The Tetrahedron Box | Free 5e and PF2e Puzzle

Written by Claire Martin

Difficulty: easy

A puzzle box in the shape of a tetrahedron will only open once a player has shifted it from side to side in a specific order.

This box has no lid or lock; it is a simple tetrahedron carved into a block of mahogany. The rounded edges give the box a soft feel; when lifted, the insides betray something significantly heavier than wood. When rotated, the sound of a metal marble rolling emits from inside. Small intricate carvings of tiny gilded floral patterns decorate the strangely shaped box. The embossed flowers bloom in shades of blue, yellow, red, and white.

Puzzle Features

This puzzle has two features: the box itself and the clue to the code that opens the box.

The players can pick the box up and manipulate it. While listening closely to the marble rolling around inside, it will become apparent that certain positions of the box seem to progress the marble through an unseen inner labyrinth. However, the wrong sequence of positions will reset the marble, and it falls back to the start. The other important feature of this box is the colored flowers carved into the surface. Each of the four sides of the tetrahedron has a single flower on it, painted in either blue, yellow, red, or white.

The clue can be in a letter, a journal, or scrawled out on a nearby wall. It reads:

It rained today. I splashed around in puddles. Mother was angry that I got MUD all over my clothes. I was wet and cold, so she made some hot MINT tea to warm me up. My mother is such a PEACH; she can’t stay angry for long. I think I will pick her a bouquet of LAVENDER later when it stops raining.

Solution

The four words highlighted in the clue (MUD, MINT, PEACH, and LAVENDER) refer to a color sequence. One can interpret these as brown, light green, light orange, and light purple—in that order.

When the tetrahedron box sits flat on a surface, one can shift it in one movement to lay flat on any other of its three surfaces, with a different corner pointing toward the sky. Players can determine the sequence of movements by mixing the three colors of the surfaces joined at that corner. So, the corner displaying red, yellow, and blue corresponds to brown (or mud); the corner displaying red, yellow, and white corresponds to light orange (or peach); the corner displaying red, blue, and white corresponds to light purple (lavender); and the corner displaying yellow, blue, and white corresponds to light green (mint).

When the characters rotate the tetrahedron through the corresponding sequence, the box clicks open.

Hint Checks - 5e

Wisdom (Perception) DC 5. The colored flowers aren’t mixed evenly across the box’s surface. Each side holds a single color of flower.

Wisdom (Nature) DC 10. The four bold words in the note not only refer to things found in nature but to colors as well.

Intelligence (Investigation) DC 15. Each of the four corners of the box has three adjacent surfaces. No three colors repeat in any corner.

Hint Checks - PF2e

Perception DC 15. The colored flowers aren’t mixed evenly across the box’s surface. Each side holds a single color of flower.

Nature (Expert) DC 20. The four bold words in the note not only refer to things found in nature but to colors as well.

Perception (Expert) DC 25. Each of the four corners of the box has three adjacent surfaces. No three colors repeat in any corner.

Customizing the Puzzle

This puzzle box could contain a powerful item, an important key, or a secret note. Players can use a regular d4 dice to represent the box.

Lowering the Difficulty. To simplify this puzzle, forfeit the colors altogether and number the sides instead. Each corner would then correspond to the sum of the three connected sides. For example, if the sides are numbered one through three, the totals in each of the four corners would be six, seven, eight, and nine. Replace the written note with a sequence of these numbers.

Raising the Difficulty. To make this puzzle harder, lengthen the sequence of colors by adding phrases to the written note. Include other terms for the corresponding colors (e.g., coffee, chocolate, or chestnut for brown; celadon, seafoam, or chartreuse for light green; apricot, champagne, or amber for light orange; periwinkle, heather, or plum for light purple).

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