the equator
and several other factors....
Also, OP describes players as being in a room which probably means they have no access to sunlight.
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ModeratorOP also asked the question two and a half years ago. 😅
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Yes, but while I too am sure the OP no longer needs the answer the question is still valid for other DMs (and players). Finding directions both in enclosed spaces and in the underdark are always problematic. I would say that at least navigator’s tools and probably cartographer’s tools would include a compass. I know my hiking/camping survival kit includes one as well as does my field geology gear.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Yes, we are still trying to help those poor adventurers get out of that room!