I bet you've seen notes in dungeon keys that say something like:
The murals depict an ibis-headed god handing out the tools of writings to grateful humans. (Clerics know that this is represents Thoth, god of knowledge.)
What if your wrote a whole dungeon with an eye towards giving out this class-specific information? It might look something like this:
A round atrium; the domed ceiling is cracked, and the sun's rays illuminate the room. In the center of the room is a fountain spraying water 15' into the air, which falls back down into a shallow basin. A plant like an enormous squash squats in the fountain's pool, long fuzzy vines spilling out onto the floor.
- Fountain: The fountain's water is equivalent to a potion of plant growth.
- - ⛧: Magic-users can smell an enchantment in the water.
- Plant: The Devil's gourd will attack anything that disturbs the water, sensing its movement (stats in sidebar).
- †: Thieves take notice of an obscure scrawl on the west wall that's a sign in thieves cant that means "Monster."
(⚔ = fighter, † = thief, ☥ = cleric, ⛧ = magic-user)
In these examples, it's like certain classes have a special insight into the hidden/secret depths of the dungeon area.
One weakness with this method is that, in practice, the reveal would quickly stop feeling special or unique for your class if repeated throughout the dungeon. What one person at the table is told, everybody at the tables hears (same problem with perception checks). This is just another dungeon key, filtered through a little flavor.
You could go beyond just additional information by building the challenges to be toyetic for different classes, like this:
A catacomb. In the north of the room, there are several plinths, each with a cup of a different make resting on top. A suit of armor, covered in cobwebs, animates as the party enters.
- Armored knight: An ancient guardian. He will attack anyone who approaches the plinths, stating that they must prove themselves worthy of the sangraal. He is living, not undead; kept alive for an age by his oath to protect the sangraal. Stats as a 5th level fighter.
- - ⚔ : Fighters know they have the right to challenge the knight to a duel. A duel may be to first blood, to yield, or to the death.
- Plinths: Six separate plinths, each with a different type of cup. Taking a cup other than the stone bowl (the sangraal) from a plinth causes the dungeon entrance to collapse under two tons of rubble.
- - Cups: The cups are: wooden goblet, clay kintsugi cup, stone bowl, a wooden cup painted gold with fake jewels, a golden chalice, and a pewter chalice spangled with gems.
- - ☥: Clerics know that Mythrys was carved from stone and refused gold and jewels.
In contrast to my previous point that "everybody knows what every other person at the table knows," I have found in practice that these techniques, used sparingly, make players feel special. Saying "Only elves benefit from the magic elf water" makes the elf player feel smart for the character creation choice of choosing "elf." Everything in moderation, they say.
Another way to make class-specific details feel special is to keep them as hidden information at the table: the GM can text the player the details, pass them on hidden notes, etc. Although, the juice wouldn't be worth the squeeze unless it was the whole point of the dungeon: some sort of inter-party tournament where players could get secret advantages and access to additional loot and boons. Such a dungeon could look something like this:
A chamber dominated with a life-size chess board. On the east side of the room stand stone statues of black's pieces: pawns, knights, a king and queen, etc. On the east wall is a fresco of an ankh.
- Chess board: Stepping into the room determines what piece the PC represents based on their starting square. Afterwards, the board treats squares that would be "illegal" for them to step on as trapped, dealing 3d6 via electrical jolt.
- - †: Thieves may move 1d6 + Dex bonus feet per turn using handholds on the wall, bypassing stepping on the chess board floor.
- Pieces: When a PC ends their movement, each adjacent piece will attack them once. Each chess piece has HD equivalent to their score in chess.
- - ⚔ : Fighters have heard a rumor that the person who deals the death blow to a chess piece will receive a number of electrum pieces equal to the piece's HP, deposited directly into their Centrum Bank account.
- ☥: Clerics know that whoever first touches the ankh will receive a random boon (see boon chart, page XX).
What methods would you use to make this kind of technique sing?
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