Difficult Puzzles Perfect For High-Level Players In DND

Summary

• Create unique puzzles, like a graveyard with riddles on tombstones, to challenge expert players.
• Craft puzzles related to surroundings, like escaping a forest by following a changing breeze.
• Engage players by utilizing physical elements, such as invisible bridges, to solve puzzles creatively.

Puzzles and riddles can be one of the most fun aspects of a Dungeons & Dragons game. However, crafting an intricate puzzle for your table to solve can prove challenging, especially if you’re serving as Dungeon Master for a group of expert or high-level players. Seasoned players may think they’ve seen every puzzle in the book and might know the answer by default.

That’s why we’ve created this list of unique and challenging puzzles for you to throw at your players. These puzzles can be tweaked to your liking, and are meant to serve as guidelines and templates for you to tailor to your campaign.

10

Graveyard Shift

Get Diggin’

This first riddle is a cosmetic overhaul of the classic potion and elixir riddle players might be familiar with if they’ve read Harry Potter. For this riddle, place seven tombstones in a line in a graveyard, one of which serves as the entrance to a dungeon or key location the players must enter, and seven of which are dead ends or house zombies ready to attack.

From there, give your players a riddle to determine which tombstone is the entrance. While this riddle can be created any number of ways, what you’ll want to do is give your players some verses that explain the location of the entrance in relation to the other tombstones in the line. You can either borrow the riddle directly from something like Harry Potter or make it your own.

9

Wind In The Willows

What A Nice Breeze

For this riddle, assume players need to traverse a dense forest. As they travel for hours or even days, the party may soon discover that, no matter where they go, they can’t seem to reach the treeline. They realize that they are trapped, as the forest seems to magically move and shift to keep the party inside.

However, perceptive players may be able to notice that, as they travel, there is a perpetual breeze that changes direction every few minutes. Should players piece this together, they can follow the breeze to find the escape route out of the forest. Every time they ignore the breeze’s direction, they may face a combat encounter. As they follow the breeze, reward them to help them realize that they’re on the right track.

8

Echoes Of The Past

Did You Hear Something?

While exploring a cave, the party comes across a large stone vault, possibly with enormous treasures inside. However, there is no lock to pick, no doorway, or other exposed entrance point. However, as they stand outside of the vault, they may notice that strange echoes are reverberating around the chamber, as well as scattered bells and chimes.

The echoes represent different pitches that bells and chimes might make. Players who are perceptive and keen might notice that the echoes they’re hearing in the chamber seem to repeat. If players can recreate this sequence successfully with the chimes and bells on the ground, the vault door will open.

7

Step Lightly

Watch Your Step

For this riddle, place players on one side of an enormous chasm. There seems to be no way across. The party cannot swing or leap across, and the discovery of an Antimagic Field prevents teleportation or flying. However, on one side of the chasm, players might discover a diagram that lays out a directional route across the chasm. This is the map of an invisible bridge that lies in the middle of the gap.

For this riddle to work, have the diagram damaged somewhat so that it’s not a perfectly complete bridge across the chasm. Players must make informed guesses by using rocks or other small objects to test the direction of the bridge. You can also structure the riddle so that players crossing the bridge can’t see the diagram for themselves, and must rely on the description of their fellow party members to measure out their steps correctly.

6

Light The Way

Shine Bright

Set this riddle inside a large manor or grand estate. Players enter a large library, with bookshelves that stretch up to the ceiling. Once they enter the room, every door and exit is magically sealed, with no means of escape. Players may notice that there is a small window on one side of the room, through which a beam of sunlight shoots out onto the opposite wall, as well as a series of mirrors around the space.

Players must use mirrors to bounce the light beam across the room and around the bookshelves to reach a location on the other side of the room, a panel of the wall with a gemstone hidden in it. Once the light hits the gemstone, the doors open. For added fun, when mapping out the trajectory of the light beam, require some sections in which players must carefully remove certain books from shelves to get the light beam through certain areas.

5

Reading Is Knowledge

Don’t Skip The Reading

This riddle involves decoding a cipher of sorts on a particular bookshelf in a research laboratory. Assume players know that the bookshelf they’re standing in front of is a door to a secret passageway they need entrance to. However, they’re not sure how to open it. Their only clue is a page number in a particular book on the shelf.

If players read the page carefully, they may notice that a sentence on the page contains the title of another book on the shelf, as well as a page number. Have players bounce from book to book in this manner, until finally they reach a book that, when pulled, opens the door. If players try to randomly pull on books, punish them with an Arcane Glyph burst, encouraging them to pull books in the correct sequence.

4

Birds Of A Feather

Survive Together

In a vast dungeon, players discover a room that houses a large pit, about 100 feet deep. They know they need to get to the bottom of the pit, but there are no stairs, ropes, or any other pieces of equipment that can help them. An Antimagic Field is in effect, preventing the casting of Feather Fall or other teleportation spells. However, in front of the players, they see a series of cages housing various birds, as well as an inscription.

The inscription describes a bird with feathers that will allow for a casting of Feather Fall. The inscription also has a description of the bird in question. However, players may discover that many birds share qualities and overlap with the inscription. Players will have to choose carefully, plucking the correct feather from the right bird to survive the fall.

3

Paper Trail

Follow The Clues

A large criminal syndicate in a vast metropolis is seeking help from a noteworthy adventuring party. But first, they’ll have to pass a test. For this riddle, place hidden posters for the criminal syndicate all over the city for the players to find.

Eagle-eyed players might note that each poster contains codewords on it, and hints as to various locations around the city. Should players recover every poster, and piece together the code words, they’ll have not only the location of the syndicate’s lair but the code phrase that grants them entry.

2

The Maze

Not The Carnival Kind

This puzzle is perfect for a dungeon. Explain to players that they are in a large maze, and need to find the way out. While brute forcing is always an option, clever players may notice a pattern to the way the maze is laid out.

Streams of water run across various passages in the maze, seeping through the walls. If players can recall the direction of the water flow between hallways, they can actually follow the current to reach the exit successfully.

1

Split The Party

Maybe Just This Once

A large keep contains a treasure in the center of its structure. However, the door has four large locks that can only be opened by standing on a large pressure plate in various corners of the keep. Players will have to find these pressure plates and assign party members to stand on them at the same time.

If players try to press the plates separately, the plate lifts as soon as someone steps off, meaning that all four need to be activated at once. Players must separate and activate these plates, perhaps encountering dastardly creatures along the way.