Hi! My party just jumped through a portal that would randomly transport them to a plane off a table I created. They rolled one of the best options on the table (for obvious reasons, but for plot-essential reasons) and have found themselves at the bottom of Torm's mountain in Mount Celestia. I know trials are big with gods, and getting up the mountain shouldn't be a day-long hike to the top. My players are thrilled to travel up the mountain and meet Torm (it'll give our warlock a chance to undo the pact he made with a devil and also provide the party with crucial info about another devil (Bane)- one of the potential BBEGs of the campaign), so I want to make sure these trials are fulfilling for them.
I want to put them through trials related to Torm, but I'm clueless about coming up with compelling, challenging trials that the PCs could complete to make it to the top of the mountain. I am writing out a poem/warning that will be posted at the bottom of the mountain outlining the 5 things Torm represents to hint at them that these are going to be their tests, but beyond that I'm stuck.
Law
Loyalty
Duty
Righteousness
Self-sacrifice
Any help would be great, even if it's suggestions of modules or other adventures I could go to to help inform my session planning. Thanks! :)
I've been wrestling with the same problem. It's hard coming up with a "trial" that emphasizes the morality of the character-participants, that involves game mechanics or puzzles in the vein of traditional D&D, but which doesn't feel totally artificial and game-able by evil participants. Putting false beggars or trolley-problems in front of characters ascending Mt. Celestia seems hollow, as the players/characters would probably recognize these as setpiece trials, and could act moral out of cynical motives, knowing the encounters were mere tests. If anyone has ideas in this vein that wouldn't fall prey to such problems, I'd be interested in hearing them.
For my part, the "trials" I've come up with have been twofold: Ascending from one layer of Celestia to another requires (1) a challenge of some kind, testing the might, skill, and fortitude of the characters, and (2) a moral trial, which requires them to actually sacrifice something. The former challenges can be as variegated as those found in any D&D dungeon, even involving traditional combat or skill challenges. But the latter would ask increasing sacrifice from the characters as they climbed, such as (1) confessing secrets and shames, perhaps coupled with acts of rectification; (2) distributing all money, valuables, and income owned by the character into worthy hands, without hope or expectation of return; (3) giving up the ability to lie; (4) surrendering all magic items; or (5) having all loved ones in other planes lose any memories of the character.
To soften the blow from these sacrifices, characters might receive a "boon" associated with each layer of the mountain. For instance, characters that give up all their money might gain immunity to hunger, thirst, and disease. Characters that lose the ability to lie might gain an angel's ability to detect deception. Characters that lose magic items might gain a flying speed and/or damage immunities and resistances associated with celestials, and so on. I haven't playtested these ideas, however, and I can imagine some players would be miffed by this approach.
I'd go for 5 trials, as there are 5 ideals which must be followed. The trick, to me, would be in making the results a secret - they will not know how they did until the last challenge, where the gatekeeper of Torm (Who I guess would be his gold dragon) will declare who has passed and who has failed, and then allow those who passed to step inside. If the party agrees, they fail the Loyalty challenge and are looked on in small favour by Torm.
I would plan to make the challenges reflect how well they are recieved, not whether they are - as they will be pass/fail challenges, they could spend a lot of time to not get anywhere, which would suck. I'd have Torm judging them for their performance, but allowing audience provided they aren't hostile. Torm was raised from mortality to deity, so he should be somewhat understanding, I guess.
Hi! My party just jumped through a portal that would randomly transport them to a plane off a table I created. They rolled one of the best options on the table (for obvious reasons, but for plot-essential reasons) and have found themselves at the bottom of Torm's mountain in Mount Celestia. I know trials are big with gods, and getting up the mountain shouldn't be a day-long hike to the top. My players are thrilled to travel up the mountain and meet Torm (it'll give our warlock a chance to undo the pact he made with a devil and also provide the party with crucial info about another devil (Bane)- one of the potential BBEGs of the campaign), so I want to make sure these trials are fulfilling for them.
I want to put them through trials related to Torm, but I'm clueless about coming up with compelling, challenging trials that the PCs could complete to make it to the top of the mountain. I am writing out a poem/warning that will be posted at the bottom of the mountain outlining the 5 things Torm represents to hint at them that these are going to be their tests, but beyond that I'm stuck.
Any help would be great, even if it's suggestions of modules or other adventures I could go to to help inform my session planning. Thanks! :)
I've been wrestling with the same problem. It's hard coming up with a "trial" that emphasizes the morality of the character-participants, that involves game mechanics or puzzles in the vein of traditional D&D, but which doesn't feel totally artificial and game-able by evil participants. Putting false beggars or trolley-problems in front of characters ascending Mt. Celestia seems hollow, as the players/characters would probably recognize these as setpiece trials, and could act moral out of cynical motives, knowing the encounters were mere tests. If anyone has ideas in this vein that wouldn't fall prey to such problems, I'd be interested in hearing them.
For my part, the "trials" I've come up with have been twofold: Ascending from one layer of Celestia to another requires (1) a challenge of some kind, testing the might, skill, and fortitude of the characters, and (2) a moral trial, which requires them to actually sacrifice something. The former challenges can be as variegated as those found in any D&D dungeon, even involving traditional combat or skill challenges. But the latter would ask increasing sacrifice from the characters as they climbed, such as (1) confessing secrets and shames, perhaps coupled with acts of rectification; (2) distributing all money, valuables, and income owned by the character into worthy hands, without hope or expectation of return; (3) giving up the ability to lie; (4) surrendering all magic items; or (5) having all loved ones in other planes lose any memories of the character.
To soften the blow from these sacrifices, characters might receive a "boon" associated with each layer of the mountain. For instance, characters that give up all their money might gain immunity to hunger, thirst, and disease. Characters that lose the ability to lie might gain an angel's ability to detect deception. Characters that lose magic items might gain a flying speed and/or damage immunities and resistances associated with celestials, and so on. I haven't playtested these ideas, however, and I can imagine some players would be miffed by this approach.
I'd go for 5 trials, as there are 5 ideals which must be followed. The trick, to me, would be in making the results a secret - they will not know how they did until the last challenge, where the gatekeeper of Torm (Who I guess would be his gold dragon) will declare who has passed and who has failed, and then allow those who passed to step inside. If the party agrees, they fail the Loyalty challenge and are looked on in small favour by Torm.
I would plan to make the challenges reflect how well they are recieved, not whether they are - as they will be pass/fail challenges, they could spend a lot of time to not get anywhere, which would suck. I'd have Torm judging them for their performance, but allowing audience provided they aren't hostile. Torm was raised from mortality to deity, so he should be somewhat understanding, I guess.
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You could try draw some inspiration from the trials of Hercules.
Do you have access to the Theros book? That provides numerous trials for the various gods or acts to prove your piety.