D&D Water Puzzle: A Swimming Challenge

  • Type: Elemental puzzle
  • Location: across a wide chasm
  • Difficulty: Easy

Background:

You are a group of adventurers who have been hired to retrieve a mysterious decanter from an island in the middle of a lake. To get to the decanter, you must brave the waters surrounding the island.

The Puzzle:

As you make your way to the island, you come across a mermaid who gives you the following instructions: “To reach the island, you must use your skills in swimming and solve this puzzle. The clues can be found in the different strokes used in swimming.”

Solution:

To solve this puzzle, you must use your knowledge of swimming to determine the correct sequence of strokes needed to unlock the door. There are many different strokes used in swimming, including the freestyle stroke, the backstroke, the breaststroke, and the butterfly stroke.

Each stroke will take the player in a different direction while navigating through the currents. The solution is to use the different strokes in a specific sequence, such as starting with the freestyle stroke and then transitioning to the backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly stroke.

Some mistakes will have players end up where they started, but others might pull them into areas where dangerous creatures live or an undertow.

Once you have completed the correct sequence of strokes, the players will have reached the island.

Extra water puzzle ideas:

  • You come across a room with a locked door and a small pedestal in the center. On the pedestal is a note that reads: “To unlock the door, you must fill the cup on the pedestal with exactly half a liter of water. But be careful, for if you overfill or underfill the cup, the door will remain locked.”
  • You come across a room with a locked door and a series of pipes on the walls. The door has a riddle inscribed on it that reads: “To unlock this door, you must use the pipes to channel the correct amount of water to the bucket on the other side of the room. The clues can be found in the different units of measurement for water.”
  • You come across a room with a locked door and a small puzzle box on a table. The puzzle box has a note attached to it that reads: “To unlock the door, you must solve this puzzle box. The clues can be found in the different states of water.”
  • You come across a room with a locked door and a series of bottles on the floor. The door has a riddle inscribed on it that reads: “To unlock this door, you must fill the bottles with the correct amounts of water. The clues can be found in the different shapes of the bottles.”