Pathfinder D&D Puzzles #7 - Checkmate (Acid Pit Chess Board)
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- In this puzzle, the adventuring party must get across an acid pit. Every 5 foot step provides new tiles that surface to the top of the pit. But take the wrong step, and the PC will be bathing in the bubbling skin remover. Hopefully they will figure out soon, that they will need to move in perfect chess piece fashion to get across.
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When I saw this puzzle, I thought that it went a very different way
So basically my idea is that in addition to sticking to their chess moves, the players also need to put the king on the other side in checkmate. Then, the king would sink into the acid, all the tiles would rise (no longer requiring chess moves to traverse the room) and a door at the other side would be revealed and opened.
Oooh. Honestly, I really like this idea. Putting the King into checkmate is perfect. I love to see alternate solutions for puzzle videos. Well done, thank you for the fantastic comment! Glad you found my channel!
I'd sprinkle a few clues before they get to this room. Maybe a white/black checkered tile theme, a statue of a white king, black queen, bishop here and there.
Groovy ideas... Great way to add a theme to the dungeon or wherever this puzzle may reside. Thank you for the high-quality comment! :)
I used this puzzle today but I mixed with a battle.
It was turned based, decided by the players. For every character, I add a random enemy on the equivalent opposite position (Intelectual Devour, Red Slaad or Mind Flyer - it was related to a Wizard character background). In the first round the enemies copied the equivalent character moviment.
On each turn the players and monsters HAD to move following its chess moviment and could take a action.
I allowed them to attack only following the chest piece moviment rule but they could use ranged attacks or spells. Spells only affected one target but I ignored rules about range. Meele was 5ft, everything else was the range of the possible chest piece moviment.
I thought it could go wrong beeing to slow but my players loved it.
Thanks for the inspiration s2
Fantastic. Glad this puzzle served you well Ricardo. And... these are some really good changes you made. Having your players enjoy the encounter is definitely the best part. Thank you for the great comment. Cheers!
this one looks interesting (though I'm awful at chess). I think it could be interesting that the squares start to sink if they are slow deciding/moving, it could give some urgency if they having figure it out how they have to move.
¡oh! and idea that just bubble up, maybe have some key or object rise in an specific square that they'll have to use later. Or maybe it's in a pocket in one of the walls.
Oooh, I like the idea of something rising on the chessboard. Well done. That gets my brain turning. Awesome to see you commenting on my old puzzles. Cheers!
Maaaan. You need more views. This is a crime.
I agree 100%, I would love more views... and subscribers. I hope someday that this channel takes off in popularity. For me, that would be a dream-come-true. Thank you for the inspiring words and hope to see you again in future comments! :)
Awesome puzzle man! Bit late to the game, but if anyone is wondering how to run this with enemies included, I've thought up a cool little encounter that i'm going to run soon; using knights suits of armor guarding either side of the door - with a crown engraved above it. The suits of armor don't move until a player touches a chess tile, then combat begins. (they can only move as bishops) each turn players + knights can move up to 3 squares.
Ah, you are never late to the game. I'm always checking messages and am super-stoked to see new subscribers discover the older puzzle videos. :) I like your Chess idea, sounds fun. Let me know how it turns out. Thanks for watching!
You have the King and Queen backwards. They line up across from each other on a typical chess setup.
Yep, you are 100% correct. Great catch! The white queen on the center white square and the black queen on the center black square. Totally missed it.
Thank you for taking the time to comment on the video! :)
yeah i ran this recently and added two gargoyles that started in the knight and bishop position respectively. i gave my players two space movement per turn and ran it like a combat encounter kinda. notes from that:
a. yes have the starting tiles sink or fall down once someone has moved off of the starting tiles.
b. run this as an encounter or add in some danger other than falling. this lends some more danger to the puzzle and a little more depth. the other thing is the gargoyles can showcase how part of the puzzle works.
c. make the enemies not gargoyles or at least don't make them fly. showing the players hat they have to follow some rule set will give them a hint as to how to solve it.
d.make the space movement for the encounter three turns. that way the knight makes sense and can be showcased through the enemy that starts on that space more effectively.
my players enjoyed it though and i had fun with it. thank you :)
Thank you so much for the feedback AND the fantastic ideas that expand on the puzzle. I totally agree with all points mentioned... and having an encounter within the puzzle is brilliant. I can't wait to have the danger of combat in the room and an occasional bumbling goblin trying to figure out the pattern, the party looks up, and watches as he melts into the acid pit.
Thanx again! :)
The knight should have to jump though. The knight's move can be expressed in various ways; like 1 straight 1 diagonal for example
Love this idea. I'm going to put 2 locked large chests full of old shoes on the ledge so the players have a chance of not damaging their own shoes.
lol. I love it! I never even considered damage to their shoes before, but it makes perfect sense. :)
@@WallyDM my players went through half a dozen pairs of the ild shoes before they figured out the puzzle, lol
lol! That sounds like a memorable moment, for sure!
This is a variation of a puzzle from the Ghost Tower of Inverness module. I have used something like this before in a dungeon. Always good fun.
Interesting! I have not seen that. I will need to check that out soon. Thank you!
my suggestion would be to have the first row tiles sink once they have been chosen
Ah yes, great idea, I like it. Thank you!
Yeah this could also not allow players on the same tile. How much damage did you have the acid do and what level was the party?
In order to scale with the adventuring party, my thought was to have the damage be equivalent of about 1/5 to 1/4 of the characters current HP. That way it gives them a couple of tries before they figure it out.
I also considered a climbing or acrobatics check to pull themselves back out of the pit. Could be messy!
Wally D.M. Sounds good. :)
Cool. I think that I'll add this:
A player is on a legal tile
Player 2 cannot step on player 1's tile 'legally'
The tile sinks.
Acid is cool.
Thanks :)
rewatching this one after The Queens Gambit became popular on Netflix
I NEED to watch that show. I have two more chess puzzles I'm working on and I have a feeling that the Queen's Gambit will provide additional inspiration for a third. Maybe I'll start it this weekend, I heard its really, really good.
I know this is an old as heck video but I just binged all of your puzzles and NEED more. I have a party of 7 to feed
No worries Jason... I have at least another 50 more puzzles that I am working on. And... I plan on releasing 1 or 2 chess puzzles sometime this year. Cheers!
@@WallyDM looking forward to it!
I have to say that it's a good thing your videos have low views, otherwise I wouldn't be able to use these excellent ideas! :)
Thank you very much for the compliment! I do know what you mean, I've been hiding my RUclips channel from my players because I haven't had the chance to use some of these puzzles or ideas yet. Been lucky so far!
I plan to do a modified version of this...I wanted an acid pit puzzle. I think I'll put them on starting points, and won't tell them what they need to do to move across...that the "tiles" in the acid let them move based on their starting point (diagonal, forward, etc). But one thing I'd do different is the amount of movement per turn. Why only five feet? The queen can move as much as she wants, but the king can only move one space. Also, they can't share a space, in D&D or Chess, I would not allow that.
Have you ran this yet? How did it go?! I think I only did 5' of movement so I could resolve incorrect moves right away, but it could definitely be done differently. Plus, I made this video many years ago, so there is a lot I would change.
Also, if you want another Acid Pit Puzzle, be sure to check out the "Aquatic Allies" puzzle on my channel. It is not chess related, but it is a lot of fun. Cheers!
I have to say, I was a huge fan of the players DM and I ran his chess puzzle room and I loved it, it was one of the best nights I had ever had, I forced an experienced group of players to step out of there confert zone and it was great. I cam on youtube to review his puzzles in anticipation of my next game and was heart broken to find him gone. but then I found you, and sir I will most defiantly be following u and I will run at least a few of these(with heavy modification to work in my world with my player). so thank you
infact as I was typing up notes to take this I realized I think when I do it I will have counter creatures that appear and move mimicking the players, once they are in a position to attack they will attempt to shove the players in. and still maybe archers give the caster/ranged guys southings to do and the strength guys have to move to defend them so they don't get shoved in the acid.and has anyone talked about damage to there items, that should ramp this up to 11. the danger of losing a sword or bag of holding.
I was a fan of the Players DM too... In fact, his videos are what inspired me to start my own RUclips channel. Thank you very much for subscribing to my channel. I hope the puzzles work well for you. Keep me updated, I haven't even used 1/2 of these yet, so feedback is always welcomed on how they worked with your players. I have four more puzzles recorded and will start editing next week. Hope to have one up beginning of February.
Sounds like you have a great plan for the chess puzzle for your players. Let me know how it goes! :)
ok so this was the center piece of the dungeon I ran last week.(I used a few puzzles from here and will be commenting on each) it was interesting because I had used a chess puzzle in this campaign before. the puzzle went well, they threw a garbage item across to see what would happen, they had one person step on, then tried to remove him and failed. they threw one player to get him across the field(I laughed but they had a half ogre/orc that is large with them he might have been able to throw him far enough to teleport the last few feet.) they all eventually got on and then the real fun started. I ported in a team that would be a good challenge(and they were) and made it so every tile around every person was up but new tiles took an entire turn to bubble up. thye figured out they could moved there full move IF the tiles were already up. and if they moved as a piece they were not they would fall, one person lost a scabbard of keen edge they had just gotten it was a dark moment. the enemies moved it and it was a long grueling battle. but at then end they cam out ahead. the added fear of fighting an entire team of working together monsters AND the terrain fighting them really ampted up the challenge and the tension.
This sounds like an epic night of D&D! Thank you for the amazing feedback, I love stories like this. This sounds like an adventure that your players will remember for years to come. :)
This is sadistic and amazing and I love it.
Players do love them some acid traps... (Evil GM laugh)
I agree once a spot is used the tiles dont raise.
The only this I would do different is if 2 players tried to acquire the same square, just make them do a DeX save.
Is there a reason for this? A 5ft square is a pretty sizeable space. I could see even three characters occupying the same 5ft tile with no check. After three, though, I would call for the check.
I really like this one! I like it as-is and also the possibilities that can come from it!
I'm going to try to use a version of this one in the next dungeon my players come to. Kind of a crawl through a mad wizard's tower if you will. I would like to run it with a full board of combatants, maybe the enemies will be golem/statues and of a particular class similar to their chess piece type (ie: a bishop would be a cleric, the knight a fighter, and so on). Maybe I will give the players a bonus for starting from a square that corresponds with their class. The players could control the other chess pieces on a separate initiative.
Maybe I would only let them move one square at a time but I would let ranged units use powers at a range but only in a straight line and in correspondence with the type of movement their 'chess piece' would allow. Or maybe I would let them only use a small list of spells depending on what chess piece they play as. I'm thinking of even posting "rules" next to the entrance explaining how to play the 'game'. Any inconsistencies on my part could be explained away as "hey, this is just how the crazed lvl 38th wizard who designed this place wanted it." After all, his dungeon, his rules.
There's no wizard in the party and they are only lvl 3 so I'm not anticipating *too many* shenanigans but I'll have to make a more concrete plan if I don't want it to get out of hand. I've been DMing long enough to know that the players will find some way to turn this upside down but a good plan will probably mitigate that hahah. I'm kind of thinking of this as I type but I'm sure I can refine it a little.
Rock on! You've got the gears turning! A ton of great ideas, be sure to stop back by and let me know how it went!
Alright so I'm going to use this as a city dump for the final chapter in my campaign for my guy's . It'll be part of a mind flayer city. I'l use the musical puzzle you posted as well, somewhere. I just need to figure out how and without the pictures because it's a bit too dnd/game-ish. Instead of a piano it'll be a set of horns similar to the door lock on an air temple from Avatar. I just don't know how to implement it yet. Maybe I will use pictures but more scenario specific, I don't know.
Nice! Glad you are able to bend these puzzles to use in your game. If you don't use the pictures, let me know what clues you end up using. I'm interested in seeing how you do this! Oh... and thank you for subscribing! :)
Chess is my favorite sport
Chess is a fantastic game, most definitely. In my D&D world, Chess is known as "The Game of Kings". Thank you for the comment!
Love it!
Thank you! :-)
I would make it so they have to put the king in checkmate and the whole floor raises and they solve it, whoever puts the king in check without ending the round in checkmate gets glanced at by the king and he deals phsycic damage to them and then moves
The knights really dont "slide" the 2 then 1 like you showed in a real game, they jump to their end square regardless of any peices between their start and end square. So while i would allow my players to move their knight your way, a move N followed by NE or NW would also be valid. Honedtlu if the player realized that it was a game of chess and wanted to do rhe entire knights move at once i would let them, so long as they made a reasonable attempt to make it fit roleplay-wise.
Ah, yes. Good point. The knight does indeed "jump" with its 2-1 movement. There are definitely a lot of gray areas the players could explore... and if they make sense, I would definitely allow it too. Thank you for taking the time to watch my video and leave a comment! Hope to see you back again soon. :)
How would you handle players trying to fly, levitate over?
It is definitely tough to plan obstacles for a party when one or more of them have the ability to fly. Levitate isn't too bad, since that spell effect is usually just moving vertically unless propelling themselves along the ceiling. So, for levitation, I would make sure that the ceiling is trapped, has spikes, or maybe no ceiling at all for the levitating character to use.
For characters who can fly, here are some of my thoughts...
1) The end of the puzzle has no visible door or way out unless the chess board is successfully maneuvered. Walking through the chess puzzle serves as "unlocking" the way out of the room. In fact, if they fly over, the King statue may tell them to go back to the beginning... no cheating.
2) Acid shoots straight up from the square tiles for anyone trying to circumvent the process.
3) Monsters will attack anyone that attempts to fly in this room. Bringing Gargoyles to life would be a great idea... they are dormant until someone flys through the room.
Hope this information helps. I appreciate the comment!
some thing I learned a long time ago, that holds more true as my players got more crafty some times u can just go "you cnat" when they argue tell them they don't know why they cant, something is stopping them, then say no you cant" at first u will get some push back especially if u have a rule lawyer like I do, but once u stand firm "I am the DM and I said u cant, ur character doesn't know why they cant, and is ok with just following on foot" they will just go with it, and often enjoy themselves more for it. some times we as DM's need to Force players to think and act outside of there norm. I would also add archers shooting at the players(for higher levels) give the ranged fighters something else to do, and add tension. u could also add some adversity's to ramp it up.
Agree with you here +slipknotzim. Sometimes things are simply "unexplained". As a DM, we need to be able to do this every once in a while. In this case, with regards to players trying to fly over the chess puzzle...
"You take out your Magic Carpet, but for some reason, the command word is not activating the magical rug". Or, "You cast Fly, but for an unknown reason, the spell fails".
IMO, the world of D&D is full of unknown effects and mysteries. Getting our players to accept "unknown" reasons makes things that work or don't work can definitely be rewarding for DMs and Players.
A simple anti-magic field would stop this.
Land on the queen square and you can just breeze through.
Ah yes, right you are! But... only one PC may take the path of the Queen.. and, a thought... what If we were to throw in some enemies to fight along the way, maybe the Queen path encounters the most difficult of obstacles. (evil laugh... lol). Thank you for watching my video and subscribing to my channel! :)
You have the movements of a bunch of pieces wrong.
Hmmm.... watched this again, not seeing any mistakes. Keeping in mind for this puzzle, that I can only progress the characters one square at a time. So in the Knights case, he was required to finish a 2-1 or "L" shaped move. I did, as someone else pointed out, have the King and Queen in the wrong place...
I have watched this video several times now making sure I get all the details for my players, and I have seen now moves that were incorrect.
I think the person who picks the wrong bishop should be punished for the lack of foresight and planning lol
lol... smack on the hands with a ruler or yard stick. :)
What kind of foresight could they have had if they are the first player to choose a space?
How does my character know anything about chess in the real world? Wouldn't this fantasy world have its own strategy games, to reflect how wars are fought in this world? The knight moving one square at a time, and having to move two squares on one axis before moving one on the other - how do you play chess?
Harry Potter, ostensibly, takes place in the real world - a world where chess exists.
Once again I have to ask: what is the logic here?
Who's to say that Chess does not exist in the D&D world that I build? They are wrong... because it does. Sure, as a DM, I could create a similar game and base it on the history of that world, but I could also just simply things and use Chess. Players are already familiar with it and I don't have to explain how it works.
Chess, in medieval times was called the Game of Kings. Throughout D&D history Chess has been involved in modules, lore and supplemental products. For example, Dragon Magazine #70 had a well written article that allowed for PCs and NPCs to play a simulated game of "The Game of Kings".
annarchive.com/files/Drmg070.pdf
Sorry man, but your comment holds no water here. Chess puzzles and D&D are meant for each other. Sorry it does not exist in the world you DM, but it exists in mine.
Thank you for taking the time to watch my video!
Actually in 5e dragonchess set is a thing and is available in startinf equip for certain backgrounds
@@flameberga Chaturanga, xiangqi, shougi, three-hand chess, four-hand chess, rhombic chess, circular chess, hexagonal chess, non-euclidian chess, 3D chess - why would you assume dragonchess is the same chess game that became the standard in our world?
@@notoriouswhitemoth cos there’s bishop, king, etc and the goal is to checkmate the enemy king?
@@flameberga 1. What are you basing that on? 2. The same goes for most of the variants I named.
1- You have Knight and Queen backwards
2- If you start with Queen or Rook you just go straight across... that's just dumb. Not much of a puzzle.
1-the knights are not backwards. The queen is though.
2-it isn't dumb as only so many of those pieces exist.
The puzzle is knowin that is actually a chess board