I want to make up a new riddle with the mechanics are base on getting out of a library Slash laboratory through a secret passage but to open the secret passageway my PCs will have to craft a potion of a luminous liquid and dip their hand into it and press the glowing hand to the wall with the carving of “the white oak of light” ( a previously introduced story element)
Im having trouble coming up with the logic cues to lead them to that conclusion
And does anyone have any ideas of a potion that sounds like this or what ingredients it might call for?
- You could have sentence carved into the wall in ancient runes, only translatable through a book in the library (which they can find on a talbe with traces of brewing). Something along the lines of "Oaken hands light the path" ...
- You could have investigation checks which show a trail of barely perceptible droplets tracing back to a table where and empty cauldron now stands
- the door could show traces of a congealed liquid on it ...
Dissa has good suggestions, look at LoTR with the Gate to Moria, the door literally told them how to open it (Speak friend and enter) but there's still enough ambiguity to make it a bit of a puzzle for them Fellowship. I'd only make there be marks of previous potion use if the previous user had recently gone through, in which case, make the cauldron hold some remnant that they can try to identify, otherwise, see below:
With regards to possible potions, I've not seen anything official or homebrew along these lines but if it's not going to come up later in the campaign, you could have it as a specialized recipe for this particular purpose - have the ingredients/process inside a book in the library that looks out of place. I'd have the ingredients also point to the purpose (see suggestions below). At a quick think, there's a few potential options for ingredients:
Potion of Luminescence
4 caps of Glowing Mushrooms
1 skin of Frog (Giant)
5 measures of Fire Beetle (Crushed)
2 oz powdered White Oak Bark
2 litre pure spring water
Potentially have some ingredients missing if you want to have them have combat as well, they have to hunt down the missing source or the source is guarded by X creature
Have a look at Harry Potter for common ideas for methods/requirements for mixing etc (that is the most common experience folks would have with potioneering) but possibly make the instructions less obvious, for example (stir once times widdershins for each moonphase from Fire Beetle Pupation) and have the way they can work it out in the library, not necessarily as a thing where they work it out but a reference book and they check and you say "it appears that the beetles you killed were 3 moonphases from pupation) or whatever.
If your players seem into it, you could have the making of the potion the big deal of the session.
Have you ever seen any videos about the level design of Mario? lost you already? okay let me explain. from a certain point on Mario games levels are designed in a very set way
introduce a mechanic, give characters a space to succeed and fail with mechanic without consequence, give characters a space where they can be challenged with the mechanic and failure has consequence, give characters a final challenge that uses everything they have learned.
So lets take this and work backwards. You have the final challenge already so you have to give them other spaces throughout the dungeon or area to learn what they need. you have 3 mechanics - know to mix a potion - know to dip their hand in - know to place it against the leaf.
So first thing is they are in a library, libraries have books, books can contain maps, maps use symbology to make things easier to understand. the players can find a map that uses the oak leaf to mark a door, maybe they find other doors with oakleafs on them, maybe they are lost in a maze for a bit and the path out is marked with the oakleaf symbol. build into your players heads the association between way out and the oakleaf. then have it appear on a wall with no door.
Now the other thing that would be in a library is ink, so what if rather than the potion be something that needs wild mushrooms, and eyes of newt or firebug tails and hop leafs its a case of mixing these colored inks. together in the right way to make a magical mystery ink? okay but how are they going to know its magical. Well lets say that earlier in the dungeon they are in a room that goes fully dark and on cast a light spell (or holding a flame nearby if they don't have the spell) the walls that looked normal in the light have a phospherant paint on them CSI Waterdeep. maybe its a hand print.... but it also leads them to a path out. now when they are in the library maybe one of them casts detects magic and they find these inks that have traces of magic. maybe they get attacked near the inks and the creature that attacks them uses a light spell causing some ink on a page to glow as the previous stain did. so now they know that this ink can glow but after defeating the creature and the light spell dies it is glowing no more and to make matters worse none of the inks match the colour of the one on the page that glowed!
So now if all this has happened they know, that Oakleaf means exit glowing hand print can mean exit inks when combined make glowing ink
so now you just need a puzzle around how much of each color makes this glowing ink. if they get stuck you can find ways to uv light some clues. Just you know instead of laying a bunch of clues to lead them to an answer have them build on the mechanics of previous interactions to get them there themselves
or you know the elf mage with advantage on investigation will nat 20 a search for secret doors and then pull a window out of his robe of useful things and climb through it after widening it with stone shape.
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I want to make up a new riddle with the mechanics are base on getting out of a library Slash laboratory through a secret passage but to open the secret passageway my PCs will have to craft a potion of a luminous liquid and dip their hand into it and press the glowing hand to the wall with the carving of “the white oak of light” ( a previously introduced story element)
Im having trouble coming up with the logic cues to lead them to that conclusion
And does anyone have any ideas of a potion that sounds like this or what ingredients it might call for?
need ideas thanks!
Just some ideas:
- You could have sentence carved into the wall in ancient runes, only translatable through a book in the library (which they can find on a talbe with traces of brewing). Something along the lines of "Oaken hands light the path" ...
- You could have investigation checks which show a trail of barely perceptible droplets tracing back to a table where and empty cauldron now stands
- the door could show traces of a congealed liquid on it ...
-
Dissa has good suggestions, look at LoTR with the Gate to Moria, the door literally told them how to open it (Speak friend and enter) but there's still enough ambiguity to make it a bit of a puzzle for them Fellowship.
I'd only make there be marks of previous potion use if the previous user had recently gone through, in which case, make the cauldron hold some remnant that they can try to identify, otherwise, see below:
With regards to possible potions, I've not seen anything official or homebrew along these lines but if it's not going to come up later in the campaign, you could have it as a specialized recipe for this particular purpose - have the ingredients/process inside a book in the library that looks out of place. I'd have the ingredients also point to the purpose (see suggestions below). At a quick think, there's a few potential options for ingredients:
Potentially have some ingredients missing if you want to have them have combat as well, they have to hunt down the missing source or the source is guarded by X creature
Have a look at Harry Potter for common ideas for methods/requirements for mixing etc (that is the most common experience folks would have with potioneering) but possibly make the instructions less obvious, for example (stir once times widdershins for each moonphase from Fire Beetle Pupation) and have the way they can work it out in the library, not necessarily as a thing where they work it out but a reference book and they check and you say "it appears that the beetles you killed were 3 moonphases from pupation) or whatever.
If your players seem into it, you could have the making of the potion the big deal of the session.
Have you ever seen any videos about the level design of Mario? lost you already? okay let me explain. from a certain point on Mario games levels are designed in a very set way
introduce a mechanic,
give characters a space to succeed and fail with mechanic without consequence,
give characters a space where they can be challenged with the mechanic and failure has consequence,
give characters a final challenge that uses everything they have learned.
So lets take this and work backwards. You have the final challenge already so you have to give them other spaces throughout the dungeon or area to learn what they need.
you have 3 mechanics
- know to mix a potion
- know to dip their hand in
- know to place it against the leaf.
So first thing is they are in a library, libraries have books, books can contain maps, maps use symbology to make things easier to understand. the players can find a map that uses the oak leaf to mark a door, maybe they find other doors with oakleafs on them, maybe they are lost in a maze for a bit and the path out is marked with the oakleaf symbol. build into your players heads the association between way out and the oakleaf. then have it appear on a wall with no door.
Now the other thing that would be in a library is ink, so what if rather than the potion be something that needs wild mushrooms, and eyes of newt or firebug tails and hop leafs its a case of mixing these colored inks. together in the right way to make a magical mystery ink? okay but how are they going to know its magical. Well lets say that earlier in the dungeon they are in a room that goes fully dark and on cast a light spell (or holding a flame nearby if they don't have the spell) the walls that looked normal in the light have a phospherant paint on them CSI Waterdeep. maybe its a hand print.... but it also leads them to a path out. now when they are in the library maybe one of them casts detects magic and they find these inks that have traces of magic. maybe they get attacked near the inks and the creature that attacks them uses a light spell causing some ink on a page to glow as the previous stain did. so now they know that this ink can glow but after defeating the creature and the light spell dies it is glowing no more and to make matters worse none of the inks match the colour of the one on the page that glowed!
So now if all this has happened they know, that
Oakleaf means exit
glowing hand print can mean exit
inks when combined make glowing ink
so now you just need a puzzle around how much of each color makes this glowing ink. if they get stuck you can find ways to uv light some clues. Just you know instead of laying a bunch of clues to lead them to an answer have them build on the mechanics of previous interactions to get them there themselves
or you know the elf mage with advantage on investigation will nat 20 a search for secret doors and then pull a window out of his robe of useful things and climb through it after widening it with stone shape.