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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MortalPlague" data-source="post: 5456203" data-attributes="member: 62721">I'm going to be running an epic encounter tomorrow evening, where my epic PCs take on Vecna, the God of Secrets.  There's no plot involved; this is the finale in a <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/300634-epic-4th-edition-we-fought-gods.html" target="_blank">series of fights</a> to try out epic level play.  However, having done justice to Ogremoch and Lolth both, I'd like to round it out with an appropriately clever fight with Vecna.One of the touches I'm going to bring to the fight is secrecy.  With Vecna being the God of Secrets, I figure the easiest way to represent that is to keep some things secret from the players, out of game.  For instance, I won't write down Vecna's initiative on the list.  I also won't let them know when he becomes bloodied.  Or when he dies.  The point of the puzzle here is to lock Vecna to the game mechanics.  Once the puzzle is solved, he is locked to an initiative count, it's revealed when he becomes bloodied, and he can be slain.I want to put together a puzzle or riddle that must be solved to negate the Secret Abilities.  This shouldn't be a puzzle that requires vast player riddle-solving or puzzling abilities, but rather has a series of steps that ask for skill checks or various actions that can be performed in combat (perhaps in lieu of an attack, for the more significant actions).  It needs to be a long puzzle, but not so long that the party can't complete it with a couple rounds of focused actions.  I don't want to screw them over if they only figure out that the puzzle needs to be solved towards the end of the fight.As of right now, I don't have a puzzle.  I have a few ideas, some thoughts on what sort of activities may be required, but nothing concrete.  ENWorld is always a great place for collective brainstorming, however, so I'll throw my ideas out there, and ask for some in return.  I could definitely use some inspiration on this one!Thoughts so far:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I want to involve languages.  Perhaps there's a message in Supernal that needs to be decoded, but the legend for decoding is written in Elven.  And then the riddle is written in Deep Speech.  Or maybe there's something that requires a word from a different language to toggle?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Maybe there are statues that need to be placed in the correct order?  Or shifted into the right location?  Or symbols that need to be correctly constructed by turning or moving sections?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As for subject matter, anything to do with the Gods or Primordials would be fitting.  Also, schools of magic and their relationships would work well.  Anything to do with knowledge and secrecy would, of course, be very appropriate.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Different stages to the puzzle would be a big plus; I want my PCs to feel they're getting somewhere at different points.  For instance, if step one was to figure out the code, then step two was to apply the code to the puzzle and solve the puzzle, then step three was to do some final task...</li> </ul>I don't have anything connecting the various puzzle ideas, so any bright ideas would be very much appreciated.</blockquote>

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