[Encounter] The Rolling Boulder Problem

Hey everyone!

A while back we told people we'd be releasing regular encounters. Well, those ended up turning into Boss Docs, but we still have a few encounters we drafted up that we figured we'd release anyway despite the new change in direction. So here's one of them. 

An encounter featuring an elder faun for characters of 5th to 9th level. 

Encounter Setup

In this encounter, the party is accosted by a bored elder faun and challenged to a rigorous philosophical debate. The elder faun doesn’t like to take no for an answer, but hints that good discussion may be rewarded. Read aloud:

A humanoid figure with the features of a goat stands before you, a flute in its hand and an amused expression on its face.

The creature is an elder faun, and introduces himself as Brex. He loudly declares that he has recently been battling boredom, and that he would like to engage a member (or members) of the party in a philosophical debate to pass the time. He implies that he will get angry if the party rejects him, and suggests that though it is unlikely the party will be able to convince him of anything, he will offer them a prize if they are successful. Brex introduces the “rolling boulder problem,” wherein a boulder rolls through a trench on course to crush five people. A bystander can, however, divert the boulder to a different trench so that only one person is killed instead. If the bystander does nothing, five people are killed.

Resolution

If the party agrees to debate, Brex asks the party to take a position, arguing for the opposite of whatever stance the party takes. Winning the debate requires three successful checks: a DC 16 Wisdom (Insight) check (to determine the perspective that Brex is coming from), a DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check (to identify argument premises and inferences), and a DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check (to successfully convince Brex of premises and conclusions). These checks can be repeated, but failing any of these checks by five or more means that the elder faun cannot be convinced and that the characters lose the argument, at which point Brex lets them continue on their way. If the party rejects the debate, they must make a successful DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) check to convince the elder faun to not attack them out of boredom. If the party successfully convinces Brex of their argument, he gifts them a set of pipes of haunting.

GM Note

As the GM, and depending on the party’s preferences, feel free to withhold any rolls and resolve the debate with the elder faun entirely through in-character roleplay.