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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kalendraf" data-source="post: 1612866" data-attributes="member: 3433">I'd start with this and develop it.  If only priests and royal family were supposed to pass thru, perhaps they added magical wards that looked for a specific holy symbol and/or family crest.  There might not be an exact spell in the PHB to do this, but since you're in charge here, you can say they developed a custom spell to do this.  The family crest/holy symbol could be lying around elsewhere in the tomb, perhaps even be part of the artwork in one of the rooms.  All the party needs to do is obtain it somehow, and that will enable them to eventually get thru the archway successfully.You could have the sphinx be a real sphinx or a construct that awaits presentation of the symbol/crest mentioned above.  When displayed, the sphinx turns to reveal a hidden passage or a hidden mechanism to disable the trap on arch.  Otherwise, the sphinx sits there doing nothing, and happily lets people go thru the arch to their doom.  The sphinx could babble a clue, not necessarily a riddle that tips off the party that something is up.  For example,"Past the arch lies your tomb, thieves be sent to eternal doom.Holy men and royalty, hold the key for all to see."Why would there be riddles keyed for each player.  Was the coming of the party foretold in some ancient augury?  Suggest skipping the riddles approach.By default, the arch leads to this "very-bad place".  Only by displaying the proper symbol or crest, can the magical trap be disarmed.I hope that's kind of what you were looking for...</blockquote>

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