Classic Puzzles Every Good DM Uses In Dungeons & Dragons (2024)

has something for everyone, from those just starting to experts. You can battle monsters, plunge through dungeons, or simply hang out at the local tavern. No matter what your players enjoy in a session, it's always good to have variety.

It can be tempting to stick to combat and role-play encounters, but it can be incredibly satisfying to include a few clever D&D puzzles as well. Observing your players eagerly discussing your clues and eventually cracking the code to a mystery is always a joy. Fortunately, there are many unique puzzles to include in your games, some easy, some more challenging. Here are a few of them.

Updated on June 12, 2024, by Luke Ackroyd: Fun D&D puzzles are a welcomed addition to any role-playing session. Good puzzles for D&D are creative and make your players think but are not too impossible to solve. A helpful tip is not to be too set on one solution, as players will often find unexpected ways to solve D&D dungeon puzzles. Since you can only use good D&D puzzles once, no matter how they have been solved, it's helpful to have a big collection of D&D puzzle ideas to dive into. So, with that in mind, even more 5e puzzles have been added to this list to choose from.

Flaming Lanterns

Set Colored Lanterns In The Correct Order Before It's Too Late

This D&D Dungeon puzzle involves a classic locked door scenario. To unlock the way forward, the party must place five (or more if you want to increase the difficulty) lanterns on the magical podiums in the correct order. Each lantern burns a different color and also burns brighter when placed on the correct podium.

The door will only unlock when the lanterns are in the correct color order, but the players cannot simply brute-force this puzzle with trial and error. Each time they submit an incorrect guess, the room will shake, and the lanterns will flicker. Too many wrong guesses will cause the room to collapse, meaning the players must retreat and find another way through the dungeon. If you are running a cozier campaign and want to be more merciful, perhaps the code will be reset after a certain number of guesses rather than destroying the puzzle room.

Leavers And Wires

Follow Long Winding Wires To Avoid Pulling The Wrong Leaver

The party is caught in a large laboratory that has gone into lockdown. The players must pull the correct lever to unlock the magical security systems. Unfortunately, the eccentric scientist of the laboratory can't recall which lever out of the countless ones around the lab is the right one. The simple solution is to follow the long cable from the magical security system to the appropriate leaver, but unfortunately, this still won't be straightforward.

Throughout the laboratory, many winding wires are going off in different directions, tangled up, and slipping in and out of view. You can showcase this on a map of the facility, drawing these seemingly endless wires on the map for the players to look at. The players must attempt to follow the wires, avoiding losing track of them as they spiral one way and another the next. They must be careful while searching, as the laboratory went into lockdown for a reason. Many dangerously tough monsters are on the loose out of their experiment chambers, and they may even be moving the cables around to mess with the party.

Lines In The Sand

Recreate Drawings With Continuous Lines In The Sand

In this team-focused DnD puzzle, the party is transported to a sweltering, mysterious desert with giant, heavy slabs on their backs. A deity above them has summoned them to this desert for their amusem*nt. Satisfy the deity by playing their game, and they will be shown the way out of the desert.

Their captor wants them to recreate a series of images in the sand. The slabs on their backs create a line in the sand whenever the adventurers move. This line cannot be broken, which makes it quite tricky to recreate each drawing accurately. The party must work together to create the drawings properly, using continuous lines.

To add to the difficulty, they also cannot retrace their steps, perhaps because the sand disappears beneath them, leaving a nasty fall to avoid. Having physically interactive puzzles is , so why not have the players use paper and pen to solve this puzzle? If they can manage to draw each prompt, they will be free to go. By the end of this puzzle, you should have a few fun drawings to share, too.

The Minefield

The Party Is Stuck In A Real Minesweeper Scenario

When the party accidentally stumbles into a minefield, all hope seems lost. That is, until they find a magical artifact in the ground that might be able to help them. The device can sense how many mines are nearby and telepathically warn the party of that number. Unfortunately, this does not entirely help them escape. The players know how many mines are nearby but not their direction.

This puzzle becomes a game of Minesweeper. The magical artifact gives them enough vague clues to help them, but they will need to use a lot of deduction to determine a safe path through the field. One wrong move will trigger a fiery explosion that will cause a lot of damage. This is a very tense puzzle for your players to navigate, but if they are careful, they'll live to tell the tale.

Multicolored Door Handles

Combining Colors To Open A Door

One of the easiest ways to incorporate a challenge into your latest session is by putting locked doors in the way of your players and their objectives. It isn’t just a matter of grabbing a lockpick. A magical spell ensures they cannot progress without solving a puzzle first. In this example, the players come across a door with multiple handles. Each one is a different color.

Above the door is a phrase that hints towards a specific color. Yet there isn’t a door handle in that particular color. For example, the etching might state, “Everyone will be green with envy if you unlock this door.” The players will hopefully soon realize that they will need to pull the blue and yellow handles simultaneously, as these primary colors combine to create green. If the players pull the wrong handles, they may receive a shock or summon a monster they must fight before attempting the puzzle again.

Rock Beats Scissors

Pitting Monsters Against One Another In The Right Order To Clear The Path

Lost in a dungeon full of D&D puzzle rooms, the party finds themselves in a branching pathway with multiple routes they can go. Unfortunately, each path is blocked by a monster far too overpowered for them to handle at their current level. Each monster has a distinct weakness that another monster can take advantage of very quickly. For example, a fire-based beast might be easy for a water-based creature to extinguish. It is up to the players to lure each monster towards another, to pit them against each other, as if in a mini tournament.

If they struggle to come to this solution, a survival guidebook in the first chamber could hint at each monster’s weakness. Like a game of rock, paper, and scissors, each monster can be easily defeated if facing the correct rival. The players must figure out the correct pairings and let the battles begin. They will also want to find the proper order, as they do not want a monster to be defeated before it can eliminate a threat they are most qualified to defeat.

Brute Force

An Elaborate Series Of Puzzles With A Surprisingly Simple Solution

Locked treasure chests make for good D&D puzzles for both beginner DMs and experienced DMs. This particular puzzle plays with the idea that sometimes a simple solution is often the best approach, and players can frequently overthink the puzzles they encounter. The party finds an elaborately locked chest that even some of the best intelligence/arcana checks cannot figure out the solution for. Even if they solve one puzzle, the chest remains locked, and a new puzzle or riddle appears for them to solve next.

After solving or getting stumped by puzzle after puzzle, one player might attempt to swing at the box with their weapon and try to break their way into it. Surprisingly, despite all the magical barriers and puzzles protecting the chest, simply smashing it to pieces is enough to get inside.

For a fun role-playing twist, you could add that each time the attacker strikes the chest, their intelligence stat increases temporarily. This leads to them being able to solve the more complicated problem almost immediately. This puzzle rewards pure brute force for once.

A Timely Entrance

Finding A Secret Door That Only Appears At A Certain Time Of Day

The party has heard about a long-forgotten ancient society with a nearby lair. Unfortunately, the entrance to this location is seemingly impossible to find. Even if they see hints of where the entrance should be, the party cannot locate it. This is because the solution to this puzzle is not about discovering where the entrance is… but learning when to find it!

The entrance only appears at a specific time of day, such as sunset or when the moon is at its highest point. The moonlight may make the entrance finally appear. The party will need to figure out that they must wait for this specific time of day to be able to get inside.

If this is too simple, other conditions could also be needed for the door to appear. For example, perhaps a tree is blocking the sunset light from hitting the secret doorway’s location. The party must prune the leaves to ensure a direct line of sight. Alternatively, a circle of rocks might also need to be realigned correctly. Once all the conditions are correctly met, the entrance appears before the group.

Never-Ending Army

Waves Of Enemies That Won't Stop Until The Party Figures Out Another Solution

The party finds themselves in a large arena or a vast chamber in a dungeon when an avalanche of endless waves of monsters, such as shadowy demons or beasts, disrupts the eerie quiet. It seems like this might lead to an inevitable TPK, but when the players make their first attacks, each enemy they hit is defeated with a single strike, no matter how much damage they do. Yet, the waves of monsters keep filling the room. They could stay here fighting these enemies forever or investigate and figure out another way to end this swarm.

They may need to lure enemies to die in specific locations on the map, or perhaps there is a hidden switch they need to find to shut the gates where the enemies are spawning from. The party best act fast as the room will start to fill rapidly with the bodies of the monsters they defeat.

Of course, this could be another solution to this combat-driven puzzle, as they could use the growing pile of bodies to reach an exit up high. Combat might not be what you think of when coming up with D&D puzzle ideas, but it can add a lot of exciting tension to the experience.

Invisible Bridge

The Party Attempts To Cross A Vast Chasm

When a large, seemingly bottomless chasm prevents the players from reaching their next destination, they’ll need to get creative to make their way across. This is a classic, simple puzzle to incorporate into an introductory campaign, where you could leave a few different ways to make it across, from swinging across with rope to building a makeshift catapult.

The primary way would be to leave hints of an invisible bridge for the party to try and navigate. Some hovering bits of sand and grit may hint at where the bridge starts. Alternatively, perhaps the cleric needs to call out to their deity and take a leap of faith for the bridge to appear, or an adventurer with an overactive imagination can think of a bridge, and it will appear… but only as long as they maintain concentration for the entire journey across.

If they fall into the chasm, perhaps they fall right back to where they fell from, with some fall damage for their efforts.

Repeat The Tune

A Musical Puzzle To Unlock A Door

Incorporating music can make for some really fun DnD puzzles. This particular puzzle is another quick hurdle to bypass a locked door. An instrument is built into the door, and a faint tune can be heard echoing throughout their current room.

The players will (hopefully) quickly realize that they need to recreate this tune, or perhaps even a series of songs, to satisfy the magically sealed door. A triumphant melody will play once the correct tune has been played, and the door will slide open.

This puzzle can be done in person if you can access an instrument such as a guitar or keyboard, but there are online resources you can use instead, such as virtual pianos. Sometimes, easy D&D puzzles are precisely what you need, so if your players are struggling, have some clues scattered around the room on what notes they need to try, with the order muddled up slightly.

The Line-Up

A Game Of Deduction To Narrow Down The Suspects

While searching for a mysterious villain causing trouble, the party chases this unknown troublemaker into a strange, cursed building. When inside, they find a line-up of lots of different floating heads in jars. One of these heads is their suspect, but the party has no idea what they look like. Fortunately, a nearby mysterious device will answer yes or no questions to help the party narrow their suspects.

To add to the challenge, there may be a limit to how many questions the group can ask the device. This is a magical version of Guess Who or 20 Questions. Can the players ask the right questions to narrow down the heads until only the villain remains, or will they guess incorrectly and unknowingly allow them to escape?

Ghost Ship

Ghostly Pirates And A Boat That Might Never Reach Land Again

Your players reach a river that seems more like an ocean, with no sign of the other side in view. Crossing seems impossible until a spooky ghost ship arrives, offering them safe passage across the water. Once the boat sets sail, the ghostly pirates begin to sing sea shanties that become increasingly confusing and dire. It becomes clear that the ship is lost, passing the same landmarks in the water repeatedly, yet the ghosts continue singing sad songs about being lost at sea. The party might be lost with them forever if they don't act quickly.

To solve the puzzle of how to get back to dry land, the players must find a map of the mysterious ocean river and convince the pirates to head in the right direction, passing the correct landmarks in a set order. Of course, it isn't that simple, as your players will need to come up with new sea shanties to tempt the pirates to sing that are linked to the landmarks they need to reach. It's a fun, creative puzzle where your players get to come up with silly lyrics and sing along with the ghosts.

Reverse Puzzles

Attempting To Solve Re-Activated Puzzles Backwards

If you've been playing with the same group for a while for a long-term campaign, your players have likely encountered a lot of puzzles already and might feel pretty confident that they can solve them. So, this encounter is designed to test their memory of many mini-puzzles. The scenario begins with the party entering an already-explored dungeon. All the traps and puzzles have been solved or destroyed, making it easy to stroll through until they reach the treasure.

As soon as one of the adventurers picks up the loot, the surrounding dungeon trembles as all of the puzzles reset. Now to leave, the players will have to retrace their steps through each room, trying to remember the solutions in reverse order. You can fill this dungeon with many simple D&D puzzles; the real challenge is a memory game of what solutions fit which rooms in what order.

Trigger Words

Anything Your Players Say Could Be Used Against Them... To Trigger Deadly Traps

D&D 5E puzzles often involve lots of discussion between the players about how to solve them. This puzzle uses that to your advantage, so this is an excellent option if you have a talkative group. The party finds themselves in a room full of sliding doors and deadly gadgets, such as spinning blades and swinging axes. It seems almost impossible to get past, and as the players begin to discuss their options, they notice that some of the traps stop and particular doors open. As they discuss further, the traps activate again, and different doors slide open and close.

Eventually, the heroes will realize that certain words are triggering different room components. It might be a commonly used word such as 'the' or 'and,' or perhaps to really confuse your players, the triggers might be linked to tone of voice. If they speak in a panic, their voice triggers certain traps and doors, while an angry tone activates other parts of the room. Together, your players will have to figure out what phrases or tones they need to communicate to navigate the dangerous space safely.

The Freezing Tunnel

Can The Party Chip Away At The Ice Before They Freeze Too?

This next puzzle would fit well in an Arctic setting but could also fit in any dungeon or tomb your players are exploring. The players must get through a long tunnel, which has completely frozen solid. With their weapons and spells, they can start to chip away at it slowly, but over time, it continues to freeze again, putting them at risk of getting frozen in place. As an additional threat, the tunnel is full of frozen monsters that awaken when freed from the ice.

The puzzle of navigating this tunnel involves putting a lot of pressure on the players, as they must attempt to defeat the monsters while simultaneously chipping away at the ice before it freezes everyone. This puzzle has a relatively simple solution if the players notice it. The monsters they defeat have parts of them, such as magical claws or sharp, glowing limbs, that they can use to break each chunk of ice before them instantaneously. This allows the players to race through the tunnel fast enough not to get caught by the rapid cold.

Brewing Potions

Mixing Ingredients Together And Seeing What Happens

This lighthearted puzzle allows your players to get creative with potions. The party finds themselves working for a potion brewer who needs them to meet the demands of their eccentric, demanding customers. The party is put in a room full of lots of potions, all with vague, unhelpful labels, and these potions must be mixed together to create new concoctions to fulfill the strange requests.

For example, a customer wants a potion to help them swim in a frozen lake without feeling cold. The party grabs a potion of Diving and a potion of Campfire and combines them to get the effects of underwater breathing and cold resistance. For a sillier approach to that potion puzzle, perhaps they combine a fishy potion and a potion of hot sauce to give the customer temporary gills and a sensation of having their mouth on fire to keep them warm.

You can get creative with the puzzling requests, so make sure to have a vast selection of potions ready to be mixed together and let the players go wild with their ideas to solve each need.

Size Matters

A Maze Where You Need To Shrink And Grow To Navigate It

Mazes can make for great D&D puzzles, and there are many ways to make them creative and unique each time you introduce one. This time, your players enter a puzzle room and find multiple archways of varying heights, all glowing in different colors. Whenever someone walks through one of these archways, their size is drastically changed, making them tiny, gigantic, or anywhere in between.

This limits where they can go in each room of this maze by being too small to reach some archways and too big to fit through others. Working as a team, they'll have to figure out the best way to get around each room. They can even work together by having one giant PC hold a smaller one up to reach a high-up archway. Throughout this puzzle, they will all repeatedly change sizes, trying to find the best way to navigate the maze.

The Winning Moves

Solving The Final Few Moves Of Giant Versions Of Classic Games

When developing puzzles for D&D, looking at other types of puzzles that already exist, such as in board games, is helpful. There are lots of games that have a puzzle element to them that can really get you thinking. With this puzzle idea, your players enter room after room with giant versions of classic board games, such as Chess or Scrabble. These games are already at a late stage, and it becomes clear that the players must select the winning moves in each scenario. If they get it right, the door will unlock to let them progress.

As an example, in the giant Scrabble board room, the players must pick a word to earn enough points to win the game at the last turn. They'll carry the oversized tiles to the grid to boost their team's score to victory. For Chess, the opponent's pieces are just two or three turns away from checkmate, and the players must pick the right moves to avoid that and claim checkmate themselves. With so many board and card games out there, you have many options for scenarios to present to your players.

Twisted Tales

Fictional Characters Have Escaped Their Books

A library has fallen into chaos and needs the players to help. The place is overrun with characters from fiction that have been unleashed from the books they came from. Some of these characters have also merged together to complicate matters. It is now up to the players to deduce what characters came from which classic stories, find the appropriate book from the library, and capture them back into the pages.

Your party will have to interact with each escaped character, listening out for hints of what book they might be from. As a simple example, the players might meet a sleepy character who appears to be a half-wolf half-grandmother and deduce that they must grab a book about Sleeping Beauty and one about Little Red Riding Hood. You could also adapt any classic work of literature, or perhaps even a film, into a D&D alternative for the players to find in the library. For example, instead of The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, they could need to find The Manticore, The Hag, And The Mimic from the shelves.