Need a puzzle

[Gambitspades]

So i an the dm of a campaign. and the players have pissed of my antagonist. he is a master of deception and likes to play with the mind. so i need a good mindbreaking puzzle.
anyone now a good puzzle i can give to the players?
(the players will have to take the puzzle individually)

[ThinkMinty]

Throw down a Maze spell or a bunch of 'em?

[AvatarVecna]

Have an entrance leading to the McGuffin guarded by an intelligent monster they can't beat, but who is employed by a local wizard for reasons possibly unknown. The monster only lets people pass if they can answer his number code correctly: otherwise, the monster attacks them. If the adventurer's wait to see people pass through, they'll see three successful attempts: the monster says 6, the person says 3 and is let through; the monster says 12, the person says 6 and is let through; the monster says 14, the person says 8 and is let through. The trick is, it's not 6 and 3, it's six and 3; it's not 12 and 6, it's twelve and 6; it's not 14 and 8, it's fourteen and 8. The second number (and correct answer) is the number of letters in the first number's written form.

Variations on this (a coded trap, an enchanted puzzle lock, etc.) work well, too.

[Nobot]

I've had some successes with the intelligent maze: it changes shape, creates challenges and traps, floods or collapses areas, and is generally a nuisance.

The key to defeating it would depend on the maze's personality. If the maze wants to play, it might kick out players who don't play along (ie. just sit still and don't try participate). Another variety could be that the maze feeds on despair, driving the PC's mad with illusions and terrifying nightmares until it manifests (and exposes) itself to feed; then, your PC's can fight it, if they have any courage left.

You could also go with a Matrix-like maze. It actually creates a compelling illusion that mimics real life, but players can see through it from time to time, hinting that something strange is going on. It can be exited through, for example, mirrors (in a medieval-like setting where those are rare), by dying, by disbelieving it through a leap of faith (think Indiana Jones stepping into the chasm in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), or by making a selfless sacrifice.

If you want a less... maze-like puzzle, you could go with the talking door, usually a simple and entertaining puzzle. PC's need to have a certain password that they can get from it if they play smart. You could also do the inverted variant: the password is written on the door, but PC's have to get the door to say it.

Good luck!

[Theodred theOld]

Book of challenges. Follow the vowels to exit. One of my favorites. PCs enter a square chamber with four doors and a plaque which reads " follow the vowels to exit". The key is that the number of vowels in each word indicates which door to take as they progress if #1 is the western door in each room. The rooms can be far removed from one another to bypass any dungeon remodeling. As an added bonus toss in a few monsters as punishment for guessing. I prefer to use mageripper swarms.