Pathfinder 1E Challenge: Help me make a mountain climb interesting for my epic level players

[Wasteland Knight]

I’ve played in three campaigns over the years where the characters were at or above 20th level. I can’t imagine a mountain climb being any sort of challenge for characters of that level.

 

[Stalker0]

To me the key here is not to turn this into a "challenge", that is simply swimming upstream. Instead, have it be a fun exploration moment.

Maybe they find the initials of another high level character, and can remark on how they now walk the same steps as the old greats. Have them find a fun npc nearly frozen on the mountain...again nothing crazy or nefarious, just some light easy roleplay.

Instead of trying to up the challenge, do the opposite. Note how mundane and easy everything is, and let the players see how much they have changed since there great journey. Maybe they are happy to be home....maybe home doesn't really feel like home anymore...but either way things are different, and that is what this leg of the story highlights.

If you have already done some of the climatic moments....than let the players enjoy the epilogue.

 

[GMMichael]

b) Massive Earth Elementals (think The Hobbit)

Think bigger. The mountain IS an earth elemental. And a terrasque lives in its armpit.

But since the campaign is drawing to a close, just have several points along the mountain that remind the PCs of past events, and have cut scenes back to those moments. Rolling dice while re-creating them is fine, because memories evolve. Use this for inspiration:

 

[Fromost the Grimm]

Have everyone make a Dexterity check; the character with the lowest result trips and falls onto the character with next lowest result, then both fall on the character with the next lowest result, and this continues until the whole party are sliding down the mountainside in a big, chaotic heap, trying to steer themselves in the right direction/away from trees, Goonies-style, until they all arrive at the bottom of the mountain in a giant tangle of arms, legs, and snow.

That's an epic end to the whole campaign right there.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Here is the bad news: Not all game challenges are level appropriate across every single level. In fact, I'd say that it's far more likely that a challenge type does not span every possible level, at least outside of class challenges. Climbing a mountain is an extraordinary accomplishment at 1st level, some place just above 0-level Commoner.

Depends on the mountain. I can see only two ways (other than with magic, which pretty much renders the issue moot) where the epic party will fare better:

1) Climb skill. To some extent one person with climb skill can traverse problems and use a rope to get others past it--but note that again and again we see that highly skilled sherpas are limited in their ability to get unskilled people safely up Everest. Note, also, that the hardest part of it simply is functioning in that environment, thus:

2) The fighter types will have improved Constitution which I would interpret to make altitude less of a burden, but the arcane types won't have nearly the benefit.

I would expect your level 1 fighter to fare better than your level 20 wizard (not counting magic) on a major mountain.

Also, note that the nature of the mountain means a lot more than it's size. Long ago I attempted one of the Seven Summits--as a level-0 commoner, albeit with a skilled guide. I failed but only because of endurance--we ran out of time and had to turn back. A level-0 commoner has no business on any of the other six even though three of them aren't as high.

 

[der_kluge]

As the party descends (using whatever means they decide), they notice a pair of boulders spinning around one another. That's curious enough to warrant a closer look.

There, they find a Galeb Guhr (a paltry CR 6 creature), and he's as old as the mountain - and hella lonely. Noticing the PCs descend, he decided to get their attention, so that maybe they'd come talk to him.

The Galeb Duhr could be a lot of things - interesting distraction - maybe he's just wants to play some games with the PCs, or he could be a kind of sage. Maybe he has information that's useful. The Galeb Duhr might also know of a secret entrance into an isolated cave deep in the mountain. Centuries ago, an earthquake closed off the cave, sealing a dragon inside that made it his home. The dragon never escaped, and likely died in the cave, along with all his treasure. Assuming some Xorn haven't shown up and eaten it all by now. Or maybe the dragon somehow became a dracolich? Or maybe something else found its way into the cave, and is using it as a base. Or maybe the inside of the mountain lies an imprisoned villain (via the imprisonment spell).

Of course, the Galeb Duhr will only hint at this information, and won't show it unless the PCs agree to a game of boulders (marbles).