Magically Sealed Door

[DireSickFish]

Hello playground. I'm running an adventure this weekend and at the end the party is supposed to come across a magically sealed tomb that the badguys have been trying to get into. I'm having a hard time thinking of a clever "key" to the entrance that would be stalling the badguys from entering but the PC's can accomplish with little to no problem. Any ideas?

This will specifically be a Yuan-ti tomb int he jungles of Chult. The badguys want to get in so they can loot the former leaders tomb for a McGuffin.

[pwykersotz]

The classic one is Love. Or being pure of heart. Some sort of virtue. But then, Yuan-Ti tombs are generally not guarded by virtue, unless someone else did the entombing.

If their getting the Macguffin but not trying to use it themselves, you could use Dumbledore's trick with the Mirror of Erised and the Philosopher's stone.

Another way is an intelligent presence can be guarding the door. If it senses bad intentions from the bad guys and good intentions from the heroes, it might let them through. (Hurry though, my power is failing!)

A series of lucky events or someone's careful planning could put the actual key right in the hands of the party (think the journal from Indiana Jones)

It could be an obscure riddle that only makes sense in the context of the homeland of one of the PC's.

I hope these are in the vein of what you're looking for!

[Easy_Lee]

If the door is impenetrable, the solution could be to dig under it. Or carefully applied physics/acid.

[Daishain]

If the door is impenetrable, the solution could be to dig under it. Or carefully applied physics/acid.
It seems to me that unless we're talking about a cult entering what they think of as holy ground, the bad guys are likely to resort to such methods no slower than the PCs, and unlike the PCs, would have had the time to do it right.

[Easy_Lee]

It seems to me that unless we're talking about a cult entering what they think of as holy ground, the bad guys are likely to resort to such methods no slower than the PCs, and unlike the PCs, would have had the time to do it right.

Nobody ever accused cults of being smart.

[Fwiffo86]

Hello playground. I'm running an adventure this weekend and at the end the party is supposed to come across a magically sealed tomb that the badguys have been trying to get into. I'm having a hard time thinking of a clever "key" to the entrance that would be stalling the badguys from entering but the PC's can accomplish with little to no problem. Any ideas?

This will specifically be a Yuan-ti tomb int he jungles of Chult. The badguys want to get in so they can loot the former leaders tomb for a McGuffin.

Since it is magically sealed, you could go with:

The magic holding the tomb closed weakens on the birthday of the leader (or other relevant and researchable date) allowing entrance into the tomb once per year. Originally used for rituals of remembering or other such nonsensical devotion of an obviously inferior race.

[DireSickFish]

It seems to me that unless we're talking about a cult entering what they think of as holy ground, the bad guys are likely to resort to such methods no slower than the PCs, and unlike the PCs, would have had the time to do it right.

I was actually thinking the same thing. They are attempting to do the same thing, with slave labor. But the fact they are in a swamp, surrounded by tarpits, on a riverbank has led to more collapses and lost workers than anything. They are still attempting to dig under but it's not going well and would take a long time for the party to do it.

@pwykersotz
Those are all great suggestions! Exactly the vein I'm looking for.

[Slipperychicken]

Maybe the password could be a word or phrase in the long-dead Yuan-ti language?

[MaxWilson]

Hello playground. I'm running an adventure this weekend and at the end the party is supposed to come across a magically sealed tomb that the badguys have been trying to get into. I'm having a hard time thinking of a clever "key" to the entrance that would be stalling the badguys from entering but the PC's can accomplish with little to no problem. Any ideas?

It's tough to say without knowing what capabilities your party has that the bad guys don't. Off the top of my head, I'd say, "It's a false entrance. They're digging in the wrong place!" You can either have your PCs stumble across the right entrance by accident, or by talking to animals, or by knowing something about Yuan-ti architecture, or by magic.

Also, generally speaking it is easier to bypass a collapsed entrance (or a gaping pit) with magic and a small number of PCs rather than an army of slave labor. PCs are special forces commandoes. E.g. a mid-level party can Clairvoyance the inside of the burial mound, then Dimension Door through (may have to short rest/long rest in between trips depending on party size and number/level of teleport casters and/or shadow monks).

[Lonely Tylenol]

The key to the door is the heart of a pure person, which the Yuan-Ti might use to sacrifice at the altar to their gods.

The BBEGs, believing correctly that none among them have pure hearts, have been killing and dissecting people to extract their hearts, but to no avail. In their frustration, they have concluded that the people they've killed just "aren't pure enough".

If there is a single pure-hearted PC among them, that PC's presence enough will satisfy the door's requirements. The PC will additionally probably not think to cut out somebody else's heart.

If this dungeon is further down the line, you can also use this specific trigger to foreshadow in a number of different ways--such as introducing the bizarre modus operandi of the BBEGs (finding discarded corpses with their hearts removed from their chests, plus optional: faces probably contorted in terror as evidence that they were ripped out savagely while still-beating), as well as giving the BBEGs a reason to attack the party at first sight (believing one of the PC party has a pure heart, which they of course want to extract).

[Slipperychicken]

The PC will additionally probably not think to cut out somebody else's heart.


That awkward moment when the LG character's first idea is to kill a nun for her heart.

[DireSickFish]

Party makeup changes a lot from session to session, but most of them have been playing rather evil themselves. The badguys are led by a lizardfolk cleric, I'm going to modify the Kuo-Toa CR6 creature, give it +1 fullplate and use that for the leader. He also has other Lizardfolk and Yuan-Ti with him. They are breaking into the tomb because the burial shawl is made from a celestial that the guy buried here killed. He's planning to use a true res scroll on the shawl to get himself a celestial to sacrifice.

The lizardfolk cleric is the Right Hand man to the BBEG, so I want the party to kill/capture him.

[Geoff]

They are breaking into the tomb because the burial shawl is made from a celestial that the guy buried here killed. He's planning to use a true res scroll on the shawl to get himself a celestial to sacrifice. That seems like cheating. ;) You True Res a guy only to sacrifice him, you're really just sacrificing the True Res.... I guess players pull stuff like that enough.

So the tomb was sealed by Yuan-ti, and reptiles & actual Yuan-ti are trying to get into it? It really sounds like the defenses should be easier, not harder, for them...

Maybe the leader is served by the Celestial and other attendants in his nasty afterlife so long as his treasures remain in his tomb, so they're particularly warded against those who have an intent to rob the place? Or those most likely to want his goodies: other Yaun-ti. Yeah, that could be it.

Heh, this is a little tortured logic but: What if the ward on the tomb requires the sacrifice of something of great value to open, but only the sacrifice of something (like the tomb-robbers life) that would foil what they hope to accomplish by plundering the tomb - it could even be a curse that invokes fate to force such an outcome. For the Lizardman to get in, he has to sacrifice the Scroll of True Res, which would render the shroud useless for his purposes.

However, the PC's purpose is to stop the bad guys from getting what's in the tomb, so foiling their purpose would result in the bud guys getting what's in the tomb...

[edge2054]

Party makeup changes a lot from session to session, but most of them have been playing rather evil themselves. The badguys are led by a lizardfolk cleric, I'm going to modify the Kuo-Toa CR6 creature, give it +1 fullplate and use that for the leader. He also has other Lizardfolk and Yuan-Ti with him. They are breaking into the tomb because the burial shawl is made from a celestial that the guy buried here killed. He's planning to use a true res scroll on the shawl to get himself a celestial to sacrifice.

The lizardfolk cleric is the Right Hand man to the BBEG, so I want the party to kill/capture him.

A pint of blood freely given by an intelligent warm blooded creature.

Maybe the Yaun-Ti had human worshipers in the past that would willingly supply this.

[DireSickFish]

That seems like cheating. ;) You True Res a guy only to sacrifice him, you're really just sacrificing the True Res.... I guess players pull stuff like that enough.

So the tomb was sealed by Yuan-ti, and reptiles & actual Yuan-ti are trying to get into it? It really sounds like the defenses should be easier, not harder, for them...

Maybe the leader is served by the Celestial and other attendants in his nasty afterlife so long as his treasures remain in his tomb, so they're particularly warded against those who have an intent to rob the place? Or those most likely to want his goodies: other Yaun-ti. Yeah, that could be it.

Heh, this is a little tortured logic but: What if the ward on the tomb requires the sacrifice of something of great value to open, but only the sacrifice of something (like the tomb-robbers life) that would foil what they hope to accomplish by plundering the tomb - it could even be a curse that invokes fate to force such an outcome. For the Lizardman to get in, he has to sacrifice the Scroll of True Res, which would render the shroud useless for his purposes.

However, the PC's purpose is to stop the bad guys from getting what's in the tomb, so foiling their purpose would result in the bud guys getting what's in the tomb...

The party has stopped all of his attempts to capture people with celestial bloodlines (Aasimars and desendants of them ect.). So he's basically resorting to cheating. He -knows- the shroud is there because he's affiliated with Yuan-Ti.

I was thinking about it requiring celestial blood to get into the tomb but that just seems redundant.

Having a local tribe of Barbarians that are friendly to the PC's have stolen the key to the Tomb is sounding like the easiest option. I'm counting on them wanting to learn how to get dinosaur mounts to endear the Barbarians to them.

How would the party get in if it requers something of great value to sacrifice? Just roll with whatever seems appropriate that they come up with? So that the badguys only care about one thing is why they can't sacrifice anything else. And they've been trying to sacrifice loads of things for tendays now. Hmm could work.

They may end up skipping going into the tomb this way, which I'm totally okay with. Great sacrifice for great rewards (I have some sweet loot ideas for the Tomb). Or get on trying to stop the BBEG.

[DontEatRawHagis]

Blood of a race of creatures that isn't in the cult but is in the party.

[MaxWilson]

A pint of blood freely given by an intelligent warm blooded creature.

"Freely given" excludes "paid for with money"?

[Kyutaru]

How about an honest to goodness key?

In Final Fantasy 4, the bad guy was kept from getting into a sealed area because he didn't possess the key, which turned out to be the dwarf princess necklace, which the dwarf king had to give to the player. So the player characters were the only ones capable of entering while the bad guys were still figuring out a way inside.

[Slipperychicken]

"Freely given" excludes "paid for with money"?

It means that the celestial gave the blood of his own volition. That is, without being coerced, intimidated, or forcibly bled.