odes ee tae a ea eehe AD&D° game contains four main types of sphinx. One ofthese, the gynosphinx, isan avid collecto of rdlles, and she represents the type of sphinx encountered by young Oedipus, When a party encounters a eynosphinx, she might demand that they correctly answer one of her rales, either to mea- sure their worth or allow them to “eam” the right to pass by withoutharm. In any event, when roleplaying a gynosphinx it's best for the Dungeon Mas- © or two handy. While encounter ter to have a rid any good library should have several books of rales, many of these are of the joke” variety; a gynosphiny’s riddles, on, the otherhand, chould lean more toward the “brain-teaser” variety, After all, a gynosphinx takes her riddles seriously They're her stock in trade, and they might represent the difference between eating her fill of foolish adventurers or 1 You can see me in darkness but never in light Lam present in daytime but absent in night: ree ee er a 2 Sere going hungry for awhile. (Fortunately, gynosphinxes ane honorable; if a party correctly answers her riddle, she's honot bound notto attack them no matter how hungry sheis) Most gynosphinxes prefer speaking their riddles aloud and have dozens ifnot hundreds of riddles memorized for possi- ble use. (They do have a “genius” Intell gence rating, after all.) However, some riddles can be figured out only if they are seen written out, and in the spirit of fair- ness, a gynosphinx usually provicles a written copy of riddles such as these.'The DM can have the gynosphinx sketch the riddle out in the sand, produce a copy of the riddle thatshe's laboriously scratched into aslab of soft sandstone with her law, or perhaps a written copy that she's had an underling transcribe with ink and paper. (A kincl DM mighteven allow a PC to “buy” hislife by transcribing a number ea ey Yet rule a horde that many fear Nees cof the gynosphiny’s riddles onto paper if he’s unable to solve herriddlehimself) In addition, a gynosphin’s riddles ean often be incorporated into a mechanical dooror trap. Iftheanswer'o theriddleis 2 jeter or number, it might be pessible to ‘open the hidden door or disarm the trap by pressing the stone on which that char- acter appears, This concept would be fre- quently employed within a gynosphiny’s lair and makes it possible for the PCs to match their wits against the gynosphinx’s riddles without necessarily encountering, the creature herself With all of this in mind, here ace twenty riddles suitable for gynosphinx use, While gynosphinx riddles need not always thyme, a rhyming riddle adds.an extra bit of style ot gynosphinxes pride themselves upon their general classiness, The answers to each riddle appear at the end, panache, and 6 10 spear een Trule with might, yet am no king. You can find me on a junnan, ora halfling, or a ee eee eee ear ete Dre ne eee ee What am 12 es Renae na Lam present in a wizards wand, but not upon his tome Fain on a half-ore’s hand axe, but not a ey Es Man has but one, etting two, Corberns has thee. eee Ca Nr Tn eer oa eee ney is Cea mn roms Cee er tate rs i Ru eo erro have order, and maybe you've heard Tees ome en a ee ett CRO ce prance Crean en eet aera ied ty Join each of the following, and so form a link one ean nna gis To that add « question but one word in length Now tell me, what could that be? iS Nn ee ee ee eae ee Ani Caren Cyne ee ee rere ne ee tea eres 2 eo Dee Nea ener en ere Cre as RVs10 Dee re are a And there he met his peer Fre eee tones een ae Pacer eae ee es eset ee era rnc Bees Ne eee ae See ee eee Bu er era ga neers ae occa Ror an oemeenea es 1% in the aura of a dragon when it finally comes of age. en arene ee er ive HS Abracadatira and Alakazam, Dre rea Take just a second on each magic word And name me the substance that those words conjured. 13 Take the colors ofthe rainbow, and neltiply by thre. 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There are two possible answers to this riddle: the letter “a or the letter “a” Both appear in darkness," “daytime,” and “shad (0v,"but notin tight” ornight” 2. "Ahead." Besides the body part, itrefers tobothaheadoffoamandaheadofcabbage, 8. The letter “n,* which is present in the ‘word “human,” *halfing?* gnome,” “wand.” and “hatFore’s hand axe,” but not in the ‘words tome” or“aray elf's comb,” 4. Although the obviousanswerseemsto be “tneads,” pyrohydrae have either seven or ‘eight heads, not four. The correct answer is “sabes.” 5.*Vowels” 6. “A queen bee." Simply “a queen,” “a prince,” and the like are not possible answers because ofthe phrase “wicked sting” in the thi tne: most human solders use swords, spears, pikes, or similar weapons, but not stings. 7.An otyugh.” The “rule” eluded to In the riddles to use anagrams: “synad” ian ‘anagram of “sandy;" similarly, “ogre” and “gore” are anagrams, as are “skeleton” and “notsleek,” “stone giant” and “tasting fone,” “derra” and “order,” and “drow” and “word.” {This riddle requires some deciphering. “Ocean = “Sea” = "C."“Sight-orb” = “eye” = "|? "Akind ofadrink” = "tea" ="T2""A question but one wordin length” = "Why? =" Thus, theanswer's"«cty." 2."The colorblue"Meridale refersto blue dragons, numerous blue-colored flowers, blue whales, “once in a blue moon,” and the phrase “feeling blue” to denote sadnoss. 10.The five weapons areasfollows:a sword, a spear, abow, a battle-ax, and an arrow. The ‘weaponsare taken fromthe fllowinglines of the riddle called “the Androsphinx’sDreern") line 1:"soared” = “swords ne 2:“his peer”= “hls spear tine 3beau!"="bow? line 6:"bat- tle lacks" = “hattle-ax ne 10: "a narrow? = 11."Fean” One ofabeholder'seyesshootsa fear ray;the auras of both ches and dragons ‘ancause magical fear: fearisaat-level wiz- ardspeltstage right isa form offear. 12.The vital cue to this riddle “take usta second By taking the secondletter from the ‘words “Abracadabra,” “Alakazam,” “Hocus” “Pocus,” and “Addaboombam,” the word “blood” isformed:thus “blood” isthe name of ‘thesubstance conjured" by the magic words. 1. This isa simple math problem invoMing ‘ome word play. There are seven colors in a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo, and violet. *Past tense of eat” I ‘another way tosay “ate;"whichisahiomonym {or“elght"esnonym for “ck"Is “gross.” In _measurement terms, a gross a 12dezen, or 144, Abrick asasbcsifedstructure, has com ners. Thus, 729=21 21-8 =13313+144=1873157 60;160%8=20Theansweris"20." 4, The letter “e," which Is present in oceans," seas,” “vo of airless space," and “eachmember ofthe human race," yetabsent fn “land"“phlogiston,” and “mountaintop.” 15. "Your ap," which swith you when you sitbutvanisnes (oy detnion) when youstand. 16.Thisisasimple math problem, although knowiedge of measurements 's required. ‘There are 14 days in a fortnight, so a dozen {ortnights ts 168 days. A wight has wo eyes,s0 ‘wo wightshave four. Bees, asinsects,haveshx legs apiece, so three bees have a total of 18 legs Finally, abaker's dozen 12, Thus 168-4 = A242 18 = 6; 60-13 =47. The answer's ae 17. The answer to this one is “sphinx.” 18. This riddle is especially popular ‘among gynosphinxes;they enjoy the fact that the answer to thelrriddielsstaring the ‘would-be riadle-solver In the face. cThe _gynosphinxhersetfhas four paws andgrants @ pause of five minutes for the victims to arrive at the solution before she attacks) Note that this riddle works only when the ynosphinx herself is present and doesn't ‘work well witen members of other races recite t (unless they also have four paws). 19. The sequence O-T-T-F-F-S-S-€ isthe fist letter of the numbers one, two, three, ‘our, fWve, shy seven, and eight;thusthe answer 's!N"thefistletter ofthe numbernine. 20. This final riddle is a set-up, used for ‘when the gynosphinx’s hunger outweighs hher sense of farplay. close examination of the words used In the puzzle shows that there is only one choice for each ofthe sb. lettersin the two-word phrase. When put in order, the answer's: "Kill me." I'the answer '5 spoken the gynosphing, having kindly been given permission by her potential prey, jumps to the attack! (Clever players “will have their PCs state the answer some thing like this: “The answer to your riddle is the phrase ‘kil me,’ but in no way do | ‘authorize this procedure; noldyou to your promise of safe passage upon successfully ‘answering your riddle.” The gynosphinx ‘won'tlike it, But when pointed out to her in thisfashion, herhonor and sense ofr play ‘wilwin out over her hunger:)