Shadowman's Twisted Treasury
Here are some helpful tools for your D20 based campaign.
Below are our suggestions for giving your players hints. Each character should get only one roll against the indicated DC. Our suggestions are for D & D 3.0 (the original system referenced in the book), D & D 5E and Pathfinder 2'nd edition.
#1 - Pazzli (pg 9)
D&D 3E Knowledge/Local - DC15
D&D 5E History - DC15
Path 2E **PATHFINDER**
The instructions are all there on the piece of wood. Huli- is a pretty odd word, isn't it?
D&D 3E Knowledge/Religion - DC18
D&D 5E Religion - DC18
There's something odd about all those vowels...
D&D 3E Search - DC28
D&D 5E Investigation - DC25
A-E-I-O-U but never Y
#2 - Way Too Easy (pg 10)
D&D 3E Search - DC22
D&D 5E Investigation - DC20
It tells you how to cross safely.
D&D 3E Concentration - DC15
D&D 5E History - DC 18
The path really is as easy as 1-2-3
D&D 3E Tumble - DC25
D&D 5E WIS - DC18
Do we really have to spell it out for you?
#3 - Wise Guys (pg 12)
D&D 3E Search - DC24
D&D 5E Investigation - DC24
You need to make sense of what they're saying using just one word at a time from each mouth's sentence.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Architecture & Engineering - DC22
D&D 5E History - DC 22
The first word in the correct sentence should be considered to be the first to speak.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Arcana - DC25
D&D 5E Arcana - DC25
What teeth do you grow last?
#4 - Off Key (pg 14)
A character of the Bard class gets a +5 advantage on any of these rolls.
D&D 3E Read Lips - DC18
D&D 5E Insight - DC18
In reading music, the lowest note in this piece is a C (3'rd measure, 3'rd note). Each space and line up from there is a different note in the following order: d, e, f, g, a, b, c, d, e.
D&D 3E Decipher Script - DC22
D&D 5E Arcana - DC22
You need to be pretty sharp # or your solution will go flat b.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Local - DC20
D&D 5E Performance - DC20
Spell it all out, including the words sharp and flat.
#5 - Good Grammar (pg 16)
D&D 3E Search - DC18
D&D 5E Investigation - DC18
It's not a cryptogram.
D&D 3E Spot - DC25
D&D 5E Arcana - DC25
Are you reading it right?
D&D 3E Knowledge/Architecture & Engineering, DC25
D&D 5E History - DC25
Write this out for your players: Kcirt a s'ti.
#6 - When it Must (pg 19)
D&D 3E Search - DC22
D&D 5E Investigation - DC22
The riddle has eight lines in it with each pair of lines reading across three tiles.
D&D 3E Use Rope- DC15
D&D 5E Acrobatics - DC15
Every other line of the riddle starts with When-.
D&D 3E Wilderness Lore or Knowledge/Nature, DC17
D&D 5E Survival - DC17
The solution only makes sense if you assume magic is working here.
#7 - Ogres & Ogres & Ogres, Oh My! (pg 20)
D&D 3E Search - DC22
D&D 5E Investigation - DC22
The ogres look VERY stupid, like teaching them to remember a combination would be hopeless..
D&D 3E Open Lock - DC23 or Knock spell
D&D 5E Nature - DC23
Ogres sure don't know Roman numerals - although witches seem to.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Local or Knowledge/Ogres - DC17
D&D 5E History - DC17
You've sure got to hand it to the guy that made this lock
#8 - Clever Dwarf (pg 22)
A Dwarven character is +5 on all rolls.
D&D 3E Listen - DC19
D&D 5E Perception - DC19
Think back to what you learned about in kindergarten.
D&D 3E Search - DC22
D&D 5E Investigation - DC22
It's not what's IN the message, but what's missing.
D&D 3E Knowledge/History
D&D 5E History - DC18
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.
#9 - Door Ways (pg 23)
D&D 3E Speak Language - DC23
D&D 5E History - DC23
Think phonetic.
D&D 3E Open Lock - DC22
D&D 5E Arcana - DC22
What if Y- was really TH-?
D&D 3E Search - DC24
D&D 5E Investigation - DC24
Dû eû relê ned enê mor hintz?
#10 - Longing to Belong (pg 24)
D&D 3E Spot - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC24
The number four is important at the right time.
D&D 5E WIS - DC22
D&D 3E Concentration - DC22
Sing along: One of these things is not like the others.-
D&D 3E Disable Device - DC23
D&D 5E Investigation - DC20
Each pedestal has something that doesn't fit. Now you have a new collection of four things.
#11 - Something Strange (pg 27)
A Bard, Ranger or Rogue is +2 on all these rolls.
D&D 3E Move Silently - DC18
D&D 5E Stealth - DC18
Start searching surf-ward.
D&D 3E Handle Animal - DC22
D&D 5E Animal Handling - DC22
See snails sporting some.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Nature or Wilderness Lore- DC24
D&D 5E Nature - DC24
She sells some circa seashores..
#12 - Can’t Get Theyah from Heyah (pg 28)
There is no riddle room for this puzzle.
#13 - Grecian Earnings (pg 30)
D&D 3E Speak Languages (Any) - DC19
D&D 5E Investigation - DC19
You should consider putting the letters together. No, not that way!
D&D 3E Spot - DC22
D&D 5E Perception - DC22
Looking in a dictionary is not a bad idea; at least looking up what the letters are called is important.
D&D 3E Profession/Gambler - DC24
D&D 5E Performance - DC24
What's in a name? I don't know; but I do know what's in the name of a letter.
#14 - Magic Scroll (pg 32)
D&D 3E Disable Device - DC22
D&D 5E Investigation - DC22
Only the first two letters of the message are not seen.
D&D 3E Listen - DC19
D&D 5E Perception - DC19
Look for repeating portions of the message.
D&D 3E Open Lock - DC24
D&D 5E DEX - DC24
I pity anyone who needs to work nine to five to figure this one out.
#15 - Witch Lid? (pg 34)
D&D 3E Spellcraft - DC23
D&D 5E Arcana - DC23
What's another way to write out the numbers 1000, 9, 100, 4, 49, 51, 500?
D&D 3E Knowledge/Arcana - DC25
D&D 5E Perception - DC25
De ancient romens, I mean Romans, not only were not blind, but they also knew their numbers.
D&D 3E Alchemy - DC18
D&D 5E History - DC18
From the Merriam Webster's Pocket Dictionary, Civil, 1: Relating to citizens. 2: Polite. 3: referring to or being a lawsuit.
#16 - Road Block (pg 37)
D&D 3E Wilderness Lore - DC24
D&D 5E Survival - DC24
The tiles form a maze-like path.
D&D 3E Spot - DC23
D&D 5E Perception - DC23
Read it right and see what's left.
D&D 3E Handle Animal - DC25
D&D 5E Animal Handling - DC25
Oh Fnaggle! Who should I feed the leftovers to?!
#17 - Out of Order (pg 38)
D&D 3E Intuit Direction - DC22
D&D 5E Survival - DC22
In addition to knowing the direction is down-, you think: Hey! Most of these letter clusters are actual words!
D&D 3E Spot - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC24
The ones that aren't words could be words if they weren't so scrambled.!
D&D 3E Use rope - DC25
D&D 5E Acrobatics - DC25
Maybe if you unscramble the jumbled words and read them in order it will tell you what to do.
#18 - Hidden Puzzle (pg 39)
There is no riddle room for this puzzle.
#19 - Chest Pains - Jewelery Box (pg 40)
D&D 5E Investigation - DC15
D&D 3E Disable Device - DC 15
Open drawer two then drawer five then close both. Do the same with three and six and you're almost done!
D&D 5E Perception - DC18
D&D 3E Search - DC 18
How can you get the total of two drawers to be 16?
D&D 5E WIS - DC14
D&D 3E Concentration - DC 14
Let's see, open 2, 5, 7. Close 2, close 5, open 9...
#19 - Chest Pains - Dresser from Hell (pg 41)
D&D 3E Disable Device - DC19
D&D 5E Perception - DC19
Opening #16 needs to have #1 & #2; or #1 & #3 or #2 and #3 open. There aren't that many combinations...
D&D 3E Search - DC18
D&D 5E Investigation - DC18
When you open drawer #16, none of the drawers in the third or fourth rows, nor in the rightmost column are already open.
D&D 3E Concentration - DC24
D&D 5E WIS - DC24
Although it says other drawers whose sum-, it doesn't say those have to be the only drawers open.
#20 - Bottoms Up! (pg 42)
D&D 3E Concentration - DC18
D&D 5E WIS - DC18
The empty beaker is the one to fill first.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Arcana - DC22
D&D 5E Arcana - DC22
You don't need to throw any potions away.
D&D 3E Alchemy - DC19
D&D 5E Perception - DC1o
You can mix two ingredients in a smaller beaker, then wait to pour this mixture into a larger beaker when it becomes available.
#21 - Hangman (pg 45)
There is no riddle room for this puzzle.
#22 - Caves of Despair (pg 46)
Darkvision or Dwarven racial class confers a +3 on these rolls.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Geography - DC17
D&D 5E Nature - DC17
Shadowman never went into a dead end.
D&D 3E Gather Info - DC24
D&D 5E Investigation - DC24
When Shadowman says straight- it means it's one of the places where he skipped a possible turn.
D&D 3E Intuit Direction - DC19
D&D 5E Survival - DC19
Shadowman neither started nor ended in a cave along the top row
#23 - A Barrel of Monkeys (pg 48)
D&D 3E Open Locks - DC20
D&D 5E Investigation - DC20
The names written on the wall are not important, nor are the monkeys bouncing off the walls.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Local - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC24
...her ego turns fourth.- that's almost, but not quite right.
D&D 3E Animal Empathy - DC20
D&D 5E Animal Handling - DC20
Put the message together and then take it back apart differently.
#24 - Bingo! (pg 50)
D&D 3E Decipher script - DC24
D&D 5E Arcana - DC24
Did you know that BINGO cards had the following ranges B=1-15, I=16-30, N=31-45, G=46-60, O=61-75? I certainly didn't.
D&D 3E Search - DC20
D&D 5E Investigation - DC20
Hmmm that's strange. There aren't supposed to be two squares with the number G-50!
D&D 3E Knowledge/Local - DC23
D&D 5E History - DC23
Each square stands for a letter but, in some way, you need to count fresh in every column.
#25 - Inescapable Chamber of Doom (pg 51)
D&D 3E Concentration - DC18
D&D 5E WIS - DC18
You need to apply the instructions to the line of jumbled text.
D&D 3E Knowledge/Architecture & Engineering - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC18
MayYOUbe one shouYOUld mess arYOUound with the jYOUumbled sentence sYOUome.
D&D 3E Disable Device - DC24
D&D 5E Investigation - DC24
Odd sieves (which to many rhymes with grieves-) means you probably want to split the sentence into odd and even parts.
#26 - Inefficient (pg 55)
A character with an ocean-going or fishing background is +3 on these rolls.
D&D 3E Animal Empathy - DC16
D&D 5E Animal Handling - DC16
Wait a second! This manifest is really a clever code! But why is there only one zero?
D&D 3E Spot - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC24
The manifest is sort of a cryptogram, but it does not seem to have a perfect one-to-one correspondence.
D&D 3E Speak Language - DC26
D&D 5E INT - DC22
Think of the manifest not as numerals but as words.-two, one, etc.-
#27 - Monster Hall (pg 56)
D&D 3E Wilderness Lore - DC25
D&D 5E Survival - DC25
What's in a name?
D&D 3E Knowledge/Nature - DC22
D&D 5E Nature - DC22
Hmmm that's strange. Each of the guardian monsters has a name made up of three words.
D&D 3E Handle Animal - DC25
D&D 5E Animal Handling - DC25
Come to think of it, each of the food choices is named by a word that has three letters.
#28 - It’s not that easy (pg 58)
D&D 3E Spot - DC20
D&D 5E Perception - DC20
It's not as easy as a straight BINGO game.
D&D 3E Search - DC24
D&D 5E Investigation - DC24
The grid on the west wall is also not necessary to the solution.
D&D 3E Profession/Gambling - DC18
D&D 5E Performance - DC18
In the message- on the east wall, some letters occur more than once, but the numbers never repeat. Hmm.....
#29 - Lair of the Nommag (pg 60)
D&D 3E Concentration - DC22
D&D 5E Perception - DC22
Think back to what Nommag might mean.
D&D 3E Sense motive - DC20
D&D 5E Insight - DC20
The answer to the riddle is the name of a game.
D&D 3E Profession/Gambling - DC16
D&D 5E Performance - DC16
SdrawKCAB si eman sih
#30 - Monastery - Signpost (pg 62)
D&D 3E Speak language - DC22
D&D 5E WIS - DC22
Can you think of one thing wrong with each of those words?
D&D 3E Search - DC18
D&D 5E Investigation - DC18
Can you think of things that would make each of those words a real word?
D&D 3E Spot - DC23
D&D 5E Perception - DC23
What letters do you need to change to correct the spelling ” perhaps those would be good to concentrate on.?
#30 - Monastery - Fork in the Forest (pg 64)
D&D 3E Wilderness Lore - DC18
D&D 5E Nature - DC18
What is written on is as important as what is written.
D&D 3E Search - DC20
D&D 5E Investigation - DC20
Shadowman was fairly accurate about what's down the three paths, although he worded it a little different.
D&D 3E Concentration - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC20
Shadowman wrote: Shadowman was here-.
#30 - Monastery - Knock Knock (pg 65)
D&D 3E Disable Device - DC24
D&D 5E Perception - DC20
The sum of the number of knocks is thirteen. Really.
D&D 3E Search - DC23
D&D 5E Investigation - DC23
One door isn't knocked on at all!.
D&D 3E Open Lock - DC22
D&D 5E INT - DC22
You need to knock on one of the doors six times.
#30 - Monastery - Sword lacking hilt & guard (pg 66)
D&D 3E Concentration - DC18
D&D 5E Perception - DC18
What things are used for warmth and modesty?-
D&D 3E Knowledge/Architecture & Engineering - DC23
D&D 5E History - DC23
Left in its lee- means it leaves its tail- behind.
D&D 3E Search - DC24
D&D 5E Investigation - DC24
Scabbard soft- means it's usually stored in something soft when not in use.
#30 - Monastery - Xdmbplf (pg 67)
D&D 3E Spot - DC20,
D&D 5E Perception - DC20
It looks kind of like a cryptogram, doesn't it?
D&D 3E Speak Language - DC23
D&D 5E Investigation - DC23
Could it be two simultaneous cryptograms? Would those monks do that to you?
D&D 3E Balance - DC24
D&D 5E Acrobatics - DC24
Down, up, down, up, down, up.