Pathfinder D&D Puzzles #36 - Deja Vu

Our adventurers find themselves in a room with snacks, drinks, and a roaring fireplace to take a break and relax. Should they look out the window they will have see themselves five minutes ago, in the past finishing up a major combat encounter. The past will catch up with them soon, leaving them with the feeling that they have been here before... beware the effects of deja vu!
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[@kaiashere]

6 years later and this is one of my favorite scenarios of all time, thanks for the vid dude 😎👍

[@WallyDM]

Oh heck yeah, I'm glad that it has worked so well for you. Thank you for coming back to this classic, really made my day. Cheers!

[@vcdaniels]

You can even have this warning on the door in pleasingly written script understandable in whatever language is natively known by the reader: "Enter ye, but do not kill time A ghost shall haunt thee for such crime But mark, the ghost be naught but thine."

[@WallyDM]

Ah, yes. I like this riddle a lot! Great addition to this puzzle and to warn of what's to come. Well done!

[@EthansQuest]

I used a variant where the safe room loops back to the fighting room. Theres one key but 3 locks which need simultaneous keys to get out. Therefore, the party has to stand unlocking each lock at even intervals of loop timing so that their past selves will unlock the other locks while they unlock the final one to escape.

[@linus4d1]

I recently ran this riddle in my game. Thank you for sharing. The beginning battle was a battle with zombie versions of themselves... remains of a past timeline when they had failed.

[@WallyDM]

Ooooh. That is a spicy idea. I love the fact that the PCs could run into down-trodden (or dead) versions of themselves from elsewhere. I think I need to use this idea myself, someday. Glad that the Deja Vu puzzle was able to fit right in with your game! Hooray!

[@amadrinogames3401]

Ha! Love the intro dude! Ha! Love the intro dude!

[@WallyDM]

Awww yeah. Thank you! Thank you!

[@loganmatthews2479]

really excellent puzzle. im thinking of running this same thing except the way to get out is to break the mirror, leading into a boss room where they fight a monster that throws them into the de ja vu curse. He also cannot be hurt by the same attack or spell twice in a row. when he is defeated, the curse is over and the PCs can proceed.

[@WallyDM]

Awesome! Be sure to let me know how it goes. I really dig the idea of the monster having immunity to the second attack. The players will remember this one for sure! :)

[@Fragadagalops]

I'd make my player's continue the Deja Vu Effect the whole last fight, but they have to make a Wisdom Saving Throw so they can make new actions. Thanks for these great videos!

[@WallyDM]

I do like the idea of a Wisdom Saving throw. I think you are on to something there! Thank you for the fantastic comment! New puzzle video should be out in a couple of weeks! :)

[@chrislang9150]

I just ran this in my game but added a timer to the players. Every injury they sustained in the first fight was removed from their total each time they entered the room. So my barbarian of the group had 43 hp. He took 6 damage before entering. Every time he re-entered the room, he had an additional 6 points from his life total. It was a pretty good way to get the players to act urgently, and allowed them to understand a clock was ticking on their lives. To pull this off, I had each character take a bit of damage by having 2 encounter rooms and spreading the damage out a bit before the Deja vu room.

[@WallyDM]

This sounds like an intense game session! Well done Chris! I love the direction you took this. Thank you for sharing. :)

[@mistersparrow]

My players had some fun with this one last night. I reskinned the first room as a green house on a small island at the center of a pond. It's second room was down a staircase and beneath the water of the pond. Of course our druid discovered the second room when she wild shaped into a squid. I designed the submerged room to have a ceiling made of observation glass to view the fish in the pond. Luckily, even though the druid bypassed the time loop by braking through the glass and getting what was hidden in there, my players still decided to enter the green house and were forced into the time loop :). I had them reorganize a messy bookshelf with a 200 book encyclopedia collection before they were able to get out. It was fun! Thank you!

[@WallyDM]

Oh nice! I really like what you did here with the green house. I'm glad this video was able to help inspire your encounter. Thank you for sharing your story. Cheers!

[@mmardh799]

this could be very interesting to play! thank you

[@WallyDM]

You bet! The Deja Vu Puzzle is one of the channel favorites, for sure.

[@WallyDM]

You bet! The Deja Vu Puzzle is one of the channel favorites, for sure.

[@Faecaloma]

I am so happy your channel exists. I'm doing a Halloween themed session this October (I like to do holiday themed sessions for my players, kind of like how they do in mmorpg's for holiday events) where my players get transported to another plane, it is a common occurrence in my game, surrounded by festively decorated houses. They will meet a gentleman there who will let them pick out a costume to wear unless they have their own and set them about trick or treating. Each house will be some kind of puzzle(s) they have to solve to get some home brewed loot. I am going to pillage your videos for it. Thank you.

[@WallyDM]

Thank you for the kind words Fecal! I sincerely appreciate it. :) I really like your Halloween themed ideas. Your players will enjoy them for sure! Don't forget to check out Scarecrow Mansion and The Wall of Aging... both are Halloween type puzzles you can use. Also, I hope to release my next "Halloween themed" Puzzle in a couple of weeks... "Scare Crows". Stay tuned and stay awesome!

[@ChrisWEEZ]

I really dig the idea of the players seeing themselves from the room above. Nice puzzle! I was trying to think of a way to create more consequences for the players, and thought up the same thing they did in Dr. Strange. Maybe the players are facing off against a time mage who, once close to zero hp, casts a spell and smiles saying, “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other again.” Once the players leave the room, they find themselves back in the same entrance, with the evil mage once again ready for a fight. They are forced to treat with the mage, or be stuck in a loop forever, unless they stop the mage from casting his spell.

[@WallyDM]

Oooh. I like this idea too. Such a great sequence in the Dr. Strange movie, I'm sure it would work here as well! I think I need to use this somewhere. Thank you for taking the time to comment and hang out on the channel, I really appreciate it! :)

[@DiceLifeJohnny]

I think everything is great. From one puzzle guy to another :) I’m glad you are doing this channel man. I think the only thing I may do differently is make it harder to get out of the first room ;) -DMJ

[@WallyDM]

DMJ commenting on my channel? Awesome! Glad you liked the puzzle and thanks for making my day!

[@AlexPBenton]

I thought the answer would be to exit through the entrance door, since that would make them interact with their past selves, which might just break the loop. Also, with the second encounter, I thought it would be better if they had to keep performing the same action until the end of combat, and if any of them died then the room would reset again. This was the second room becomes a puzzle of it’s own rather than a punishment.

[@WallyDM]

Some solid ideas here, for sure. And... that's what I love about these videos, they are simply a foundation to build upon. The puzzles I present are easily adjustable and open to interpretation, so, the solution can be anything interesting that the DM or the Players come up with. Thank you for the great comment Alex. Cheers!

[@TheCrocDude]

Added this to a ruin near to a portal to the far realm, only thing I changed was the puzzle was to lock the door you came through rather than unlock the door on the otherside. I had their doppels bang on the otherside for a bit then when they stopped the door opened to a new corridor.

[@WallyDM]

Oh nice, I dig the adjustments. Really cool to hear stories on this puzzle, for sure. Hope your players enjoyed the encounter! :)

[@CommonSenseAdult]

Great video! Going to use in a few weeks. Also going to use the shadow door with some tweaks, great videos, looking forward to seeing more of yours!

[@WallyDM]

Hooray! Two classics of the channel for sure Brett. Thank you for the great feedback and be sure to come back later and let me know how things go... Oh, and spoiler... NEW PUZZLE video on Wednesday, stay tuned!

[@gstaff1234]

This is crazy funny for the first 3 times, but I will need a script to ensure I have the same description for each reoccurring event

[@WallyDM]

Lol... some players may get stuck in that infinite loop, for sure... good luck with this Greg... thanx for the comment. Cheers!

[@THINKMACHINE]

Oh. Oooh. This gave me a very, very evil plan to toss at my group.

[@WallyDM]

Awww yeah. Lemme know how it goes! Thank you for subscribing! :)

[@St0rmrider73]

Was thinking of adding a painting/cross stitch beside or above the other door that reads "There is no time like the present" like the motivational posters that companies have. If they roll a decent investigation check they will notice it or maybe just let them see it if they take more than two times in the room. Maybe they will catch on that it means there is no time like the present to go through the other door...

[@WallyDM]

Oh wow! I love that inspirational/motivation poster idea! I'm stealing that idea for sure. Thank you for watching!

[@vincentpendragon6724]

You have cool puzzles, which feel very classic rpg

[@WallyDM]

Thank you Vincent, I played a lot of D&D back in the 80s... which probably translates into how I run things now-a-days. Glad you enjoy the puzzles! Stay tuned... more soon!

[@ecyen1286]

i like this puzzle quite a bit because of how it teases with the players' minds. I feel like if instead of the key opening the door, the keys can close the previous door, essentially throwing a wrench into the time loop. this kindof defeats the purpose of the time loop curse tho

[@phasingout]

I'm going to try this tonight, but I want to test out a time paradox thing. Where they fight at the bottom see someone through the window. Head up the steps then enter the room only to be jumped by shadow figures. They win with one swipe no problem. Then as they look out the window they notice themselves fighting in the grassy area below and watch themselves walk up the stairs. Now as the door opens they will get attacked by their past selves. This repeats until they defeat their past which creates a time paradox. This is when the nasty trap happens where time breaks and everything including themselves start to age very quickly. They have to get out of this zone which has rapid growing grass. They must hack their way out. Idk how time paradox works lol. I'm sure someone will work it out.

[@thedeliberatemyth]

I feel like this puzzle could work very nicely if combined with your Rewriting History puzzle. Those that dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[@WallyDM]

Ooooh. That is devious. I love it! Although, your players may not. haha! Great idea, welcome to the channel!

[@williampeterson7032]

This makes me want to make an entire dungeon based around this time fuckery, like the PCs have to work with past versions of themself, of course this little puzzle, perhaps a room where every turn a random effect happens per person, like Fast Forward, where they can make double of all their actions, or Pause, where you can't do anything, but you also can't be hurt, etc.

[@WallyDM]

I really like where you are going with this. Sounds super twisted and intense, heck yeah. You'll hafta stop back by and let me know how it goes! Thank you for the fantastic idea and comment! :)

[@kingfred.9333]

Have you given it any thought? I'm trying to figure out how to do a groundhog day/time loop puzzle that includes a cursed hourglass.

[@williampeterson7032]

Ramon Victor I think I need a little more detail to get ideas with this. Does flipping the hourglass rewind time, or is it once all the sand reaches the bottom, or both? How much time does the hourglass countdown for? 1 hour, 30 minutes, 12 hours, etc. What is the actual curse of this hourglass? Perhaps they have little to no control over when it goes off, or like one of the hourglasses that Death has in the Discworld book series, which show when a certain person is destined to die? If you have no clue what to do with the idea yet, I've got a good start you could do. *Insert name here* An hourglass that looks mostly normal, other than the black colored sand inside it. Casting Detect Magic works, as well as Detect Evil. All the sand in the hourglass will start at the top half. When picked up, do one of 2 things, depending on the players current health: + If at full health, do nothing. - If they have lost any health, the sand will flow down to the bottom of the hourglass, until it's at about the same fraction as the players Current Health/Max Health. (Player with 10 max health and 7 current health would keep about 7/10s of the sand in the top.) The hourglass will stay linked to the players health in this way, until they reach 0 or lower, at which point, time will rewind to the point they first touched the hourglass, and depending on how long they have had the hourglass for, will remember more or less of what happened before, including time from previous time rewinds. - If for less than 1 day, remember nothing of the rewind. If a player does die this early after getting the hourglass, assume the party does the same stuff a couple more times until... - If they have had it for 1-7 days, they start getting a sense of deja vu about 30 seconds before they died last time around, with the deja vu coming earlier each day. -If owned for 1-4 weeks, the player starts to fully remember what happens, and can attempt to make them not die from what killed them last loop. If they die from another source, the target will still be the same. If the cause of death is defeated, the sand in the hourglass becomes a pure white, and no longer emits signs of evil, but now good. The player has far better control over the hourglasses time rewind, now only rewinding a minute or 2 at a time on death. This will happen 3 times, losing some sand each time, until, after the 3rd death, it shatters. - If they have not conquered the cause of death in 4 weeks, the party members start to remember too. After this point, the hourglass will simply shatter when they win, breaking the curse, but not giving the party a useful item like before. Putting this item in a dungeon, perhaps as a required item to progress would make this quite interesting. Also I seriously hope you don't use those day amounts, I made them a bit big for a normal game. If you do use it, you would absolutely want to shorten the delay, or make it death based rather than time based. If you do go death based, I would say they get deja vu after the 1st or 2nd death, remember after the 4th or 5th death, and have the party remember at the 8th one. Also, if they beat the entire dungeon without dying, just have it work as a regular hourglass afterwords, that they can sell for slightly more money than normal. Basically, you'll reward your players for dying 0 times, give them a bigger reward if they do die and co-operate on replays, and leave them with no reward for dying too many times, without co-operating. In all honesty, I probably do things really complicated compared to how it could be done. Perhaps have the entire party full heal before they pick it up by some magic barrier or whatever, so you don't have to copy all the current stats of each player. Point of this one is, you're really going out of bounds when talking about the rules, embrace it. TL;DR: Do your best, I sure can't do it for you.

[@kingfred.9333]

William Peterson my first thought was that the hourglass has a time bubble around it that envelops about three rooms. Whenever they die, they start over. The first room would be in total darkness (an enchanted darkness that dark vision doesn't penetrate maybe) and there would be a couple shadows and a ghost in it. They hear whispers alerting them to the presence of the creatures. The room will start to fill with oil and mid battle, from the ceiling a torch of ever burning will slowly descend. The torch obviously doesn't light anything on fire and needs to descend into a contraption of sorts that will illuminate the room. Simple enough, it's just a room to instill fear and paranoia. The best thing to do is battle and wait. If at any point there's a TPK, they start over. I was thinking of adding this deja vu room to it where they can go up and they will hear the battle and be able to look out and see themselves. Maybe the hourglass itself needs to stay with them and be placed somewhere to break the loop in the final room. Maybe in the final room it's clock themed and every few minutes a trap is sprung that they need to successfully bypass and with each death they learn to avoid it. These are just some ideas I've been throwing at the wall. I made a post on a couple forums asking for help because I adore the idea of a time loop puzzle I just don't know how to finish it or make it not frustrating. Here is my post. dungeonmasterblock.freeforums.net/thread/2169/groundhogs-day-puzzle#

[@mauriciomonsalvespino2214]

Great, thx m8. Keep it up

[@WallyDM]

You betcha! Thank you for the comment!

[@dylanthompson6525]

I feel like after they kill the bug bears if hey take to long they get sent back to the very first room with the relaxing food and chairs

[@WallyDM]

Awww yeah, I like your style Mr. Opossum. Keep your players locked into this time loop, they'll never want to see another bugbear again, lol. Great feedback, thank you! :)

[@RubrDuky1]

What happens if the players try to leave the room through the door to the west: the door they entered through?

[@WallyDM]

I would suggest two possibilities: 1) The door disappears after they enter... or... is a one-way door 2) If they open the door they entered through, time automatically resets and they are back to the instance of when they first came into this room... Up to the DM, honestly, but we absolutely cannot let them go back through that door. Great question!

[@AlexPBenton]

I personally think that this should be the solution!

[@terrybeal2252]

Delightfully evil. I love it! 😈

[@WallyDM]

Mwahahaha! Glad you enjoyed this time-twisting idea! :)

[@quintonneal2881]

Love that intro XD

[@WallyDM]

Haha! Thank you. :-) cheers!

[@LadyHonorHarrington]

this is a very great puzzle. definately will try to use it someday... but first the owl-puzzle of yours is up this friday ^^.. hope my players come that far.

[@WallyDM]

Awesome! Glad you are using the Prismatic Owl puzzle. Ironically enough, I just used the Owl puzzle for the first time last weekend. Easy, but an enjoyable one. For sure. Thank you for the kind words! :)

[@uaenruotel]

what I thought the solution to the puzzle would be was that the players could interact with the previous room, the deja vu versions would always do the same thing but if they were to put up a wall to close the door or kill their past selves the loop would end and the new door would open

[@Sephiroth517]

So, the solution of the "puzzle" is just to walk out of the room through the blatantly visible door in front of them, and the punishment for taking too long to do so is to lose turns in the combat that awaits them on the other side of said door... I can't see that as anything else than some unavoidable deadly magical trap...

[@WallyDM]

Honestly, this was more of a puzzle to explore the character's curiosity. It's more intended to be an absolute weird, bizarre phenomenon for them to experience. I want the players to stick around in the room to see what weird things are going to happen. And the combat is a given in a dungeon crawl... suffering weird effects because they are in a magical place just adds to a fun story they we can discuss and laugh about for years to come. I would not classify a combat scenario when the characters are under a weird spell as a "punishment". It's just combat with some really weird stuff going on. But, of course, that is how I looked and intended the puzzle... weird strange happenings to mess with the minds of the players... in a fun way.

[@dukejaywalker5858]

Hmmm... but what if the PCs want to go back through the first door to try to meet themselves?

[@WallyDM]

Fantastic Question. It may be a bit cheesy, but I have always been a fan of one-way doors or portals. So, after entering the first time, they turn around to see the way they came in is no longer there... Then, each time they go into Deja Vu, we pick up at that exact moment that they walk in, turn around and see that the way they came in is no longer there. Hope this helps! Thank you for taking the time to watch my video and leave a comment! Much appreciated!

[@demonxkiller1]

Clever intro.

[@WallyDM]

Haha, thank you! I'm glad someone finally noticed what I did there. :)

[@TalkanianRetrogaming]

I don't understand why they cant pick the keys at the first time they came in! Sorry i'm italian and maybe i just missed something

[@WallyDM]

Hi there! Greetings from the U.S. and thank you for watching my video! The players can walk into this room, grab the keys and walk right back out the other side. As a DM, I want to try and peek their interest just enough so that they stay in the room and experience the Deja Vu. I hope this helps answer your question. Welcome to my KZbin channel! Grazie!

[@TalkanianRetrogaming]

Wally D.M. Grazie a te! I follow your channel by a year and i find it very interesting... Good job so far... I think im gonna use this deja vu trick in the next session but i will add a riddle in the dejavu room to make them stuck a little more... Btw if they broke the window i will punish them with some hard encounter 😅

[@WallyDM]

Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate you subscribing to my channel. I hope the Deja Room fits in your game and everything goes well. Be sure to stop back by and let me know how it goes. :) Hope to talk to you again in the future!

[@bodaciusfalls968]

bro, you missed out by not re-uploading this video on April fools

[@WallyDM]

lol. Yes I did. :)

[@WallyDM]

lol. Yes I did. :)

[@alwinwinter1645]

What if the players in the first room go back?

[@WallyDM]

In my game, I made it so they can't go back. Once everyone goes through the door, it disappears or turns into a solid stone wall. Each time loop begins with them all ready entering the room, with the door disappearing behind them. Hope this helps!

[@alwinwinter1645]

@@WallyDM Ah, thanks. I was just surprised you didn't mention the Bravest Warriors-style paradox, where they'd go out and see themself

[@WallyDM]

@@alwinwinter1645 Oh, interesting. I'm not familiar with that. I will have to go check it out.

[@alwinwinter1645]

@@WallyDM Oh, really? I was actually convinced that this was slightly inspired by the first episode of that show, as it is extremely similar

[@theoverpreparerlamenters3r436]

Is there a way to improve an invisible maze?

[@theoverpreparerlamenters3r436]

Good video, by the way.

[@WallyDM]

Thank you, Jareth! Much appreciated. :)

[@WallyDM]

You definitely have my attention. What are you planning? Is it just traveling around a maze with invisible walls and the players need to feel around? If so, for fun, maybe they find confetti eggs or a Wand of Glitter to help find their way. Of course, the darker path could involve the splatter of goblin blood on the walls to reveal where the invisible walls are as they travel through the maze. Anyways... send me more details. I'm curious as to what you're thinking.

[@oscarmays4991]

what happens is the player has run out of spell slots, do they still do the deja vu or not

[@WallyDM]

When I run this puzzle I would have them "try" to cast the spell again, even if there is no spell slots. Of course, this would be automatic failure. For example, if they used their last 3rd level spell slot to cast Fireball and then Deja Vu kicks in, I would tell them that they cast Fireball again, however, the spell fails... But, this is how I would do it. In the end, I would leave that for you to decide. What would you think seems like the most logical thing to happen?

[@MarvelX42]

This reminds Meow of something.

[@WallyDM]

Hmmm. Are you having deja vu perhaps? lol. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there is something similar in the world. Happy New Year buddy!

[@Deverting]

I love your puzzles keep up the good work

[@WallyDM]

Thank you very much! I sincerely appreciate the kind words. Hoping for a new puzzle video to publish on or before March 1st! :)

[@lorijohnson3620]

i spy with my eye a copy of donkey kong country

[@WallyDM]

Haha, yes you do! That reminds me... I need to finish playing that game. So much fun. :)

[@davedoublee-indiegamedev8633]

I love the idea, but the solution is terrible

[@WallyDM]

I'm glad that you love the idea! All of my puzzles/traps are just that: an idea. Something for you to use "as-is" or as a foundation for whatever direction you want to take them in. I hope you are able to find a solution that seems right for you and can use the idea at some point in the future. :-) Cheers!

[@davedoublee-indiegamedev8633]

@@WallyDM Thanks for the reply! Sorry if my comment sounded harsh! I love your puzzles series.

[@WallyDM]

@@davedoublee-indiegamedev8633 Haha, no worries at all. I totally get it. 🙂Thank you for watching my puzzle series. I appreciate it. Cheers!

[@davedoublee-indiegamedev8633]

@@WallyDM Cheers!