I'm running a home brew (first time GMing) and I was thinking of having an obstacle course in the area that they are headed towards to help with the party synergy and get them thinking more along the lines of working as a group instead of taking separate actions which have no synergy. Party is level 4 and the make up is Ranger (melee/ranged but mostly melee), cleric (also mostly melee but also support heals), wizard, witch, sorcerer. The problem is... well I'm not sure how to go about it or if it will be fun for them. It seems like with good story telling and a worthwhile prize at the end it will be worth it and provide a sense of accomplishment working together as a team but it could just be that I think it will be fun to run so I'm looking for advice/ideas.
Starts off in a pit you have to climb up a steep incline to get out of (climb check, with provided rope the strong can help the weak out). Long narrow halls with sharp corners will keep them on edge and not knowing whats next as well as work that perception check forcing communication. Holes in the walls/pressure plates shooting out darts/arrows can be avoid with reflex saves, disarmed with disable device, or avoided with good communication and perception. Other traps with higher DCs can drop nets/ropes to entangle enabling those with escape artist/slight of hand a chance to shine (or strength to just break free). Strength checks can push back the crushing walls. Acrobatics checks for long jumps (one or two will make it carrying a rope each to make a tightrope bridge or swing/climb up if they are clever, etc). Illusion areas to work will saves. Poison cloud they can either blow away with spells or fortitude save their way through with a side of knowledge nature to know the type of poison. Perhaps have the final test to pass be a riddle or history question that they can get right if they remember the history or with an intelligence check if they don't (maybe allow a diplomacy/bluff/intimidate check to skip the encounter altogether if successful).
*edit: Could also throw in some magical gadget/item barring a door to work UMD/spellcraft/knowledge arcana...
The main thing I want is for no one or two people to be able to just go through it on their own. With this many different challenges they will have to work as a team to succeed.
What do you guys think? fun, boring, waste of time which is better spent on the main story even if the prize is good?
*edit 2: If you are wondering why it exists (or why it may exist) The background I had for it is that it is a small town's major source of income. People pay a small fee to enter and many people/groups do for the chance to win the awesome prize, but just like carnivals the odds of making it through are so stacked against the participants that no one has ever actually made it so it's all basically pure profit for the town.
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Hm, depending on how long you plan the whole thing to be, I'd do it all with:
A) a combat grid and timer (with the quiz in the end having the social tests being full-rounds for the knowledge checks) and
B) be sure to add some GM-fiat to focus on their weak spots (like ranged attacks for instance)
I'd suggest having a steeper entry fee, but obviously not having the arrow traps being lethal or the poison being anything but sleeping poison.
It's not something I've thought of before, but seems like a good idea, so surprise your players, they'll probably enjoy it. And also, do keep a timer of sorts, be it an hourglass or something.
Sounds alright to me, I would be careful about damage dealing traps, they can feel cheap (lots of AOE's and sometimes hard to not meta game), keep traps as annoyances and for choke-points (let the traps be really obvious and really painful so some thought has to go into them).
Since this is a "scam" event, have the town provide gear packages (some have the tools they need, some do not), this will provide social checks before hand and give the party plenty of chances to be mocked and challenged by NPC's so they will want to go in ("Oh no, this is a really challenging course, you seem to frail to attempt it.") It also means you can let them be prepared for some tasks ("Well we don't have a portable bridge, but we do have 82 iron spikes and a shovel...)
Blanket illusions can work well for simple pit traps, the players will have to get creative and remember where the holes are (as you cannot disable a hole). Arcane eye geysers or wind gusts can be harmless ways to push players about a room and force them to keep moving to avoid being blown away (speed them up a bit).
Normally it is never a good idea to split the party, but in this case the 2 rooms trap might work (a door has 2 switches in 2 rooms. The rooms seal and have a mini puzzle for the other room to unlock the switch). Have the 2 or 4 or 5 rooms have a small hole to allow communication and each a different puzzle or riddle (failure hurts the others so everyone is motivated to solve them).
At level 4 there should be plenty of spells to throw around, and lots of unseen servant to help so don't be too afraid to make things challenging.
Also add something to fight (CR1 summons, elementals, rats, etc), pathfinder is about varied experiences, and a room that is infinitely spawning rats each round could act as a "rolling boulder" to push the players forwards lest they be overwhelmed (could be good for XP, or not).
Since they are almost all casters martial tasks could cultivate aid another or creative solutions, push a heavy stone onto plates, crack open a chest, etc.
Avoid putting too much wealth into the puzzle (stories abound of solid adamantine doors being stolen by PC's and sold for a fortune) (or magical triggers being collected), mend spell "traps" might be better for fixing doors the PC's want to knock down.
Meta riddles are nice, if the player can solve it great, if they can't KNOWS should help (I assume that many casters will have plenty of KNOWS). I suggest a series of "magic mouth" doors that ask a riddle (or question) that the players have a fair chance of getting, disable device and brute force are still an option if all else fails. Having a real life riddle is a lot more fun than "There is a riddle on the wall, roll to solve", and more riddles means one player is less likely to just know the answer and skip through.
I have run a race before, it was to settle an NPC bet between wizards and a god (don't ask), it involved a new dimension. It had climbing a tower, tramping through very dense brush, fighting past dangerous goblin dogs (you could have high sr golems?, one distracts while the others move past), various riddles, and a wood box encased in stone with good locks =p ).
The kicker was there was a second dimension identical to the first with NPC's racing the same course (the players had no idea if they were ahead or behind). At the end, one got through to the teleport that sent him to a no gravity sphere where the cup sat floating. It was tough but interesting, and definitely easier with less players.
Best of luck.
Thanks for the great ideas and encouragement. I definitely wanted the traps to be nonlethal.
The magic mouth doors are a good idea that I will probably use and I will avoid putting expensive stuff in the puzzle as well because I could totally see my group doing that lol.