Need help with creating a series of elementalpuzzles

[edwee]

as the title suggests, i am in need of some puzzles for my campaign. ive tried making my own puzzles, but im not at all good at that, so I decided to ask for some suggestions. the puzzles im wanting to make are centered around 4 elements fire, wind, water/ice, and earth.(and an undead element, but that one is taken care of)

I also (loosely) searched around for any puzzles to get inspiration from, but I couldnt find anything, probably due to me being too specific for google. but any help/ideas would help a great deal.
Thank you.

 

[Mark CMG]

(. . .) centered around 4 elements fire, wind, water/ice, and earth (. . .)

Some might just divide those as earth, wind, fire and water, then put some combinations in between such as, perhaps, fire/wind = smoke, earth/water = mud, wind/water = ice, earth/fire = lava, water/fire = steam, and earth/wind = tornadoes or dust devils. Maybe there's something to do with that strategy? Without broader knowledge of how you'd like to apply it, it's hard to gear the puzzles to the situation.

 

[edwee]

oh sorry, I was planning on having 4 rooms, with their own puzzle type thing in order to advance to the next room... im not really sure how i want the puzzles to go or anything, which is one of the many reasons Im having trouble with this

 

[Whisper72]

Must it be a puzzle, or can it also be more of a challenge.

For example: water challenge: you open the door to the room. The room has no visible floor. It is basically a pool. There are no other doors / exits visible. Upon investigation, you notice there is some water creature (elemental?) and upon close inspection, a 'door' is located at the bottom of the pool. The elemental avoids combat and only strikes back when attacked, only to 'flee' into the water once more.
When diving into the pool and investigating the door, it appears to be constructed such that it cannot be opened while the water presses on the door.

If the party is ingenious/powerful enough, maybe they can think of a way to 'drain' the water, fight the elemental etc. Another method would be to negotiate with the elemental. For a fee (payment in some form, maybe other than cash/magic, a quest may be appropriate), the elemental is willing to control the water such that it is 'walled' away and the party can simply climb into the now largely dry pool and open the door, onto the next 'room'.

Something like that also an option?

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Care to share the Undead one, so we might understand your theme/direction more?

 

[Thunderfoot]

Really going outside the box here - check out "True Dungeon Riddle reveal" on YouTube. Most of the past years reveals have been posted at this point, and Jeff is really good at using elemental puzzles (I volunteer for him year round so I've built quite a few of these.)

You may have to take really good notes as the video is usually shot with a phone or by someone without full motion video who then links pictures with audio, but I'm pretty sure there is at least a few things that will be of help, especially if you put the work into it that you appear to be willing to do.

Hope this helps. . . Looking forward to hearing what you did.

Oh, and welcome to ENWorld.

 

[howandwhy99]

Four rooms match up with four elements. I would use puzzles that reveal the traits of the elements involved. For example:

1. Water - liquids flow out to fill a space. A small room has spikes on the floor. They are easily walked around slowly. Within a large glass column in the center is water of low turgidity where they can see treasure. The challenge lies in opening the column without filling the room with water, which causes slippery footing.

2. Earth - solids resist entrance and can encapsulate a person. Behind this room's door is a wall of earth. The room is filled with it. Reaching the treasure inside means learning not only how to dig a tunnel, but to support a made ceiling of dirt. Finding the treasure quickly is part of deciding how to excavate.

3. Wind - air is substantial, but usually not enough to support a person. This room appears empty, though full of dust. Greater than slowed movement creates dust clouds and limited visibility. In hole in the ceiling is a bat lair with your treasure. Disturb the bats and you are fighting blind in the dust.

4. Fire - fire is a chemical reaction letting off heat and light, it can both sustain and destroy life. This room is overgrown with wood briars. Exploring it will cause damage, but under cover of the briars can be found a large, valuable tapestry. Cutting the wood takes a long time, but burning much less. Of course burning causes smoke and can burn the treasure.

Of course smart players will use elements from other rooms to assist them in overcoming others.

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

Simple, what do each of these items want

What does the fire want? To consume
What does the water want? To flow
What does the wind want? To whisper?
What does the earth want? To endure?

Fire: I'd introduce a small, but very hungry fire spirit. It's been trapped in a library of tasty books. It can forever see what it desires, the tasty books, but can never reach them. Worse, the users of the library endlessly taunt it by bringing the books close to the flame so they can read it, but not close enough for it to consume them. How many valuable books will the party feed to the fire to gain it's blessing? Will the users of the library want their valuable collection burned?

Water: What if the water has been turned into a prison of ice. It holds something the party would rather keep trapped. It longs to flow again, to rush over rock and sand, to crash upon the coast. To free it also means freeing whatever the ice is holding. Will the party free an innocent element and unleash a the trapped thing? Can they best the evil contained in the ice or find another way to contain it?

Wind: The wind wants to whisper ideas to men. This wind wants to whisper some dangerous idea though. It might be the truth about the gods, the name of an ancient evil, seven words that would drive any man insane, or well, you get the idea. That idea is written on a piece of paper, a player only need to speak the idea to the wind. Will they unleash an evil truth to gain the wind's blessing? Can they supply a happier idea that wind will take instead?

Earth: The earth wants to build an enduring wall. This wall will seperate to rivals who always argue and fight. If they could talk, they might become fast friends. If they are seperated, they are sure to become enemies. One will always want what the other has on the other side of the wall. Will the party make new enemies to appease the earth, or can they talk the earth into building something enduring that doesn't cause strife.