I'm going to put my characters up against a gauntlet of puzzles in the final level of a dungeon. There won't (shouldn't anyway) be any combat in this level. All that will have happened on the other two levels.

The first puzzle is one of social skills. I want them to encounter a creature who would not immediately attack them. The goal of the encounter (which I'll hopefully RP right so that they kind of get the hint) is to appease the creature by cooking it a nice meal. This is an underground cavern that is below another underground layer of the dungeon so I don't really want it to be a human. I need an intelligent creature.

So far, the only options that seem like candidates (I've skimmed through Volo's, Mordenkainen's, and the MM) are:

• Behir
• Guardian Naga
• Nothic
• Pseudodragon

I'm not convinced any of these are the right choice, but the one that makes the most sense of the four is the guardian naga. I would love some more opinions on this. Or if you know of a better option off the top of your head I'd love to hear it.

The point of this puzzle is to give the 12yo player in the group a chance to show off the cooking skills his character learned while serving in the army. (He's always seeking out shops to buy cooking supplies whenever we get to a town.) And to show the kids in the group that combat isn't the only thing fun about the game. (The rest of the puzzles in the dungeon will give the other PCs a chance to show off their skill sets.)

One mention from the MM that jumps out to me is the Copper Dragon, which says that they are all about being a good host or value that quality in others.

One method for using this could be that the dragon has cooked the party up some rad meal and expects them to provide something equal in return as a worthy guest in his lair. The better the dish, the easier he will go on the party...or something like that.

If the party is wise on metallic dragons, they may sense that this is a potentially non-combat encounter.

Good luck!

I feel like an obvious choice would be the sphinx. Working out the answer to a riddle, the answer being a foodstuff, and having to prepare it. There are several sites to look for riddles and the characters get to enjoy the pants filling feeling of cooking for an enormous flying lion that can cast spells.

The upper levels of the dungeon are taken over by the Cult of the Dragon so the copper dragon won't work with the rest of teh dungeon.

Not sure why I didn't even consider the sphinx. Re-reading the MM stats, I think the gynosphinx's lair actions will really work well for the puzzle.

Thanks guys!

You could take the behir and homebrew it into something stronger, for example, in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Halaster etched magic sigils onto a behir and gave it spell-casting. This could give your behir the power to speak, cast magic, and be more intelligent than the average behir.

I dig it... I just ran a puzzle adventure yesterday and the Guardian Naga worked fine for what I needed. I think that might be a good choice... also, if I remember correctly, presenting the Naga with a magical item may help win some favors too.

Good luck with the adventure and the puzzles!

There is a Guardian Naga in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign named Saja N'baza. She isn't part of a puzzle, but an oracle, and could be used as a basis for the creature if you have the module. Just another idea.