Ideas for an obstacle course

[kentma57]

So in the next session or two my party members will be trying to complete an obstacle course. The characters will be making runs at the course individually looking for the best time.
Now the party is only 2nd or 3rd level, so they can't handle anything to dangerous, but there will be complementary healing afterwords so I'm not to concerned.

Anyways, I have a few ideas of my own; but I would love to see what you guys can think up.

[vitkiraven]

Is this only physical challenges, or others as well. what kinds of classes are we dealing with?

[kentma57]

Is this only physical challenges, or others as well. what kinds of classes are we dealing with?

Good question physical(I have a separate mental portion planned out), and as for classes with 5 people + some NPCs we have quite a varied bunch, so I'm hoping for challenges that stress many different parts of their builds.

[Hyudra]

Consider a sliding block puzzle (a la Zelda) with strength checks to move the blocks.

A hop-skip-jump crossing on the tops of wooden poles, with a slip meaning you fall into sludge and have to trudge across the muck at 5' a round. Maybe some of the poles aren't properly fixed to the ground and topple with weight on them (necessitating reflex saves or multiple jump checks to cross).

Scaling a slope covered in grease. Do you run it and make balance checks, or play it safe and go on all four with climb checks? Maybe a failed balance check would send you tumbling to the bottom, while a failed climb check would only move you back a few feet?

Swinging from chain to chain. Maybe it's cumulative penalties for each chain after the first, but if you stop while holding on to a chain, it's that much harder to get going again (or the inverse, you can gain momentum for bonuses).

Get past a large lard golem in a greased bowl-shaped room. All damage the lard golem deals is nonlethal, but it greases the target, giving them that much harder a time to get through the exit (get up the stairs without slipping, pull the handle, etc).

Solve a simple puzzle while the room you're in floods (characters with even moderate constitution can hold their breath practically forever, so don't stress too much here).

Wade through quicksand while other contestants try to slow you down.

Charge through a small maze of walls of sand that disintegrate with enough of an impact (magically resetting 'traps'). Some have real walls behind them. The billowing clouds of sand and dust can blind those making their way through or leave them nauseated with coughing (requiring reflex and fortitude saves, respectively). As walls regenerate themselves over time, wisdom checks may be required by those who failed both saves to intuit the right direction to go, lest the character get turned around.

[kentma57]

Consider a sliding block puzzle (a la Zelda) with strength checks to move the blocks.

A hop-skip-jump crossing on the tops of wooden poles, with a slip meaning you fall into sludge and have to trudge across the muck at 5' a round. Maybe some of the poles aren't properly fixed to the ground and topple with weight on them (necessitating reflex saves or multiple jump checks to cross).

Scaling a slope covered in grease. Do you run it and make balance checks, or play it safe and go on all four with climb checks? Maybe a failed balance check would send you tumbling to the bottom, while a failed climb check would only move you back a few feet?

Swinging from chain to chain. Maybe it's cumulative penalties for each chain after the first, but if you stop while holding on to a chain, it's that much harder to get going again (or the inverse, you can gain momentum for bonuses).

Get past a large lard golem in a greased bowl-shaped room. All damage the lard golem deals is nonlethal, but it greases the target, giving them that much harder a time to get through the exit (get up the stairs without slipping, pull the handle, etc).

Solve a simple puzzle while the room you're in floods (characters with even moderate constitution can hold their breath practically forever, so don't stress too much here).

Wade through quicksand while other contestants try to slow you down.

Charge through a small maze of walls of sand that disintegrate with enough of an impact (magically resetting 'traps'). Some have real walls behind them. The billowing clouds of sand and dust can blind those making their way through or leave them nauseated with coughing (requiring reflex and fortitude saves, respectively). As walls regenerate themselves over time, wisdom checks may be required by those who failed both saves to intuit the right direction to go, lest the character get turned around.

1- hehe, lard golem, I did not expect to hear that phrase today
2- some of these are quite interesting, I will almost certainly use 1-3, and 5, the rest I will see how they fit into my time constraints

Thanks