D&D Puzzles: 12 Puzzles and Riddles With Solutions

The best D&D puzzles are ones the players can solve with information in the room, in about 10 to 20 minutes, and that still let the game move on if they fail. Below are 12 original puzzles and riddles, sorted from simple to hard. Each has the setup to read aloud, the solution, hints to give when the table stalls, and a consequence for a wrong answer.

All of these are written to drop into any dungeon, tomb, or wizard's tower. Rename the symbols to fit your setting.

Table of Contents

• •How to run a puzzle without stalling the game
• •Simple D&D puzzles
• •Riddles for D&D
• •Medium puzzles
• •Hard puzzles
• •Setting trap damage for wrong answers
• •Track which puzzles your party solved
• •Frequently Asked Questions

How to run a puzzle without stalling the game

A puzzle is a scene, not a test. It should be fun for the players, not just for the DM who wrote it. A few rules keep puzzles from eating the session:

• •Put every clue in the room. If the answer depends on something the party saw three sessions ago, remind them of it.
• •Give a hint for a roll. When the table is stuck for a few minutes, let a character make an Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Insight) check. On a success, give one hint from the list. A DC 10 or 15 works for most hints; those are the "easy" and "medium" DCs in the SRD.
• •Let characters be smarter than players. A wizard with 18 Intelligence might spot a pattern the player doesn't. A hint for a good roll is fair.
• •Fail forward. A wrong answer should cost something (damage, time, noise, a lost resource) but not end the adventure. Always have a second way past.
• •Set a time limit for yourself. If 20 minutes have passed and nobody is having fun, hand over the answer through a hint and move on.

Write the solution on an index card before the session so you don't change it under pressure.

Simple D&D puzzles

These take five to ten minutes and work well for new players, kids, or a one-shot that needs a quick change of pace.

1. The Four Braziers

Setup: Four unlit stone braziers stand in a row. Each is carved with a scene: a bare tree in snow, a tree in bud, a tree heavy with fruit, a tree dropping red leaves. Above the door, an inscription reads: "Light us as the year is lived. The cold one wakes the rest."

Solution: Light them in seasonal order starting with winter: snow, bud, fruit, falling leaves (winter, spring, summer, autumn). The door opens when the last brazier catches.

Hints: "The bare tree looks colder than the others." / "The carvings look like the same tree at different times."

Wrong answer: All lit braziers go out and a puff of smoke fills the room. Each creature inside makes a DC 10 Constitution save or is poisoned until the end of its next turn from coughing.

2. The Lantern Count

Setup: A stone guard statue stands at the start of a corridor, holding a carved lantern with a chip missing from its handle. Down the corridor are seven alcoves, each holding a real lantern of the same design. A plaque on the far door reads: "Only the light I carried can pass." Below it, a bronze hook sticks out of the door.

Solution: "I" is the statue. Of the seven lanterns, only one has the same chip in its handle as the statue's carved lantern. Hang that lantern on the hook and the door opens.

Hints: "The lanterns aren't all identical. One has a damaged handle." / "You've seen this lantern before."

Wrong answer: The wrong lantern flares and goes dark. The alcove light dims each time, and after three wrong tries the corridor is in darkness until the party relights it.

3. The Scale of the Toll-Keeper

Setup: A bridge is blocked by a bronze scale. One pan holds a stone marked "5." Next to it sit three iron weights marked 1, 3, and 9. A sign says: "Balance the stone and pass. Add nothing that is not here."

Solution: Put the 9 weight on the empty pan, and the 3 and 1 weights on the pan with the stone. The stone side is 5 + 3 + 1 = 9, which balances the 9.

Hints: "Nothing says the weights all have to go on the same side." / "What if you add weights to the stone's pan?"

Wrong answer: The pans swing and the bridge tilts. Everyone on it makes a DC 12 Dexterity save or falls prone.

Riddles for D&D

Riddles are best used as a door lock or a guardian's question. Ask one at a time and accept any reasonable answer that fits. If the players give a clever answer that works but isn't yours, give it to them.

Running riddles: Read the riddle twice, slowly, then hand the players a written copy. A riddle heard once is much harder than a riddle you can reread. Allow one Intelligence check per riddle for a hint, such as "Think about something every home has" for the bed riddle.

Wrong answer: For a guardian, a wrong answer can cost the party a favour, a secret, or a round of combat. For a door, each wrong answer might summon one weak monster, such as a swarm of rats (CR 1/4).

Medium puzzles

These take 15 to 20 minutes and need the party to explore the room first.

9. The Three Clerks

Setup: The party finds three ghostly clerks bound to a counting house. Someone stole the guild's gold decades ago, and the clerks can't rest until the thief is named. Each clerk speaks once:

• •Amsel: "Berrin took the gold."
• •Berrin: "Amsel is lying."
• •Corvo: "I did not take it."

The guild seal on the wall says: "Of three tongues here, only one is honest. Only one hand stole."

Solution: Corvo took the gold. Berrin is the only one telling the truth.

Why it works: Test each clerk as the honest one.

• •If Amsel is honest, Berrin is the thief. But then Corvo's "I did not take it" is true, which makes two honest clerks. Impossible.
• •If Corvo is honest, Corvo didn't take it, and Amsel is lying, so Berrin didn't take it either. That leaves Amsel as the thief. But Berrin says Amsel is lying, which would also be true. Two honest clerks again. Impossible.
• •If Berrin is honest, Amsel is lying, so Berrin didn't take it. Corvo is lying, so Corvo did take it. Only one honest clerk, one thief. This works.

Hints: "Try assuming one clerk is honest and see if the rest still make sense." / "If Amsel were telling the truth, what would Corvo's statement be?"

Wrong answer: The accused clerk wails and the room goes cold. Each creature takes 1d10 necrotic damage (a setback-level trap at levels 1-4) and the clerks fade for an hour before the party can try again.

10. The Bell Lullaby

Setup: Five bronze bells of different sizes hang in a nursery chapel, numbered 1 (smallest) to 5 (largest). A child's cradle is carved with a verse:

"Once for the moon, and once for the sea, three for the stars that watched over me, four for the hearth, and five for the door. Ring me to sleep and wake me no more."

Under the verse are five carved symbols in a row: a star, a moon, a door, a sea wave, a hearth.

Solution: Each symbol has a number from the verse: moon = 1, sea = 1, stars = 3, hearth = 4, door = 5. Read the symbols in the order they appear on the cradle (star, moon, door, sea, hearth) and ring the matching bells: 3, 1, 5, 1, 4.

Hints: "The verse gives each symbol a number." / "The symbols on the cradle aren't in the same order as the verse."

Wrong answer: The bells clang out of tune. The noise carries, and whatever lives deeper in the dungeon now knows the party is here. Roll for a wandering encounter.

11. The Mirror Hall

Setup: A 60-foot hall lined with mirrors on both sides. The floor is plain stone. When a character walks in, their reflection is out of step by a heartbeat. The far door is closed and there is a lever beside it.

Solution: The reflections show the room one second in the future, not the past. Watching the mirrors, a careful character sees their reflection step on a floor tile and flinch before they reach it. Those tiles are pressure plates. Walk the hall watching the mirrors, not the floor, and step only where the reflection doesn't flinch. The lever is a decoy; the door opens by pushing.

Hints: "Your reflection is not late. It is early." / "Your reflection just flinched at a tile you haven't touched yet."

Wrong answer: Stepping on a plate fires darts from the walls: a +5 attack (setback range) for 1d10 piercing at levels 1-4. Pulling the lever drops a net; the creature under it is restrained until it or an ally cuts free.

Hard puzzles

These work best as the final lock of a dungeon, where the players have collected clues along the way.

12. The Rings of the Observatory

Setup: An observatory door has three stone rings that rotate around a central keyhole. Each ring shows six symbols: sun, moon, star, eye, key, crown. Around the observatory, three murals each show one ring:

• •The first mural (the outer ring) shows a king looking up at the night sky. He wears a crown, and above him is the moon.
• •The second mural (the middle ring) shows a sleeping astronomer with her eyes closed and a star falling.
• •The third mural (the inner ring) shows a locked chest at sunrise.

Each mural has a small arrow painted at the top, pointing to one object in the scene.

Solution: The arrow on each mural points to one symbol. On the first mural it points at the moon, on the second at the star, on the third at the key. Turn the outer ring to moon, the middle ring to star, and the inner ring to key, all aligned with the notch at the top of the door.

The decoys: the crown, the closed eye, and the sun are in the murals too. Players who pick by "what's most important in the picture" will choose the crown, the eye, or the sun and get it wrong.

Hints: "Each mural matches one ring." / "There's a small painted arrow on each mural you haven't looked at closely."

Wrong answer: The rings lock for one minute and the room's own constellations start to move. Each wrong attempt animates one statue in the observatory (use animated armor, CR 1). Three wrong tries is a real fight.

Setting trap damage for wrong answers

The SRD 5.1 (2014) gives suggested numbers for traps based on how dangerous you want them. These work for puzzle failures too.

For puzzles, stay at "setback." The point of the puzzle is the thinking, not the damage. The 2024 rules describe traps differently, rating each trap as a nuisance or deadly at a given level range, but the 2014 table above is still a simple guide. Roll the damage with the dice roller if you're running online.

Track which puzzles your party solved

Puzzles create callbacks. The party will remember the bell lullaby and want to hum it to the next ghost they meet, and you want to remember which riddles you have already used. After each session, note which puzzles were solved, which hints you gave, and what the party took from the room. The free session notes template has room for this, and the session prep template has a "secrets and clues" box for planting puzzle clues ahead of time.

If you'd rather not write it up, Loreify records your session and writes the notes for you, including who said what. Players' wrong guesses at a riddle often make the best quotes of the night.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a good D&D puzzle?

A good puzzle uses clues that are all in the room, takes 10 to 20 minutes, and has a consequence for failure that doesn't end the adventure. It should also have more than one way past, so a stuck table can still move on.

How do I give hints without solving the puzzle for my players?

Write two or three hints in order from vague to obvious before the session. When the table is stuck, let a character make an Intelligence or Wisdom check, and give the next hint on a success. This keeps hints tied to the characters' abilities, not your mercy.

Should players roll to solve puzzles?

Mostly no. Let players solve puzzles themselves, and use rolls only for hints. A character's high Intelligence is a fair reason for a hint, but a roll that just answers the puzzle removes the fun.

What are some easy D&D riddles for beginners?

The shadow and bed riddles above are good starters because the answers are everyday objects. Read the riddle twice and give the players a written copy. Accept any answer that reasonably fits, even if it isn't the one you wrote.

How long should a D&D puzzle take?

About 10 to 20 minutes for most tables. Simple puzzles can be five minutes. If a puzzle has taken more than 20 minutes and nobody is enjoying it, give the last hint and move on.

Can a puzzle be part of combat?

Yes. A puzzle under time pressure is a great set piece: the party fights off waves of skeletons while one character works the rings on a door. Check the fight's balance with the encounter difficulty calculator so the puzzle solver isn't left alone against too much.

Related: D&D one-shot ideas · How to write a D&D one-shot · D&D campaign ideas