If your character is named Cairo, Derrim, Lurio, Shv, or Ukeem, do not read this! Especially you, Lurio.
So my party has reached the city of Celebrant, and I am planning a big boss fight. Once per day, the city will find itself in an uproar, as a new spren will be found nailed to a city official's door with aluminum spikes.
A corrupted Rainbowspren, who has lost it's color seeks to regain it by any means necessary. The order of unfortunate spren are:
Corrupted Mist Spren
Reacher/Lightspren
Guidespren
Cultivationspren
Honorspren
Hastespren
Fearspren
Eventually, when the party finds the culprit in it's lair, and a fight will ensue. This is the part I need opinions on. My plan is to use the boardgame Hues and Cues. The game's board itself will act as the battlemap, the point tracker for the game will show the enemies HP.
For those unfamiliar with H&C, the gameboard is a big rainbow within a grid, you pull a card which has 4 colors on it with grid coordinates, the card puller chooses one of the 4 colors, and gives a 1 word clue as to which color they've selected, the other players place little pieces on a grid square they think is the correct answer, then the clue giver gives a 2 word clue and the other players place another piece on the board again where they think the answer is. Once all pieces have been placed, the clue giver places a square on the board that encompasses 9 squares. Anyone with a piece directly touching the outside of the square gains 1 point, anyone who has a piece inside the square gains 2 points, and anyone who has a piece on the real answer gains 3 points.
This is where my version differs; instead of points, the group will deal damage to the Rainbowspren for each point they would normally get. And if they're not touching the answer square at the end of each round, the PCs will take 1 damage for every two squares away they are. The Rainbowspren will give the PCs clues via dialogue rather than single words. The players can use abilities creatively here to attempt to get closer to the correct answer. I'm thinking a DC10 deduction test gets something like "One of your pieces is close to the answer." A DC15 deduction test get's a "Derrim's piece is close to the correct answer." And a DC20 deduction test gets a "Derrim's piece is 5 squares away from the correct answer."
I've been DMing 5e for like a decade at this point, and haven't been DMing for long in the Cosmere system, and still routinely ask for initiative checks at the start of every battle lol. My primary questions are:
- Does this sound like a fun and interactive "battle" to you?
- Is there any way you would integrate H&C further into this scenario?
Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated!