Seeking advice on gating

[DeadMech]

I'm lazy, you all often know what you are talking about. So I'm going to try offload some of my work to the forum.

For a campaign I'm making I want to focus allot on exploration and something I have to do is think about gating. I want players to see places they want to go but don't have the ability to get to yet. So that later when they do gain the ability new areas will unlock to them. These might be new areas or shortcuts back to home

This could be done with literal key items or something but I think It would be more rewarding if as much of the gating as possible was based on PC abilities. It would be more organic.

As such I want to compile a list of gates (obstacles that block progression) and keys (Things that overcome said obstacles) so that I can seed hints to areas to explore in roughly level appropriate time. Maybe drag and drop obstacles to critical areas based around whatever composition the party comes up with.

As example flight changes how terrain limits PC's ability to explore. A level 1 PC of the right race has access to personal flight. This can make overcoming certain obstacles trivial. On the other hand it still has limits.A single flying PC can only carry so much weight and might be putting themselves in a great deal of risk separating the party. So it's probably only going to be utilized in certain situations.

The logical way to access a ledge might be to send a flying party member up to tie off a rope the rest of the party to climb. But if the ruined towers of a city were home to wings of dragons as example I wouldn't expect the PC's to want to fly anywhere open where they run the risk of being seen. At least not until they can reliably fight whatever size of dragon in whatever number they have seen. (and potentially it's very angry parents when a bunch don't come home)

Almost anything could be a gate and key. Waterbreathing is a 3rd level ritual that could allow a party to explore the ocean, or a lake, or an underground river. At least in part. There are of course other concerns that PC's might want to address before they go full underwater campaign. Like gaining swim speeds or being able to attack without disadvantage so that if they again run into nasties they won't be hosed.

I've considered things as esoteric as the calm emotions spell being a potential key to exploring areas that affect PC's mental well being. Like say trips into the Feywild or Shadowfel.

Skill checks could be gates. A lock of a certain DC might only be possible for someone to open at a certain level, with a minimum attribute bonus, with expertise. And it might only really be viable for that lock to be opened if the surrounding area is established as being safe since it could take quite a bit of time.

Said lock is only as safe as the door it's attached to. And said door only as secure as the weakest wall. Or the DC of the climb to the nearest window. Literally anything could be a gate and key. Hundreds if not thousands of possibilities. Which is why I'm here to mine your brains.

[LudicSavant]

Gate 1: The adventure is underwater. Easy gate for level 5+ because of the Water Breathing ritual.

Gate 2: The adventure is deep underwater.

[Zhorn]

Societal gate: Some of the adventure is in the higher-society section of town. They get shown through there once with an escort, but if they attempt to go there later on their own the guards will eject them. To overcome this they need to build the right kind of reputation/prestige to be granted a pass as to access plot hooks for that area.

[MrStabby]

Well for the flying example, you just can have flying races not existing in your world or not being eligable for PCs. That puts it back on the table.

Teleport is then a step up...

Planeshifting is then a step further.


For some of these you can reverse causality - it isn't that the PCs can get theire because they are high enough level, but rather the PCs are high enough level because they have taken all the steps and gone through all the adventures needed to get all the right keys.


Other spells that open this kind of thing up are waterbreathing and, at lower levels, darkvision (asuming no darkvision races).

You can have physical tests as well - running through a gateway/tunnel of fire to burn traversing PCs. Long enough that you need a lot of HP/Healing/elemental protection to get through but damage is slow enough to give time to turn around.

[Greywander]

Don't underestimate your players' ability to run your campaign off its rails. Neither underestimate their ability to solve problems creatively that they weren't supposed to. The issue is that the players might find a way around your gate, no matter how carefully you've set it up, so you need to be prepared for that eventuality. These kinds of things work well in video games, but work a lot less in tabletop land.

With this in mind, the best gate is probably the fork. One thing they can't do is be in two places at once (splitting the party notwithstanding). Force them to make a choice between several locations they want to explore, ideally right before the end of a session so you have time to prepare that area before the next session. Or, you can even sketch out the basic layout of a dungeon, with statblocks for the monsters within, and then fluff it according to which location they visit. You can even make it clear to them that events are occurring at each of the locations they can choose from, and the longer they wait to explore each area, the more things might change (e.g. get more difficult) before they get there.

As an example, perhaps one of the locations is a valley that's plagued by a necromancer (who has a MacGuffin the players need). If the players go there first, it's mostly normal, with a stray undead here and there. The necromancer is in hiding, so tracking him down is sort of like solving a mystery. If the players visit one other area first, then the valley is plagued by roving undead, parts of the town are ruined, and the townsfolk are living in fear, but still standing strong. The necromancer is still keeping his hideout secret, but tracking him down and killing him is a lot more straightforward as a series of combat encounters. If the players visit the valley last (of the options presented to them), then the valley is overrun with powerful hordes of undead, the town is destroyed, and the townsfolk are all dead, undead, in hiding, or fled the valley. The undead are too strong and too numerous to take head-on, so the players have to stealthily creep around them and sneak into the necromancer's (now a lich) stronghold, which is no longer hidden.

[Kane0]

A little sign with a number of skulls inscribed on it indicating how hazarous the area is in. Bonus points if there is also a warning message in an uncommon language.

Canyons with a gravity-altering magic effect over them which requires magical flight or very strong regular flight/climbing

Underground tunnels that rearrange themselves so as to confuse those passing through them and send them back the way they came, which also combats the bypass of stone-shaping magic

Thick, animated vegetation that literally blocks the party and stops them from proceeding including rapid regrowth, requiring control plants or some form of desolating magic to get through.
Similarly, a patch of ocean that rises up and needs magical propulsion of a ship, a flying vessel or teleportation to get to the top of.

A semi-isolated location like an island that foils divination effects, you have to go find it the old fashioned way.

A location that sits on a weakened border to another plane, plane shift is the easy way but the weakened border can be coaxed into a portal with lower level ritual magic.

You could also get wacky with enchantments/illusions to mess with tresspassers

[CheddarChampion]

Magical doors that only open under certain conditions.

Inactive portals that only work in certain conditions.

High CR monsters that guard entrances to places. Like, a dragon's lair is also an entrance to the underdark.

Long travel distances which would be nearly impossible to get to on your own. Examples include journeying across a desert (and banning goodberry + create water) and sailing across a sea.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Magic Portals the only way to activate the portal is with the right key. They can’t go to the iron desert until they get the key from the storm glacier. And they can’t access the storm glacier unless they get the key from the temple in the ruby jungles. To get the key to the ruby jungles they need to get the key from old man Harris who was kidnapped by pirates last week.

Or they could sail to the iron desert directly then march a thousand miles fighting CR 10 creatures at level one.

[Ettina]

Planar travel is another key. Certain goals/adventures can only be done once the PCs have access to plane shift. In addition, once they have plane shift, they still need to get separate tuning forks attuned to each plane of existence they wish to visit.

[Trask]

When I read the thread name I was already thinking to share my experiences using and being abused by the dreaded kidnapping power of the spell gate. Oh well.

[Angelalex242]

Beef gates only work so well in video games, cause you can always patiently overlevel and kill the higher level monsters to get even more levels. That's why most gates are impossible to get by no matter how much leveling you do.

[stoutstien]

Distance over hostile territory is a fairly solid gate to use as long as you track resources. Getting to the goal can be as rewarding as the goal itself.

[MoiMagnus]

DC make a very bad gate.
Not only is it awkward to put a DC that is impossible up until the PCs reach a high enough level so that they can bruteforce it with a natural 20 plus maximum result on bardic inspiration, guidance, etc, but on top of that it maxing your main ability score is already encouraged by the system, you don't need to have additional punishment on players that chose to go with a less specialised character.

Spells make better gates, but this assume you're ensuring that no scroll of those spells can be found beforehand.
Planar travel immediately comes to my mind.

Money and influence are the easiest gateway to set up. Maybe you need an astral boat to explore the astral sea, or you need to make your way up to society to get more opportunities. Fame also work. When peoples know you killed a dragon, any sane bandit will avoid attacking you, making travels much easier.

[Sorinth]

Does the PCs being part and/or having access to an adventuring guild make sense for the campaign?

If so then you can easily have NPCs pass along the message that the PCs aren't ready for that area, while also being able to tempt the players with those areas when other adventurers from the guild return from those areas with epic stories and cool loot.

[da newt]

Creating a required key to access a gate/portal can be a physical thing (the McGuffin) or a spell (you must cast FIREBALL on this gate to open it), and are the most simple solutions.

If you create challenge based 'gates' it can open up the possibility of your party successfully completing a challenge well before you intended them to - but then again, a party who is actively seeking to get into stuff well above their weight class, can find themselves in over their head which may not be a bad thing ...

If you want simple but cheesey - a gatekeeper could be created who is the only one who can open gates / grant passage (think bridgekeeper from monty python and the holy grail). Create circumstances that the gatekeeper will only open gates when they have been satisfied the party is worthy. This cannot be circumvented through killing the gatekeeper or any other sort of bypass.

Or if you want super KISS, just make the gate/portal only allow PC's of X lvl to pass through successfully. If the PC is below a certain level the gate shunts them to location X, if the PC is at or above a certain level the gate sends them to location Y.

[MrStabby]

DC make a very bad gate.
Not only is it awkward to put a DC that is impossible up until the PCs reach a high enough level so that they can bruteforce it with a natural 20 plus maximum result on bardic inspiration, guidance, etc, but on top of that it maxing your main ability score is already encouraged by the system, you don't need to have additional punishment on players that chose to go with a less specialised character.

Spells make better gates, but this assume you're ensuring that no scroll of those spells can be found beforehand.
Planar travel immediately comes to my mind.

Money and influence are the easiest gateway to set up. Maybe you need an astral boat to explore the astral sea, or you need to make your way up to society to get more opportunities. Fame also work. When peoples know you killed a dragon, any sane bandit will avoid attacking you, making travels much easier.

You are right, DC is a bad gate, but it can be a great way to telegraph difficulty. If there is a check that 80% of the party fails to get access to an area andif it is indicative of the kind of challenge in that area then it is a nic IC way of showing that - as part of a general representation.

One other thing I would add is a simple toll.

If treasure is gained by adventuring, then having X treasure available to gain access to an area is likely to correspond to level Y. Also, as DM you can kind of also turn the tap on treasure to make access come earlier or later as you see fit.