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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nogray" data-source="post: 5977134" data-attributes="member: 28028">I'm a pretty big fan of these types of challenges in general, and I've thought of how to work this sort of thing in campaigns I've DMed, but I often run into stumbling blocks when I consider using the puzzles. The justification for their use, as mentioned by [MENTION=6682161]Will Doyle[/MENTION] is vital. They make very little sense in many cases, especially with the instructions given nearby. Pretty much, you are left with using them as mad wizard fodder.Your answer doesn't quite work. (More comments and a correction given in the sblock.) Also, keep in mind that if you describe it that way, the PCs might just cast some form of alignment detection spell to determine which is the good, and which the evil. D&D PCs have a lot of options of which puzzle designers must be aware. (Would "Zone of Truth" or "Discern Lie" or "Know the Path" work? Be ready with justifications or whatnot.)[sblock="Two Statues"]Let's say that the left door is good, the right door is bad.The Good statue knows that the Evil statue will say, "Right," so that is what it responds. The Evil statue also knows that it will say, "Right," so it lies and says, "Left."What you want to ask (and this can actually be done with just one question total, not per statue) is, "What would the other statue tell me is the safe way to go?" This means that Good still says, "Right," but now, so does Evil. (Evil knows that Good would say, "Left," so it lies and says, "Right.")[/sblock]This one falls through in a fantasy world. First off, matches are a bit of a modern (or at least semi-modern; 1827 or so). Assuming you go with the 3e "tindertwig," though, you at least have a shot at maintaining genre.Of course, PCs who are survivalists (who would use flint and tinder to start the initial fire, saving any [strikethrough]matches[/strikethrough] tindertwigs for when they need fire really fast), fire mages of some sort (who can start pretty much anything on fire at will, and will thus start with whatever they feel is the best light source), or people with a light spell/cantrip (who might cast that on ... pretty much anything) might all ignore the matches in favor of their own methods for lighting the darkness. If the puzzle resets "as soon as the scales are used twice," then it is an unsolvable riddle. As soon as the determination is made (the second weighing), the puzzle resets, meaning there is no time to select the lighter ball an place it on the solution platform. You need some other resetting mechanism to make it work.You can use this exact method for nine balls, too, assuming that you know for sure that the ball is lighter (or heavier). You need another weighing if the ball is different, but are unsure if it is heavier or lighter.The big obstacle here is that, you need to account for possible PC scales/balances, too (arguably part of an alchemist's or appraiser's kit, definitely available for purchase or pretty easy to make), or other ways that they might be able to determine the weights of the balls on their own without involving the puzzle resetting scale. (A PC, particularly one with appraise or thievery or just a particularly perceptive one, might argue for a check of some sort to "feel" any weight difference.) The puzzle might work better if there is some "immeasurable" quantity that the scales are to measure for it to work.Of course, all of these are subject to the player having heard them or seen their solutions before. The sphinx's riddle only works until its answer is well-known.</blockquote>

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