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<blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 9538481" data-attributes="member: 54629">To build on this, 5e has a number of spells on which you could base the effect: antipathy, hallucinatory terrain, mirage arcane, etc.I am running The Wild Behond the Witchlight, which features a lake that is home to a unicorn. The lake has a magical effect that prevents any non-unicorn from approaching within a certain distance of it. (It has a loophole in that the effect can’t distinguish between a real unicorn and a fake one, so even just holding a stick up to your forehead can bypass it.)Perhaps the fortress has a similar effect. You can allow the PCs to see the fortress, but they can’t get close enough to interact with its inhabitants. You can let the players faff about for a while before telling them that they’ll have to go do some research to find out how to approach the fortress should they really want to do so. You can make it as easy or hard as you want for them to learn the secret. (Mind you, stubborn/clever players might just decide to hide and wait for someone to leave so they can ambush them and find out how to approach …)You could potentially combine the effects … so there’s a magical repulsion effect and an illusion that makes the fortress look like a hill or something. Perhaps you just tell the players that their PCs inexplicably find themselves going around the hill, as if there’s some kind of force compelling them to avoid it. It’s a mystery! And not every mystery needs to be solved straight away. They might have to do some research …</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pukunui, post: 9538481, member: 54629"] To build on this, 5e has a number of spells on which you could base the effect: [I]antipathy, hallucinatory terrain, mirage arcane[/I], etc. I am running [I]The Wild Behond the Witchlight[/I], which features a lake that is home to a unicorn. The lake has a magical effect that prevents any non-unicorn from approaching within a certain distance of it. (It has a loophole in that the effect can’t distinguish between a real unicorn and a fake one, so even just holding a stick up to your forehead can bypass it.) Perhaps the fortress has a similar effect. You can allow the PCs to see the fortress, but they can’t get close enough to interact with its inhabitants. You can let the players faff about for a while before telling them that they’ll have to go do some research to find out how to approach the fortress should they really want to do so. You can make it as easy or hard as you want for them to learn the secret. (Mind you, stubborn/clever players might just decide to hide and wait for someone to leave so they can ambush them and find out how to approach …) You could potentially combine the effects … so there’s a magical repulsion effect [I]and [/I]an illusion that makes the fortress look like a hill or something. Perhaps you just tell the players that their PCs inexplicably find themselves going around the hill, as if there’s some kind of force compelling them to avoid it. It’s a mystery! And not every mystery needs to be solved straight away. They might have to do some research … [/QUOTE]

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