Summary

  • Party teamwork puzzle: Each member solves a unique gate challenge to progress.
  • Darkness riddle: Extinguish all light sources in room or answer verbally with caution.
  • Choice riddle: Simple but tricky; answer is "a choice."

In 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons, there are many ways a DM can challenge the party besides pitting them against ever stronger or more numerous enemies. One of the best alternative challenges is to give the party a riddle to solve in order to advance the campaign. This is often the best way to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:challenge an experienced party that has gott🌃e🐼n used to winning fight after fight.

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While the answerꦬ to these riddles is usually spoken, the answer can also be a physical object presented to whomever or whatever is asking the riddle. Here are great riddles that a DM can use to challenge a party.

Updated on August 27, 2024, by Rowan Cardosa: You can never have enough riddles, so five new ones have been added to this list, bringing the total to 25. They run the gamut from silly to terrifying, so feel free to choose one that matches the tone of your campaign. As always, remember that giving your players plenty of time to solve the riddle provides a nice change of pace to any dungeon crawl.

30 A Teamwork Puzz✃le

A Unique Challenge For Each Party Member

A dark skinned woman, a tanned half elf and owlin all stare around.
Dungeons and Dragons Strixhaven Curriculum of Chaos via Wizards of the Coast

This isn't a riddle given to the party verbally or in written form. Ratheꦑr, this riddle is one the party must solve by each member performing a task that only they can perform, or at least are best suited to perform. The object being sought could be locked behind a series of gates.

The first gate requires incredible strength to lift. The second gate is magically locked to the floor; this one might be lifted with spells. The third gate is lifted by striking a target (or object) that lies beyond the gates and requires the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:use of a distance weapon❀. The DM can add a ♏gate for each party member, with the means to get past each best performed by a particular party member.

29 "The More That Is H🀅ere, The Less You Will See."

Answer: Darkness

Szass Tam, featured in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, stands among some candles.

The answer to this riddle is "darkness." The DM can use this riddle in interesting ways. The answer might be to extinguish all light sources in a room rather than answer the riddle verbally. A statue m൲ight ask the riddle, and the answer might be to put a bag over the statue's head or blindfold the statue. T꧑his might be harder than first thought if the statue is of a beholder - and enormous.

The answer to this riddle might be a means to help the party prepare for their next fight. If this is how the riddle is used, the DM should use 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a foe tha💝t players don't want to look at; good exampl✃es of this type of creatuꦜre are a Medusa or basilisk.

28 "If Given One, You'll Have Many Or None."

Answer: A Choice

An adventuring party struggles to pick a lock.
Art Via Wizards Of The Coast

Often the simplest of riddles are the most difficult to solve. This is generally because they don't give the players a lot of information with which to solve the riddle. That's what makes riddles like this such brain-teasers; at first, it seems like the answer could be anything or nothing. The answer is "a choice."

This riddle is another that can be used as a great plot device. 𝔍Upon solving the riddle, the players are given a choice to continue the quest at one of two locations - each with their own balance of risk versus reward.

27 🤡 "I Cross The River Without Moving. What Am I?"

Answer: A Bridge

Bregan D’aerthe company are sneaking on a dock in night in the Dungeons And Dragons Waterdeep Dragon Heist Book's Artwork.
Bregan D’aerthe By Sidharth Chaturvedi

This is a great puzzle to use if the DM wants to lead the party to a certain destination. The answer is "a bridge," and a clever DM can use the answer as a jumping-off point to the next location required by the current quest. Players will (or should) begin looking for any nearby bridge to find the next piece of t♉he puzzle they are trying to solve.

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A great bridge to use with this type of riddle-quest is Boareskyr Bridge in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Forgotten Realms. This bridge was the site of a battle between the gods Bhaal and Cyric; since then, a community has grown around the bl🦹ack granite bridge. Alternately, the bridge might be a bridge between realms or dimensions rather than a meansꦛ to cross a river.

26 "I Possess A Father And Mother, But Am No One's Son. Even With Siblings, I Am Brother To None."

Answer: A Daughter

A Rock Gnome Artificer invents a magical bird while an otter stands by their side.
Mordenkainen's Tome Sourcebook via Wizards of the Coast

This is one of those riddles that can stump anyone. When revealed, anyone in the party who didn't know the correct answer will almost certainly feel as though tꦅhey should have been able to. The 🐭answer is quite obvious if the words in the riddle are dissected.

The answer is "a daughter." To make it less🅠 obvious, the DM should have something gender-neutral ask the question. Suitable scenarios would be; a magic mouth, a creature of some kind (like a mind flayer), or even an animated statue.

25 ꧅ "Time Existed Before Me, But H⛄istory Can Only Begin After My Creation."

Answer: Writing

Two Characters stand in a library studying ancient tomes.
Candlekeep Mysteries Cover Art by Clint Cearley

This can be a tricky riddle because many people make the mistake of assuming everything that happened before the present, and history, to be the same thing. However, history is defined as a written account of people and events of the past. Anything before the invention of "writing" is called prehistory, making writi♔ng the answer.

A good location to use a riddle like this would be a library or a sage's home. Alternatively, the answer to this riddle could include feeding a piece of parchment and a writing utensil to a magic mouth. A failed an🍰swer to this riddle might be🍰 used to send the party to the past.

24 "Some Are Cheris♊hed, Some Are Hated, And Even If Lost, They Remain With You." ﷽

Answer: Memories

An adventuring party warms themselves with candles in the cold.
Icewind Dale: Rhime of the Frostmaiden art via Wizards of the Coast

For many, this riddle might be a bit obvious. The answer is "memories," and the word "cherished" kind of gives it away, especially if adventurers are given a generous amount of time to think of an answer. However, a DM ca💯n make this riddle a little more difficult by adding a short time limit.

Solving, or failing, this riddle is an opportune moment for the DM to have the player who answered the riddle remember a long-forgotten memory - one that leads to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a new adventure. Conversely, the DM could have a wrong answer 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:remove memories from the character; perhaps they lose memories of their time traveling with the pa𒐪rty.

23 "They Arrive Every Night Whether Invited Or Not. They Can Be Seen, But Not ജHeard Or Touched. If One Falls, The Rest Keep Moving."

Answer: The Stars

A fantastic starship drifts across the Astral Plane.
Astral Adventurer's Guide key art by Bruce Brenneise

Let's get something out of the way right now: the answer to this riddle is not Underpants Gnomes, it's "the stars." Although, technically, there's absolutely nothing preventing the DM from having a gang of gnomes obsessed with underpa꧅nts from asking this riddle.

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Joking aside, DMs can make this riddle more difficult by having the players encounter a ghost (non-hostile for a low-level party) shortly before they are asked. This might trick the party into thinking the answer is ghosts. A good use♉ for this riddle is to use it as a magical lock and key for a door leading to an observatory - or a secret, conveniently placed alternate exit from a dungeon✱.

22 &qu💃ot;🐼Your Mother Is An Orc. Your Father Is A Dwarf. What Are You?"

Answer: A Dork

A dwarf barbarian grips their axe.
Dwarf Barbarian artwork via Wizards of the Coast

This is the perfect riddle if the DM needs to inject a little levity into the adventure; sometimes things get too serious playing D&D. Riddles like this one remind the players they are playing a game. The answer is "a dork," which should get aꦬ chuckle from the players and help make that night's play session memorable.

Answering this riddle incorrectly🐎 could include having the character's race change over time. They should be given a warning this is happening, like being told "For not knowing what you are, you must now suffer not knowing what you shall become." This is a good side adventure for the DM to throw into the mix.

21 🔴 "They Call Me The King. I Have The Eyes, Hiss, And Fangs Of A Snake, But Have No Scales Or V💞enom."

Answer: A Cat

Dungeons & Dragons artwork Bjornhild Solvigsdottir by Jesper Ejsing. It shows a barbarian woman with her back toward the reader. Beside her is a large sabertooth tiger.
Bjornhild Solvigsdottir by Jesper Ejsing

The answer to this riddle is "a cat" or "cats," which probably makes this an easy riddle for cat people. Cat people meaning people that own cats, not Tabaxi - just to be perfectly clear. Having a sphinx ask this riddle might be a little on the nose and make the riddle far too🥂 easy.

A yaun-ti asking this riddle, on the other hand, might trick the players into making a wrong guess. Answering the riddle might include actua𒉰lly procuring a cat of some type and getting it to a specific area. Fighting a dragon is easy when compared to trying to catch a wily stray cat in a crowded marketplace.