Maybe some butter for Cancer and lemon wedges for Pisces?
; )
In all seriousness, I'm not a huge fan of puzzles in D&D, but I am even LESS of a fan when the adventure demands a SPECIFIC, non-intuitive solution. Allowing players to justify their own answers to the zodiac puzzle (and allowing any justifiable answer to function) would make for a fun puzzle with individuals who know anything about astrology. But as written, I'd share your reservations.
Poison that kills on a failed save is the default standard for old editions of D&D, and (in my opinion) anything that doesn't deviate from that should be noted in the encounter text where it appears, even if ALSO appearing later (in a monster appendix). I'd guess this, and other writing muddles (like the Nightsky trap) are issues of the contest format...given more page count, more coherent expository could have been provided.
Maybe some butter for Cancer and lemon wedges for Pisces?
; )
In all seriousness, I'm not a huge fan of puzzles in D&D, but I am even LESS of a fan when the adventure demands a SPECIFIC, non-intuitive solution. Allowing players to justify their own answers to the zodiac puzzle (and allowing any justifiable answer to function) would make for a fun puzzle with individuals who know anything about astrology. But as written, I'd share your reservations.
Poison that kills on a failed save is the default standard for old editions of D&D, and (in my opinion) anything that doesn't deviate from that should be noted in the encounter text where it appears, even if ALSO appearing later (in a monster appendix). I'd guess this, and other writing muddles (like the Nightsky trap) are issues of the contest format...given more page count, more coherent expository could have been provided.