I wrote some riddles for my players, but I am curious if the community can guess their answers too:
Here they are:
Riddle One:
“In the glen where moonbeams play, I dwell, a being of night and day. Neither bird nor fairy small, I dance at the twilight's call. Invisible to mortal sight, I revel in the pale moonlight. With a touch, a trick, or a dream, I am more than I seem. What am I?
Riddle 2:
“Seek me high, seek me low I am everywhere, and nowhere I am many and one What am I”
Riddle 3:
“I am not a bird, but I fly high, Kissed by sun and starlit sky. Gentle breezes make me sway, In open fields where children play. Yet, am tied so I won’t stray. What am I?”
Riddle 4:
"In the theatre of life, I dance unseen, A whispered secret, both harsh and serene.
No fortress denies me, No spell my command, No warrior’s defiance can stay my hand.
To kings and to beggars, my visit is sure, Not born of conflict, but to all, I endure.
At the final curtain, I take my stand, The ultimate truth, in every land.
What am I?”
ALT Riddle 4:
“In the shadow of life, I silently tread, A visitor known, yet widely dread. No door is too strong to keep me at bay, To every being, I'll come one day. I am not of war, nor born of strife, But an inevitable end to every life. At the final curtain I take my stand, The ultimate truth in every land. What am I?”
i was thinking spiderweb or frost... but, is it instead a mosquito?
i'll be disappointed if the answer is atoms. maybe love? desires?
it evokes a butterfly up until it's tied which leads to kite.
death death death. if you're looking to be more impenetrable like the first two, maybe try coming around from a "friend to some widows, long-time enemy of others" sort of direction where the 'visitor' isn't shadowy or final but more of a transition. and more succinct. :D
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3) weeds/dandelion? EDIT rumloverum is definitely correct that this one is a kite.
wait! fork me over to the sphinx if you have to, but now i want then answer to be dandelion regardless of right. who flies a kite under starless night? maybe, and hear me out hypothetical hungry sphinx, what it the 'tied' line was something like "bound to earth while gold, then free as snow" ?
...assuming the riddle is looking for a word and not hinting that the players go tie together those sticks and sailcloth to ride thermal winds away from the volcano or whatever
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
The the answer to the riddles is not the full answer to the puzzle. The players also have to think how each answer can be applied in a metaphorical context to the stages of life, and then use that to work out the order of the pictagrams to solve the puzzle and unlock the door. It is all information the players have been given in-game thus far, so the puzzle requires the characters, via their players to call upon on all their knowledge to solve it.
The answers above corrispond to the stages of life like this:
Magic - The Beginning (Birth and Early Years): represented by Spirit.
This stage is characterised by a sense of wonder and endless possibilities. The world is a place of enchantment and mystery, much like how magic is perceived. In childhood, there's a blurring of reality and fantasy, where imagination is unbound. This period is foundational, filled with learning and experiencing the world in its most vivid and unfiltered form. Magic here symbolises the purity, innocence, and boundless curiosity that define early life.
Shadow - The Formation (Adolescence and Early Adulthood): represented by Void.
The shadow stage is a complex period of self-discovery and identity formation. It's a time when individuals start to grapple with their inner selves and the realities of the world around them. Like shadows that are always present but often not consciously acknowledged, this phase involves confronting aspects of oneself that may have been ignored or unknown. It's a period marked by introspection, change, and sometimes confusion, as individuals explore their place in the world and shape their identities.
Kite - The Journey (Life/Adulthood): represented by an Ankh.
Adulthood, represented by the kite, is a dynamic mix of freedom and responsibility, joy and challenge. The act of flying a kite — controlling something that is at the mercy of the wind yet tethered — is a metaphor for navigating adult life. This stage involves balancing personal desires with external responsibilities, experiencing the highs of achievements and the lows of setbacks. There are moments of exhilarating freedom, but also the recognition of limitations and boundaries. It's a time for making important decisions, building relationships, and pursuing goals. The metaphor of the kite captures the essence of being influenced by forces beyond one's control (like social, economic, or political factors) I.e., being tied, like a kite yet having a degree of agency in how one responds and navigates through these forces.
Death - The Conclusion (End of Life): represented by an inverted colour Ankh.
The final stage, symbolised by death, represents the culmination of the life journey. It's a stage of reflection, understanding, and acceptance. Death, as the ultimate truth, signifies the end of physical existence but can also represent the legacy and memories that one leaves behind. This stage is about coming to terms with one's life, the impacts made, and the inevitable nature of mortality. It can be seen as a time of wisdom, where the experiences of a lifetime coalesce into a deeper understanding of life's meaning and purpose. The metaphor of death in this context is not just an end, but a completion of a cycle, a final stage of life that gives the preceding stages their full context and significance.
The final part of the puzzle.
The players have passed through each stage of life on their way through the dungeon, and now at the end they face the final challenge that will open the door to what lies beyond. To open the door, they must solve this multilayered puzzle and place the symbols in the correct order, like this:
They can try as much as they need to, to get it right, but each time they fail a wave of enemies will be magically summoned into the room. Once they step through the door, each player will receive an in-game reward that is unique to their character backstory.
Don't worry, this is a completed game, so I'm not giving my players any info lol.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I agree that your party might have a difficult time getting the answers to this riddle fest, thus causing other problems in the game.
1. This is worded in a way where with the answer you can see how, "magic" could be referenced, by a few of the words but not the whole.
In the glen where moonbeams play, okay so moonbeam is a spell I dwell, a being of night and day. magic can be cast at any time, sure but this just is a line that rhymes that isn't helpful. Neither bird nor fairy small, this line is vague and isn't helpful... birds tend to not be magical, fairy's much so, so contradictory as well. I dance at the twilight's call. this line doesn't truly reference magic either... not really anyways. Invisible to mortal sight, so this line is more philosophical you are saying magic is everywhere but it also can be seen by regular sight. With a touch, a trick, or a dream, sure magic can be considered tricks, can be done by touch, and can put people to sleep... but too vague. I am more than I seem. Again really vague. What am I?
Unless there is a book that you guys read together that hints at these riddles or your players know exactly how you think, they are going to have to trouble with this as a whole challenge.
Granted I see flaws in the 2nd one as well but just wanted to show one as a break down.
“Seek me high, seek me low I am everywhere, and nowhere I am many and one What am I”
I would maybe reword the second riddle to something more along the lines of:
"Sometimes I'm a giant, and other times a runt.
Either following behind you or standing out in front.
My companions are different but tend to be the same.
If you see me nearby, you'll surely know me name."
I was trying to give a few vague examples of how somebody might view a shadow, such as seeing it be bigger or smaller depending on the light source. Similarly, a shadow might be in different positions based on where the lights are (i.e., in front or in back of you). Wanted to keep your original "many and one" concept, so I changed it to various shadows being different but having similiarities.
Admittedly, my lines above could be a lot stronger if I spent more time and thought in building them, but I'm hoping that the different turns of phrase help out.
The idea behind riddle 1, is that it evokes images of an ethereal, intangible essence that exists in a realm beyond the ordinary. Active during the day and night, but influenced by moonlight. The players also got a book that detailed the Order of the Blue Moon, and riddle is a reference to both that book, and the fact that magic can be felt more strongly on a full moon. My angle for this riddle was that it hints at something not seen but deeply felt or experienced, something that can alter reality or perception, making it more than it seems.
For riddle 2, the idea was to describes something that is omnipresent yet not always noticed, existing in various forms and yet singular in concept. It’s both a part of the world and apart from it, a paradox in itself. My angle for this one was that shadows are cast everywhere, yet they have no tangible form or specific location. They are a multitude (as everything casts a shadow) and a singular phenomenon (the concept of a shadow). Thus shadows themselves are paradoxical in nature being both everywhere and nowhere, many and one.
Although I will admit that to correctly solve these two requires thinking more metaphorically about various concepts within the world, and connecting the dots between information that was given previously during the game in small bits and pieces, and metaphors and references used in the riddles.
The riddle room was meant to be the final boss (the last guardian). Rather than fighting an entity specifically, the room is the boss that can be defeated by correctly solving the riddles, but which will summon a wave of enemies (made up of enemy types the players have already faced) each time the players get it wrong.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Slight changes in the weave during a full moon enable those who are sensitive to magic feel it more keenly. That’s not to say that it is more powerful, just that magic sensitives can feel it more. Although I think that might be more of a thing from older editions.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
So based off everything you're saying now there could be a chance your players could get it... since the world you've created has nuances that could make it more pronounced (I'm guessing you've mentioned the thing about the weave to your players before, because the lore for the weave doesn't exactly work that way.. although that is more similar to the magic used in dragonlance... which also has multiple moons and than there is also the book). That being said I am not sure fully what the purpose of this thread than truly was.
I originally thought that this thread was created to test the riddles, to see if anyone could get it and while two riddles were discovered by some folks no one guessed one or two which seems to require knowledge of how your world runs/was set up. Bassed off that I am not sure how the community could help you.
So based off everything you're saying now there could be a chance your players could get it... since the world you've created has nuances that could make it more pronounced (I'm guessing you've mentioned the thing about the weave to your players before, because the lore for the weave doesn't exactly work that way.. although that is more similar to the magic used in dragonlance... which also has multiple moons and than there is also the book). That being said I am not sure fully what the purpose of this thread than truly was.
I originally thought that this thread was created to test the riddles, to see if anyone could get it and while two riddles were discovered by some folks no one guessed one or two which seems to require knowledge of how your world runs/was set up. Bassed off that I am not sure how the community could help you.
The primary purpose was to test the riddles.
Although the original game I used them in has concluded, so sharing them wouldn't reveal any information to the players. The players struggled considerably with the last room in the dungeon, primarily because they found the riddles hard. Therefore, I wanted to see whether this challenge was unique to those players or if the riddles themselves were excessively difficult.
I had planned to use these riddles in future games (with different players), but given the last group's struggles, I wanted to see if the majority of people would find them difficult, or if it was specific to those players.
While I have explained how I came up with them. (the one about the kite was sourced online and is not my own, so thats maybe why it was like a proper riddle), this doesn't mean I am not listening to people's opinions.
I am considering everyone's feedback for future reference.
So all the replies are helping me to come to the conclusion that I need to refine this much more, and make the riddles better, before using it again.
XD
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
The answers of Magic and Shadow for 1 and 2 were never going to happen for me. Interpreting 1 as Magic would require knowing specific lore about your world if Magic is supposed to be more prevalent by moon light or at twilight ... and that this effect could be termed "dancing". (I've been playing since 1e and I've never run across that piece of lore if it exists).
1) Some of the confusing wording in 1:
"I dwell, a being of night and day"
Referring to "Magic" as a "being" will start folks in the wrong direction and they won't be coming back. In 5e, magic comes from the "weave". Manipulating the weave results in the manifestation of spells.
"A spell is a discrete magical effect, a single shaping of the magical energies that suffuse the multiverse into a specific, limited expression. In casting a spell, a character carefully plucks at the invisible strands of raw magic suffusing the world, pins them in place in a particular pattern, sets them vibrating in a specific way, and then releases them to unleash the desired effect — in most cases, all in the span of seconds."
If you want to have a riddle with answer being magic, I'd start with the description in the PHB and build on that.
2) The second riddle is just too vague and lacking context so that Shadow is unlikely to be found as an answer.
“Seek me high, seek me low I am everywhere, and nowhere I am many and one What am I”
Air might fit this description - it is found high and low - it is everywhere but you can't see it - it is made up of many small parts but acts together. or How about light? similar reasoning but made of photons. Both of these are potentially as "everywhere and nowhere" as shadows might be. Shadows are cast by different light sources, an object can have multiple shadows, these shadows can overlap and have different intensities - how does that make them all one unless just the fact that they all happen to be shadows? Shadow (or Darkness) is the absence of light so there are likely some good clues that could be built from that element.
------
Anyway, making up riddles is really challenging. I've tried a few times with mixed success. I find the biggest problem is that knowing the answer makes the clues seem really obvious so there can be a desire to make the clues a bit more obscure so folks have a bit of a "challenge" - the problem being that, in many cases, the riddles were already tough enough :)
I'll stipulate here that you know your players, and I don't, so obviously take this with a grain of salt.
I do not like riddles or puzzles in my D&D. They are about challenging the players, not the characters. And they actively discourage role playing, imo. If you're person of average intelligence or wisdom is playing a wizard of cleric with a 20 in their mental stat, the character is likely to be very good at things like puzzles, where the player may not be. Or the reverse, you have someone who loves, loves riddles, but is playing a barbarian who dumped int. So, does the barbarian player sit there knowing the answer, but not say anything because their character shouldn't? Or can the wizard player get some kind of int check to just solve it, and make the whole thing moot?
That said, as I've been reminded in past similar discussions, there are certainly players who adore puzzles, and when the DM presents them with something like this, they are more engaged in the game than they are at any other time. And if you and at least some of your players are like that, then this will be really fun for everyone. Also it's really great to break out of the idea of the boss fight being against one big monster; I love the twist here. And as I said, you know your players, where I don't. I just wanted to throw another perspective out there.
Hi,
I wrote some riddles for my players, but I am curious if the community can guess their answers too:
Here they are:
What do you think, what would your answers be?
I am looking forward to seeing all your guesses.
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Almost, but not quite.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
1. wind
2. god/ divinity/ pantheon?
3. kite
4. grim reaper
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Probably
1) shadows
2) ......nature? Very vague on this one
3) weeds/dandelion? EDIT rumloverum is definitely correct that this one is a kite.
4) death
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
wait! fork me over to the sphinx if you have to, but now i want then answer to be dandelion regardless of right. who flies a kite under starless night? maybe, and hear me out hypothetical hungry sphinx, what it the 'tied' line was something like "bound to earth while gold, then free as snow" ?
...assuming the riddle is looking for a word and not hinting that the players go tie together those sticks and sailcloth to ride thermal winds away from the volcano or whatever
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
The answers are, in order:
The the answer to the riddles is not the full answer to the puzzle. The players also have to think how each answer can be applied in a metaphorical context to the stages of life, and then use that to work out the order of the pictagrams to solve the puzzle and unlock the door. It is all information the players have been given in-game thus far, so the puzzle requires the characters, via their players to call upon on all their knowledge to solve it.
The answers above corrispond to the stages of life like this:
Magic - The Beginning (Birth and Early Years): represented by Spirit.
This stage is characterised by a sense of wonder and endless possibilities. The world is a place of enchantment and mystery, much like how magic is perceived. In childhood, there's a blurring of reality and fantasy, where imagination is unbound. This period is foundational, filled with learning and experiencing the world in its most vivid and unfiltered form. Magic here symbolises the purity, innocence, and boundless curiosity that define early life.
Shadow - The Formation (Adolescence and Early Adulthood): represented by Void.
The shadow stage is a complex period of self-discovery and identity formation. It's a time when individuals start to grapple with their inner selves and the realities of the world around them. Like shadows that are always present but often not consciously acknowledged, this phase involves confronting aspects of oneself that may have been ignored or unknown. It's a period marked by introspection, change, and sometimes confusion, as individuals explore their place in the world and shape their identities.
Kite - The Journey (Life/Adulthood): represented by an Ankh.
Adulthood, represented by the kite, is a dynamic mix of freedom and responsibility, joy and challenge. The act of flying a kite — controlling something that is at the mercy of the wind yet tethered — is a metaphor for navigating adult life. This stage involves balancing personal desires with external responsibilities, experiencing the highs of achievements and the lows of setbacks. There are moments of exhilarating freedom, but also the recognition of limitations and boundaries. It's a time for making important decisions, building relationships, and pursuing goals. The metaphor of the kite captures the essence of being influenced by forces beyond one's control (like social, economic, or political factors) I.e., being tied, like a kite yet having a degree of agency in how one responds and navigates through these forces.
Death - The Conclusion (End of Life): represented by an inverted colour Ankh.
The final stage, symbolised by death, represents the culmination of the life journey. It's a stage of reflection, understanding, and acceptance. Death, as the ultimate truth, signifies the end of physical existence but can also represent the legacy and memories that one leaves behind. This stage is about coming to terms with one's life, the impacts made, and the inevitable nature of mortality. It can be seen as a time of wisdom, where the experiences of a lifetime coalesce into a deeper understanding of life's meaning and purpose. The metaphor of death in this context is not just an end, but a completion of a cycle, a final stage of life that gives the preceding stages their full context and significance.
The final part of the puzzle.
The players have passed through each stage of life on their way through the dungeon, and now at the end they face the final challenge that will open the door to what lies beyond. To open the door, they must solve this multilayered puzzle and place the symbols in the correct order, like this:
They can try as much as they need to, to get it right, but each time they fail a wave of enemies will be magically summoned into the room. Once they step through the door, each player will receive an in-game reward that is unique to their character backstory.
Don't worry, this is a completed game, so I'm not giving my players any info lol.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I agree that your party might have a difficult time getting the answers to this riddle fest, thus causing other problems in the game.
1. This is worded in a way where with the answer you can see how, "magic" could be referenced, by a few of the words but not the whole.
I would maybe reword the second riddle to something more along the lines of:
"Sometimes I'm a giant, and other times a runt.
Either following behind you or standing out in front.
My companions are different but tend to be the same.
If you see me nearby, you'll surely know me name."
I was trying to give a few vague examples of how somebody might view a shadow, such as seeing it be bigger or smaller depending on the light source. Similarly, a shadow might be in different positions based on where the lights are (i.e., in front or in back of you). Wanted to keep your original "many and one" concept, so I changed it to various shadows being different but having similiarities.
Admittedly, my lines above could be a lot stronger if I spent more time and thought in building them, but I'm hoping that the different turns of phrase help out.
With regards to the first two riddles:
The idea behind riddle 1, is that it evokes images of an ethereal, intangible essence that exists in a realm beyond the ordinary. Active during the day and night, but influenced by moonlight. The players also got a book that detailed the Order of the Blue Moon, and riddle is a reference to both that book, and the fact that magic can be felt more strongly on a full moon. My angle for this riddle was that it hints at something not seen but deeply felt or experienced, something that can alter reality or perception, making it more than it seems.
For riddle 2, the idea was to describes something that is omnipresent yet not always noticed, existing in various forms and yet singular in concept. It’s both a part of the world and apart from it, a paradox in itself. My angle for this one was that shadows are cast everywhere, yet they have no tangible form or specific location. They are a multitude (as everything casts a shadow) and a singular phenomenon (the concept of a shadow). Thus shadows themselves are paradoxical in nature being both everywhere and nowhere, many and one.
Although I will admit that to correctly solve these two requires thinking more metaphorically about various concepts within the world, and connecting the dots between information that was given previously during the game in small bits and pieces, and metaphors and references used in the riddles.
The riddle room was meant to be the final boss (the last guardian). Rather than fighting an entity specifically, the room is the boss that can be defeated by correctly solving the riddles, but which will summon a wave of enemies (made up of enemy types the players have already faced) each time the players get it wrong.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Slight changes in the weave during a full moon enable those who are sensitive to magic feel it more keenly. That’s not to say that it is more powerful, just that magic sensitives can feel it more. Although I think that might be more of a thing from older editions.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
So based off everything you're saying now there could be a chance your players could get it... since the world you've created has nuances that could make it more pronounced (I'm guessing you've mentioned the thing about the weave to your players before, because the lore for the weave doesn't exactly work that way.. although that is more similar to the magic used in dragonlance... which also has multiple moons and than there is also the book). That being said I am not sure fully what the purpose of this thread than truly was.
I originally thought that this thread was created to test the riddles, to see if anyone could get it and while two riddles were discovered by some folks no one guessed one or two which seems to require knowledge of how your world runs/was set up. Bassed off that I am not sure how the community could help you.
The primary purpose was to test the riddles.
Although the original game I used them in has concluded, so sharing them wouldn't reveal any information to the players. The players struggled considerably with the last room in the dungeon, primarily because they found the riddles hard. Therefore, I wanted to see whether this challenge was unique to those players or if the riddles themselves were excessively difficult.
I had planned to use these riddles in future games (with different players), but given the last group's struggles, I wanted to see if the majority of people would find them difficult, or if it was specific to those players.
While I have explained how I came up with them. (the one about the kite was sourced online and is not my own, so thats maybe why it was like a proper riddle), this doesn't mean I am not listening to people's opinions.
I am considering everyone's feedback for future reference.
So all the replies are helping me to come to the conclusion that I need to refine this much more, and make the riddles better, before using it again.
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Just another data point :)
I came up with Kite and Death for 3 and 4.
The answers of Magic and Shadow for 1 and 2 were never going to happen for me. Interpreting 1 as Magic would require knowing specific lore about your world if Magic is supposed to be more prevalent by moon light or at twilight ... and that this effect could be termed "dancing". (I've been playing since 1e and I've never run across that piece of lore if it exists).
1) Some of the confusing wording in 1:
"I dwell, a being of night and day"
Referring to "Magic" as a "being" will start folks in the wrong direction and they won't be coming back. In 5e, magic comes from the "weave". Manipulating the weave results in the manifestation of spells.
"A spell is a discrete magical effect, a single shaping of the magical energies that suffuse the multiverse into a specific, limited expression. In casting a spell, a character carefully plucks at the invisible strands of raw magic suffusing the world, pins them in place in a particular pattern, sets them vibrating in a specific way, and then releases them to unleash the desired effect — in most cases, all in the span of seconds."
If you want to have a riddle with answer being magic, I'd start with the description in the PHB and build on that.
2) The second riddle is just too vague and lacking context so that Shadow is unlikely to be found as an answer.
“Seek me high, seek me low
I am everywhere, and nowhere
I am many and one
What am I”
Air might fit this description - it is found high and low - it is everywhere but you can't see it - it is made up of many small parts but acts together. or How about light? similar reasoning but made of photons. Both of these are potentially as "everywhere and nowhere" as shadows might be. Shadows are cast by different light sources, an object can have multiple shadows, these shadows can overlap and have different intensities - how does that make them all one unless just the fact that they all happen to be shadows? Shadow (or Darkness) is the absence of light so there are likely some good clues that could be built from that element.
------
Anyway, making up riddles is really challenging. I've tried a few times with mixed success. I find the biggest problem is that knowing the answer makes the clues seem really obvious so there can be a desire to make the clues a bit more obscure so folks have a bit of a "challenge" - the problem being that, in many cases, the riddles were already tough enough :)
I stand by #1 being shadow but I acquiesce to the others
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I'll stipulate here that you know your players, and I don't, so obviously take this with a grain of salt.
I do not like riddles or puzzles in my D&D. They are about challenging the players, not the characters. And they actively discourage role playing, imo. If you're person of average intelligence or wisdom is playing a wizard of cleric with a 20 in their mental stat, the character is likely to be very good at things like puzzles, where the player may not be. Or the reverse, you have someone who loves, loves riddles, but is playing a barbarian who dumped int. So, does the barbarian player sit there knowing the answer, but not say anything because their character shouldn't? Or can the wizard player get some kind of int check to just solve it, and make the whole thing moot?
That said, as I've been reminded in past similar discussions, there are certainly players who adore puzzles, and when the DM presents them with something like this, they are more engaged in the game than they are at any other time. And if you and at least some of your players are like that, then this will be really fun for everyone. Also it's really great to break out of the idea of the boss fight being against one big monster; I love the twist here. And as I said, you know your players, where I don't. I just wanted to throw another perspective out there.