I am trying to design a tournament in which my players have the chance to become knights for the kingdom they are in. Before being allowed to participate in the tournament games, there is going to be an initial set of tests for each group of participants in order to try and "weed out" any applicants who aren't cut out to be knights. I am looking for ideas on what these tests could be. Generally, I want to avoid any combat-based tests at this point and make them more based around puzzles, riddles, and tests of character.
One idea I had so far is a test of darkness, in which the party is plunged into a room of magical darkness and must work together to locate the way out and the key to open it. The thematic reasoning for this test is that the kingdom would want knights that are capable in finding their way at night even without the aid of torches. This first test can either be solved through communication along with investigation and perception checks or by magical means.
I am not opposed to using magic to pass these tests, but want to design the tests so that its unlikely that there will be an easy solution for ALL of them .
Dancing with court. DC to remember the dance. Dex DC to do the dance. Flirting you have come up with a way. Games. Chess, dice, nine man morris challenge. Guts. A literal gun crawl. Have to crawl 20 feet thru a three or four wide pipe full of animal guts. Test of honesty.
At least one puzzle, with the answer to the riddle being one of the tenets of the knightly order. A knight has to be clever, not just strong.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Make some tests not obvious (as they say, character is how you behave when no one is watching). They find a pouch with 100 gp (or something) on the street. It’s been planted and is being watched, but they don’t know that. What do they do with it? Maybe less money to make it a less obvious test. Like 10sp.
Have some commoner keep asking them to do something of the my-cat-is-in-a-tree variety. See how willing they are to help others.
Maybe the would-be knights take part in a several mile long horse race, and must return in a certain time. (Maybe throw in some very easy Animal Handling and Athletics checks to make it seem like a legit challenge.) One candidate, still many miles from town, falls off his horse (which bolts off) and is seriously injured, crying out in pain and unable to walk. If a character stops to help him, bringing him slowly back on their own horse, they will lose the race...or so they think. The candidate isn’t actually injured at all, he’s a skilled actor hired by the king to prove that his knights are more concerned with helping others than with their own glory. Only characters who stop to help him will be considered for knighthood.
I was thinking about each PC getting an individual test of their character. Have the tests be sent to them in their dreams and have them role play the test by themselves and only PCs who prove that their character is worthy can enter the tournament. But I wasn’t sure what to do. This is perfect for one of the tests for someone who doesn’t have healing spells.
I was thinking about each PC getting an individual test of their character. Have the tests be sent to them in their dreams and have them role play the test by themselves and only PCs who prove that their character is worthy can enter the tournament. But I wasn’t sure what to do. This is perfect for one of the tests for someone who doesn’t have healing spells.
I like that idea of personalizing a test for each character (especially if it plays off their personality or flaws somehow)! Just keep in mind that if it’s happening in a dream, the characters might pick up on the fact that it’s a test. Smart players might pick up on it anyway, of course, but don’t be too easy on them!
I was thinking about each PC getting an individual test of their character. Have the tests be sent to them in their dreams and have them role play the test by themselves and only PCs who prove that their character is worthy can enter the tournament. But I wasn’t sure what to do. This is perfect for one of the tests for someone who doesn’t have healing spells.
Honestly this might be the easiest way for me to handle the fun ideas everyone has posted for morality tests centered on the actions of an individual. I'm afraid if I present the bag of coins or horse race tests to the group in actual encounters, the fact that they work/travel as a group might muck up the morality test (i.e. one group member might help, while the other steals. One group member will stop to help the fallen rider while the others ride ahead, not because they don't want to help but because only one individual needs to go back)
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
You first need to decide what is moral for this country.
The "tests" are to determine whether these characters are suitable to be knights of the realm so the tests need to be morally ambiguous with each test clearly demonstrating the willingness of the candidate to take actions to defend the realm or to take actions that are advantageous to the realm.
If you are just testing to see if the character is morally upright - that may show a good character but it won't necessarily show one worthy of being a knight for the crown since they may choose actions that are detrimental to the kingdom if they go against their personal beliefs which may make them suitable for an independent order of knights but certainly not a knight for the crown.
examples:
- would the character execute an enemy of the state when ordered?
- would the character hunt down rebels who are assaulting guards and local lords because they don't want to pay taxes? (even when taxes are used for the good of the realm - like providing food to places in famine etc).
- would a character when ordered to perform an action for the kingdom be convinced by a very persuasive NPC that their actions are morally wrong (even if they aren't?)
- could a character be corrupted by money, gifts or mercy? (e.g. a bad guy threatens to kill a hostage unless the knight does something detrimental to the kingdom - does the knight choose the kingdom or the hostage?).
Many of these situations could have one result for a character with a strong moral stance but little loyalty to the kingdom while a different choice might be made by a character with a strong moral stance but strong loyaly to the kingdom. Which is more important, moral choices or loyalty and the strength of the realm?
Anyway, it comes down to the OP defining what the kingdom requires of a knight and having tests that will demonstrate it - and loyalty is likely high on the list - the kingdom likely wants knights who make choices that benefit the kingdom under all circumstances.
I appreciate all the feedback, but I think we are getting too fixated on moral tests. Although I will probably try to mix some of those in, the main sort of tests that I am looking for are things that are more tangible and accessible to the group as a whole. Things that would work better as competitions or puzzles rather than personal inquiries.
One idea that I had was to run each test on a point based system. The characters who succeed the quickest get the highest score, with it decreasing for each other character. One way to maybe tie in morality to it would be (without telling the players this) if they take the Help action at all during a given test to aid another test taker in completing the task, they automatically have one point added to their total, which is revealed later
I am trying to design a tournament in which my players have the chance to become knights for the kingdom they are in. Before being allowed to participate in the tournament games, there is going to be an initial set of tests for each group of participants in order to try and "weed out" any applicants who aren't cut out to be knights. I am looking for ideas on what these tests could be. Generally, I want to avoid any combat-based tests at this point and make them more based around puzzles, riddles, and tests of character.
One idea I had so far is a test of darkness, in which the party is plunged into a room of magical darkness and must work together to locate the way out and the key to open it. The thematic reasoning for this test is that the kingdom would want knights that are capable in finding their way at night even without the aid of torches. This first test can either be solved through communication along with investigation and perception checks or by magical means.
I am not opposed to using magic to pass these tests, but want to design the tests so that its unlikely that there will be an easy solution for ALL of them .
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Dancing with court. DC to remember the dance. Dex DC to do the dance. Flirting you have come up with a way. Games. Chess, dice, nine man morris challenge. Guts. A literal gun crawl. Have to crawl 20 feet thru a three or four wide pipe full of animal guts. Test of honesty.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
At least one puzzle, with the answer to the riddle being one of the tenets of the knightly order. A knight has to be clever, not just strong.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Make some tests not obvious (as they say, character is how you behave when no one is watching). They find a pouch with 100 gp (or something) on the street. It’s been planted and is being watched, but they don’t know that. What do they do with it? Maybe less money to make it a less obvious test. Like 10sp.
Have some commoner keep asking them to do something of the my-cat-is-in-a-tree variety. See how willing they are to help others.
Anybody from the SCA have the 7 or 10 rules of chivarly? That may help.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
Maybe the would-be knights take part in a several mile long horse race, and must return in a certain time. (Maybe throw in some very easy Animal Handling and Athletics checks to make it seem like a legit challenge.) One candidate, still many miles from town, falls off his horse (which bolts off) and is seriously injured, crying out in pain and unable to walk. If a character stops to help him, bringing him slowly back on their own horse, they will lose the race...or so they think. The candidate isn’t actually injured at all, he’s a skilled actor hired by the king to prove that his knights are more concerned with helping others than with their own glory. Only characters who stop to help him will be considered for knighthood.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
That’s brilliant!
I was thinking about each PC getting an individual test of their character. Have the tests be sent to them in their dreams and have them role play the test by themselves and only PCs who prove that their character is worthy can enter the tournament. But I wasn’t sure what to do. This is perfect for one of the tests for someone who doesn’t have healing spells.
Professional computer geek
I like that idea of personalizing a test for each character (especially if it plays off their personality or flaws somehow)! Just keep in mind that if it’s happening in a dream, the characters might pick up on the fact that it’s a test. Smart players might pick up on it anyway, of course, but don’t be too easy on them!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Honestly this might be the easiest way for me to handle the fun ideas everyone has posted for morality tests centered on the actions of an individual. I'm afraid if I present the bag of coins or horse race tests to the group in actual encounters, the fact that they work/travel as a group might muck up the morality test (i.e. one group member might help, while the other steals. One group member will stop to help the fallen rider while the others ride ahead, not because they don't want to help but because only one individual needs to go back)
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
You first need to decide what is moral for this country.
The "tests" are to determine whether these characters are suitable to be knights of the realm so the tests need to be morally ambiguous with each test clearly demonstrating the willingness of the candidate to take actions to defend the realm or to take actions that are advantageous to the realm.
If you are just testing to see if the character is morally upright - that may show a good character but it won't necessarily show one worthy of being a knight for the crown since they may choose actions that are detrimental to the kingdom if they go against their personal beliefs which may make them suitable for an independent order of knights but certainly not a knight for the crown.
examples:
- would the character execute an enemy of the state when ordered?
- would the character hunt down rebels who are assaulting guards and local lords because they don't want to pay taxes? (even when taxes are used for the good of the realm - like providing food to places in famine etc).
- would a character when ordered to perform an action for the kingdom be convinced by a very persuasive NPC that their actions are morally wrong (even if they aren't?)
- could a character be corrupted by money, gifts or mercy? (e.g. a bad guy threatens to kill a hostage unless the knight does something detrimental to the kingdom - does the knight choose the kingdom or the hostage?).
Many of these situations could have one result for a character with a strong moral stance but little loyalty to the kingdom while a different choice might be made by a character with a strong moral stance but strong loyaly to the kingdom. Which is more important, moral choices or loyalty and the strength of the realm?
Anyway, it comes down to the OP defining what the kingdom requires of a knight and having tests that will demonstrate it - and loyalty is likely high on the list - the kingdom likely wants knights who make choices that benefit the kingdom under all circumstances.
I appreciate all the feedback, but I think we are getting too fixated on moral tests. Although I will probably try to mix some of those in, the main sort of tests that I am looking for are things that are more tangible and accessible to the group as a whole. Things that would work better as competitions or puzzles rather than personal inquiries.
One idea that I had was to run each test on a point based system. The characters who succeed the quickest get the highest score, with it decreasing for each other character. One way to maybe tie in morality to it would be (without telling the players this) if they take the Help action at all during a given test to aid another test taker in completing the task, they automatically have one point added to their total, which is revealed later
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!