This question is broad, but has anyone here had players try to solve a puzzle while in combat? Are there examples of this sort of thing? Is there any advice you’d give?
I’m well aware of “puzzle bosses,” i.e., bosses with a gimmick or with a weakness that has to be deduced, and I love that idea, but this is more straightforward separation between the two. More specifically, the players have to solve a puzzle to escape a threat they may not be able to handle right now if at all. Any number of survival horror games come to mind, but I’m a bit puzzle-challenged.
The current idea I have is that the players will be getting harassed over a very precarious series of catwalks by what is essentially a kaiju. The map has a central doorway they need to unlock, and there are four or five other relatively “safe” zones on the map where perhaps parts of the puzzle will be, or maybe areas they can use to teleport to another past of the map to escape the danger? I’ve yet to decide.
In the safe areas, you could keep the encounter going, with players remaining in turns, and at the top of each round narrate the distance of the monster by referring to how far away or close the sounds are, keeping up the momentum of danger and making the players feel like they aren't actually "safe". This adds a bit of time pressure to the puzzle.
I did this in my last session, where the party were aboard a ship travelling, and in the distance they saw a large dark grey cloud form, a single sahuagin deep diver boarded the ship creating the combat, then round 2 four sahuagin boarded and killed the sailor holding the wheel, they then took a defensive stance at the wheel and steered towards the cloud. Start of turn 3 the party saw a large tentacle come out of the water in the distance, and each turn this would get closer, until turn 6 it disappeared and they heard the rumbling roar of a kraken beneath the water. They were only level 5 so fighting that is a TPK, and I planned 8 turns for them to dispatch the sahuagin and turn the ship. I know that's a bit off topic, but the encounter was all based around a countdown, where they don't know the numbers but the hints are dropped as to how much time they had left, and they said it was the best encounter of the campaign so far, they really enjoyed it.
So in your case, instead of the fight being what they have to achieve in the time, they need to solve the puzzle, maybe each player turn they have a minute to think what they want to do and describe their action. If there have been minions in the chase they may have fire arrows to deal some damage, then a healer may spend their turn in the safe space to restore HP and be part of the solving of the puzzle.
There are some good home brew or alternative chase rule videos on youtube (just search D&D chases) and they could give some ideas for moving around the dungeon
This is doable, but worth asking the following questions:
Is the encounter automatically lost (meaning a TPK) if the players don't manage to solve the puzzle in a certain number of turns?
If Yes, you need the puzzle to be so easy as to be meaningless
If No, then...
Why are the characters not better off focusing all of their attention on the monster/s, nuking them down, then settling in with a pipe and a beer to resolve the puzzle
I like the gimmick-boss style encounter, e.g. smash the four glowing statues before you can hurt the boss. It makes the puzzle relevant to the combat. If you are running the boss as more of a timer, then is it really a combat, or is the boss just standing in for slowly rising poison gas?
I would argue that’s an unfair comparison. Poison gas isn’t something one can necessarily strategize around, nor does it allow for the level of variability, chance, and unpredictability of a combat encounter.
By all means, the party COULD beat the planned monster if they’re clever and work well as a team. Doing so presents them an opportunity to end the encounter through brute force is the puzzle is too vexing. Additionally, they’d gain rare items from having done so.
This particular boss fight is a side quest for one of the characters, part of something she’s been very stubborn about trying to “fix” from an early campaign ****up, and I want her to have to measure how crucial it is to her. Does she want to push through everything just to avoid ever having to say she’s sorry, or is she gonna learn to be properly accountable for mistakes? Maybe it’s something else entirely in the end, but this character has been quite the proverbial Icarus, and putting her in a place where her ambitions may meet their match is part of my consideration with the encounter.
Also, gods forbid I angle for more flavor and a unique encounter.
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This question is broad, but has anyone here had players try to solve a puzzle while in combat? Are there examples of this sort of thing? Is there any advice you’d give?
I’m well aware of “puzzle bosses,” i.e., bosses with a gimmick or with a weakness that has to be deduced, and I love that idea, but this is more straightforward separation between the two. More specifically, the players have to solve a puzzle to escape a threat they may not be able to handle right now if at all. Any number of survival horror games come to mind, but I’m a bit puzzle-challenged.
The current idea I have is that the players will be getting harassed over a very precarious series of catwalks by what is essentially a kaiju. The map has a central doorway they need to unlock, and there are four or five other relatively “safe” zones on the map where perhaps parts of the puzzle will be, or maybe areas they can use to teleport to another past of the map to escape the danger? I’ve yet to decide.
Any thoughts from all of you?
In the safe areas, you could keep the encounter going, with players remaining in turns, and at the top of each round narrate the distance of the monster by referring to how far away or close the sounds are, keeping up the momentum of danger and making the players feel like they aren't actually "safe". This adds a bit of time pressure to the puzzle.
I did this in my last session, where the party were aboard a ship travelling, and in the distance they saw a large dark grey cloud form, a single sahuagin deep diver boarded the ship creating the combat, then round 2 four sahuagin boarded and killed the sailor holding the wheel, they then took a defensive stance at the wheel and steered towards the cloud. Start of turn 3 the party saw a large tentacle come out of the water in the distance, and each turn this would get closer, until turn 6 it disappeared and they heard the rumbling roar of a kraken beneath the water. They were only level 5 so fighting that is a TPK, and I planned 8 turns for them to dispatch the sahuagin and turn the ship. I know that's a bit off topic, but the encounter was all based around a countdown, where they don't know the numbers but the hints are dropped as to how much time they had left, and they said it was the best encounter of the campaign so far, they really enjoyed it.
So in your case, instead of the fight being what they have to achieve in the time, they need to solve the puzzle, maybe each player turn they have a minute to think what they want to do and describe their action. If there have been minions in the chase they may have fire arrows to deal some damage, then a healer may spend their turn in the safe space to restore HP and be part of the solving of the puzzle.
There are some good home brew or alternative chase rule videos on youtube (just search D&D chases) and they could give some ideas for moving around the dungeon
This is doable, but worth asking the following questions:
I like the gimmick-boss style encounter, e.g. smash the four glowing statues before you can hurt the boss. It makes the puzzle relevant to the combat. If you are running the boss as more of a timer, then is it really a combat, or is the boss just standing in for slowly rising poison gas?
I would argue that’s an unfair comparison. Poison gas isn’t something one can necessarily strategize around, nor does it allow for the level of variability, chance, and unpredictability of a combat encounter.
By all means, the party COULD beat the planned monster if they’re clever and work well as a team. Doing so presents them an opportunity to end the encounter through brute force is the puzzle is too vexing. Additionally, they’d gain rare items from having done so.
This particular boss fight is a side quest for one of the characters, part of something she’s been very stubborn about trying to “fix” from an early campaign ****up, and I want her to have to measure how crucial it is to her. Does she want to push through everything just to avoid ever having to say she’s sorry, or is she gonna learn to be properly accountable for mistakes? Maybe it’s something else entirely in the end, but this character has been quite the proverbial Icarus, and putting her in a place where her ambitions may meet their match is part of my consideration with the encounter.
Also, gods forbid I angle for more flavor and a unique encounter.