Door Puzzle and Possible Sacrifices

[SgtCarnage92]

I once again seek the playgrounds opinion on an idea I have for an upcoming PF game.

Character Level: 5th-9th (the door will be available from 5th level but they may not decide to open it at first).

I'm planning on using a "concentric ring" puzzle for a future PF game in which the party is gaining access to the tomb of an ancient high-priest of Baphomet (plot-maguffin/random exploration). I don't have the puzzle itself completely planned yet but I'm planning on having an image and inlaid within it the demonic rune for Baphomet and the party will have to rotate the rings in order to get them lined up and open the doorway to the tomb. The rings will all move in the same direction. The puzzle is going to require several things from the party in order to solve it and gain access to the tomb itself. What I need from you guys is an opinion on the "input method" in order to make the various rings move. A classic would be a certain type of spell cast at the rings themselves but seeing as this is being used just to gain access to the dungeon itself I feel this might hurt the party casters too much.

An alternate idea I did have was five shrines (one for each ring) at which the party would have to make a small sacrifice in order to move the rings. What I'm wondering is if the sacrifices listed here are appropriate or if they're asking too much/too little? Each sacrifice may have to performed multiple times in order to get the rings to align correctly.

Shrine of Life
Sacrifice: 1d4 HP (ie: cut themselves w/ dagger)

Shrine of Wealth
Sacrifice: 1 GP (or equivalent)

Shrine of Magic
Sacrifice: The equivalent magical energy of a 1st level spell. (scrolls, wands, potions are okay. Possibly [SU] class abilities as well)

Shrine of Health:
Sacrifice: Must expose themselves to an affliction of some kind at the shrine itself (poison or disease). It still works if they save successfully or not. Estimating DC of affliction at 20.

Shrine of Knowledge
Sacrifice: A memory. This one has less of a mechanical loss but can still be very impacting from an RP standpoint (forget their mother's face, their first kiss, taste of favorite food, ect)

Thanks again for all of your help. You guys are awesome. :smallbiggrin:

[Hamste]

3 of the 5 could be solved by just capturing another living creature and using their life force as the sacrifice.

[SgtCarnage92]

3 of the 5 could be solved by just capturing another living creature and using their life force as the sacrifice.

I'm not necessarily opposed to this. :smallbiggrin:

[Hamste]

I'm not necessarily opposed to this. :smallbiggrin:

I guess he is a demon lord :smallbiggrin:. Then, once the creature has died they may be able to sacrifice the meat to the gold shrine to pass (3 sp to a half-pound so assuming it has a good weight that shouldn't be a problem). Still not sure how to take advantage of the final shrine though. The obvious answer is find a creature that has spell-likes and force it to use them, preferably something so weak that it is no challenge for them like a grig or a nixie (preferably a grig as none of their spell likes would help much once they get caught if properly handled and they refuse to help when asked) but that depends on one being nearby.

[SgtCarnage92]

Then, once the creature has died they may be able to sacrifice the meat to the gold shrine to pass (3 sp to a half-pound so assuming it has a good weight that shouldn't be a problem).

Eh, i was planning on just having a bowl where they would place the gold in that would then "disappear" and the shrine would activate. Each shrine would have something similar (killing something and using its "life force may not work) as the shrines will be designed to specifically handle their particular sacrifice.

The shrine of life requires "living" blood.

The shrine of health requires them to place their hand in a box and be "afflicted." (maybe find out one of the party is a human instead of an animal? :smallwink:)

The shrine of knowledge would be placing hands on something and having the memory disappear.

The shrine of magic would require the spell to be cast at it (shrine can be targeted as "self").

[Hamste]

Eh, i was planning on just having a bowl where they would place the gold in that would then "disappear" and the shrine would activate. Each shrine would have something similar (killing something and using its "life force may not work) as the shrines will be designed to specifically handle their particular sacrifice.

The shrine of life requires "living" blood.

The shrine of health requires them to place their hand in a box and be "afflicted." (maybe find out one of the party is a human instead of an animal? :smallwink:)

The shrine of knowledge would be placing hands on something and having the memory disappear.

The shrine of magic would require the spell to be cast at it (shrine can be targeted as "self").

Of course, I assumed that was how it worked, so they poke the shrine with the tiger or whatever animal they caught, as long as it doesn't require a willing sacrifice it should work. If it needs blood, they just cut it. Then once they are sure they got it right they kill it and cut chunks of meat from it and stick it into the bowl where they are magically absorbed because they are equivalent to a gold piece. If they are not entirely sure then just capture another creature.

[SgtCarnage92]

We will see what the party decides to do. I actually hadn't thought of finding another creature to do it...but I won't put anything in to stop that because it is a valid solution. I'm putting in a couple of other restrictions as well (such as a time of day restriction on when the door can be activated which will be indicated by an inscription written around the outside of the puzzle). I'll also be having really simple riddles to indicate what must be done at each shrine to make it work. I might even do a "backdoor" option where the party can perform a more traditional sacrifice and get some additional help (so many free usages of each shrine).