"It's written in some kind of code!"

[Zephrin the Lost]

My players are close to issuing a beat down on a spy. Once this is accomplished, they will capture his correspondence. It's not just an exotic language, it's an actual code. Any suggestions on managing this sort of thing in 4e would be welcome. I see a skill challenge, but wonder if there are rituals that will bypass the challenge.

Also, it's a spy for the Emerald Claw so I see the writing being in draconic. Any other suggestions?

 

[twilsemail]

There's a Martial Practice in MP2 on page 149 called "Decipher Script." I'd say it's something to worry about, but I think I'm the only person around that actually likes Martial Practices.

Is this something that you want the players to succeed at or just a cookie? Will failing to decipher the text derail your plot? Do you have any PCs in the party that you think will immediately latch on to the puzzle? If so how do you think they'd approach it?

I don't have a complete list of Rrituals in front of me, but I know that Comprehend Language actually specifies a language instead of a cypher.

 

[Riastlin]

The writing in Draconic can fairly easily be translated with Comprehend Languages ritual.

As for the code itself, I'm assuming that you mean the writing is in draconic, but that the words don't necessarily mean what the literal translation suggests i.e. "The fat man walks with two canes" really means "I'd like a Royale with Cheese please."

I don't believe that the Comprehend Languages ritual would decipher the code, but I am away from my book and don't have access to the compendium at work (stupid firewalls). However, a skill challenge certainly seems in order. Off the top of my head some suggestions would be:

Insight -- fairly obvious how that would apply.
History -- the code makes historical references "At the house of the Kingslayer" refers to the knight Lannister, etc.
Religion -- gods or religious rites could be referred to in code. "The temple of One Eye" etc.
Arcana -- I might allow a good arcana check to translate part of the code.
Nature -- Again referencing landmarks.
Streetwise -- recognize landmarks, people, places, etc.

 

[Zephrin the Lost]

The correspondence will only contain information that will entice (and possibly alarm) them, not reveal everything, but I do want the actual breaking to be interesting. Maybe take 10-15 minutes of game time.

I'm thinking:

History checks (other codes for reference)
Arcana checks (to reveal a ritual if one exists and the PC's don't know it)
Streetwise (who in town knows how to deal with this sort of thing?)

What else?

 

[Riastlin]

The correspondence will only contain information that will entice (and possibly alarm) them, not reveal everything, but I do want the actual breaking to be interesting. Maybe take 10-15 minutes of game time.

I'm thinking:

History checks (other codes for reference)
Arcana checks (to reveal a ritual if one exists and the PC's don't know it)
Streetwise (who in town knows how to deal with this sort of thing?)

What else?

As an aside, I'm not aware of a ritual that specifically deciphers a code. However, there's nothing preventing you from creating one.

 

[Zephrin the Lost]

As an aside, I'm not aware of a ritual that specifically deciphers a code. However, there's nothing preventing you from creating one.

Oooh! Skill Challenge to create a ritual!

 

[Mengu]

How important is the information in the cipher? Is it something you expect the PC's to have? Does failure have a consequence? Is it something all or most PC's will be able to contribute to decipher? Is it exciting?

If your party has only one academic who would be remotely interested in this code, it won't be much of a skill challenge, and be more like killing time while entertaining that one PC a bit.

I'd be inclined to hand wave it, and say it's a replacement cipher that you manage to crack in a few hours or days (depending on your time table). I don't think deciphering a code is all that skill challenge worthy. May be skill check worthy, an Insight check to see if there is a hidden meaning to the message other than the obvious once deciphered.

Oooh! Skill Challenge to create a ritual!

That actually could be more interesting.

 

[MrMyth]

The writing in Draconic can fairly easily be translated with Comprehend Languages ritual.

As for the code itself, I'm assuming that you mean the writing is in draconic, but that the words don't necessarily mean what the literal translation suggests i.e. "The fat man walks with two canes" really means "I'd like a Royale with Cheese please."

I don't believe that the Comprehend Languages ritual would decipher the code, but I am away from my book and don't have access to the compendium at work (stupid firewalls). However, a skill challenge certainly seems in order. Off the top of my head some suggestions would be:

Insight -- fairly obvious how that would apply.
History -- the code makes historical references "At the house of the Kingslayer" refers to the knight Lannister, etc.
Religion -- gods or religious rites could be referred to in code. "The temple of One Eye" etc.
Arcana -- I might allow a good arcana check to translate part of the code.
Nature -- Again referencing landmarks.
Streetwise -- recognize landmarks, people, places, etc.

I think this is the way to go.

Step one: The PCs find the note in Draconic, and need to translate it. (Either through a ritual or finding someone who can read Draconic.

Step two: Upon translating it, they are faced with a number of code phrases that don't see to have any initial meaning. They now engage in a skill challenge to decipher them, with each skill check revealing important facts they can piece together.

For example, one phrase might be, "The Third hunts beneath the lion's bright eye." A Nature check might reveal the "bright eye" to be the draconic term for the full moon, a History check might reveal that the lion is associated with a specific month, and a Religion check might indicate that "the Fourth" refers to one of Tiamat's heads, that of a green dragon.

Thus, the full message says that a green dragon attack is planned to occur on the night of a full moon of the next month. Another sentence might reveal the target, and so on.

This would let your players get involved, learn some interesting background stuff you can work in, and still try and puzzle out the final meaning as they unearth the details in each clue. Failures provide them with potentially misleading or false information, but perhaps with a grain of truth for them to then uncover on their own.

 

[Camelot]

There is no official ritual to decipher a code. They can understand the language, sure, but not what it really means.

If you want to go skill challenge, Raistlin's ideas for skill checks are spot on great. You could also make up your own code and have the players themselves figure it out (like riddles and puzzles in the DMG, page 81). If you do this, make sure each player contributes evenly. You can then give their characters XP as if they had beaten a skill challenge. There are a number of codes you can use, like the simple Caesarian_cipher. There are much more complicated ones, and you could probably find them out in the internets somewhere. It's fun to have the players actually have to think hard in order to overcome a problem instead of just rolling dice!

 

[Zephrin the Lost]

Lots of great ideas. I think I'm going to go for the skill challenge to perform a ritual that will decipher the writing. Gathering components and other related tasks will allow me to include everyone and success will grant a real feeling of accomplishment, and also that the code was a strong one.

I'll have various pieces of information become revealed with each success so unless they fail altogether they will gain information.

Thanks for the inspiration!