Pathfinder 1E Riddles? Secret doors? Treasure? ...Anyone?

Gfreak2x9

Explorer
I need some help with riddles! I have always loved the idea of a clever riddle that can unlock a room of hidden treasure, or open a secret door! But I've always struggled with them. I can write poems but it takes me a while. Is anyone willing to share their DM riddles on this page? Especially some of you old school players! I'd love to get riddles from you guys. Or maybe some inspiration for what it unlocks! Please help! :confused::confused::confused:
 

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S

Sunseeker

Guest
I don't have any, but fair warning this is one of those issues that crosses the player/character divide. So if the stupid barbarian played by Jim the philosophy major solves the Sphinx's riddle, that's something you'll need to allow for.
 

Gfreak2x9

Explorer
Luckily I don't have a Philosophy Major at my table! That would be quite the challenge to find a riddle that everyone found challenging!
 

el_stiko

Explorer
I ran a Heirosphinx encounter in an eberron train carriage and my players loved it. One riddle per character or be eaten was the deal. The last one was the hardest. I will post them tomorrow if I remember!
 

Gfreak2x9

Explorer
I ran a Heirosphinx encounter in an eberron train carriage and my players loved it. One riddle per character or be eaten was the deal. The last one was the hardest. I will post them tomorrow if I remember!

I would greatly appreciate that! And anyone else who has any goodies to share!
 


Li Shenron

Legend
I had two great riddles, but now I'm not sure I remember the 2nd correctly...

The first one is a mod on a classic: you have a scale and 12 coins, one of which is fake (weights differently from the others), and you only have 3 chances of weighting two groups of coins against each other. If you know that the fake is heavier (or lighter, it's the same), then the riddle is a piece of piss. If you don't know it, then it's challenging! But believe me, it can be solved. It took me half an hour or an hour or so to find the solution back then however, so my suggestion is not to throw this riddle in the middle of the session, but rather at the end of it (or tell the players they can come back later to solve it) so that the players can think about it before next session.

The second one... I barely remember it now, so this might be wrong... There are 5 pirates (or whatever you want) who have a treasure of 1000gp to split among them. They are all greedy first and bloodthirsty second (you can explain what this means or let the players figure out, but the meaning is that each of them will always make a choice that makes him earn more coins, and failing that (or if the money outcome is the same) they will always prefer seeing another pirate die rather than not). Of course they are also all clever and don't want to die. The five pirates have rolled some (real) dice to decide in which order to proceed, so the 1st pirate has to make a proposal on how to split the money, then everybody will vote, if the majority is in favor the deal is done, if the majority is against it, the 1st pirate is thrown to the sharks, and the ball goes to the 2nd pirate, and so on. What is the best proposal the 1st pirate should make? (you can link this riddle to the in-game scene by for instance having 5 dishes or boxes with counterweights, and the PCs have to put the right number of pebbles on them to unlock the mechanism... optionally a wrong answer may unlock a trap).

Edit: forgot to say that in the pirates riddle, in case of a tie e.g. 2 in favor / 2 against, the proposal is rejected (also IIRC, there might be 2 equivalent solutions)
 
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Quickleaf

Legend
I need some help with riddles! I have always loved the idea of a clever riddle that can unlock a room of hidden treasure, or open a secret door! But I've always struggled with them. I can write poems but it takes me a while. Is anyone willing to share their DM riddles on this page? Especially some of you old school players! I'd love to get riddles from you guys. Or maybe some inspiration for what it unlocks! Please help! :confused::confused::confused:

Theres a whole thread of riddles on ENWorld: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?297095-Let-s-write-some-riddles!/page15

I've done tons of puzzles, riddles, and mysteries in my games. If you're looking for something specific I'd be happy to help.
 



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