Failed perception checks [SPOILERS]

[Sweet_Peppermint_Bleach]

Hi everyone!

Background:

I am currently GMing a ROTRL campaign and the PCs are in Thistletop at the moment. They wiped out most goblins, killed Bruthazmus, Orik, Lyrie and Nualia and basically everyone else. A bit spent they found Shalelu maxing them up with her wand of cure light wounds and in the last session they have killed the tentamort and the hermit crab. They will probably make camp in the treasury using the shadows as watchdogs in case someone arrives.

My problem is: they have all failed the Perception check to see the coin holes near the fake coin pillar. I really want them to find the cool Karzoug room and to fight the barghest. At the same time I don't want to push them into it.

What should I do?

tl:dr: players failing to notice hidden door. What now?

[Wibs]

Why can't Shalelu find it? PC's don't know her stats ;)

Or let them find a coin that has some ancient writing on it, that would match some kind of writing on the wall/pillar.

[Sweet_Peppermint_Bleach]

Thank you! I had thought about having Shalelu finding it, but I did not want them to feel over helped in that. Also, I am not sure that I want her to be there that much anymore. I think she would make the fight against the barghest way too easy.

[Askar Avari]

If the players don't have a keen interest in finding Malfeshnekor, then they probably won't hang around in Thistletop long enough to find it. That said, there is enough suspicious about that hallway (especially the CL 20 major image ) that parties seriously searching around for clues as to how to find him will eventually limit their search. At that point, as long as they dedicate some time to searching, they should surely find it - even without a check, if someone has at least a +8 to Perception.

In general, if there's something you want your players to know, and if your players have shown interest in learning it, focus less on skill checks and more on having an immersive description of learning it. I know that kind of devalues skill-based characters, but I find it makes the story go down smoother.

My players made a point to carefully examine the entirety of Thistletop after defeating Nualia - as they've done with every dungeon after defeating its 'boss.' IDK how typical that is for most parties.

[Sweet_Peppermint_Bleach]

Askar Avari wrote:

That said, there is enough suspicious about that hallway (especially the CL 20 major image )

If the major image is Karzoug's, they still need to get past the coin pillar to find it, and apart from the obvious clash with Malfeshnekor, that is actually what I really want them to find, as it foreshadows Karzoug as a character (especially since it portrays him as long dead).

Anyway, maybe I will insert some clues in Nualia's notes and follow your and Wibs' advice. Thank you!

[Misroi]

I believe I had the same issue when it came to this as well. My solution was to have them interact with the Pathfinder Society lodge in Magnimar, and agree to chaperone some agents into Thistletop for research. After all, there's not many known Thassilonian ruins that are more or less safe to explore that haven't been explored already. Also, it helps set up that the Society is a thing in the world, and that they aren't necessarily adversarial to the party. Indeed, in my campaign, the Society treated the party respectfully - they were exponentially growing in power, and the Society rightfully reasoned that it was better to stay on their good side. Besides, they seemed to keep stumbling across Thassilonian ruins, so being in the party's good graces would probably end up paying dividends later on down the road - and by Shattered Star, that's definitely the case!

[Askar Avari]

Er, excuse me, not the CL 20 major image of Karzoug - the CL 15 permanent image that makes the stone carving of gold coins look like actual gold. I found that just... describing that carving was plenty to make a party go, 'huh, THIS sure is important.'