Playtest away...

[chuckro]

There were four adventures: Rogar, Melf, Arn, and Zeik. Each had reached a different level (4, 5, 6, or 7) in their chosen class (Warrior, Wizard, Cleric, or Rogue). And each wielded a different weapon: Sword, Staff, Axe, or Mace. Given the clues below, figure out who was what at which level wielding what.

1. Rogar would never use a bludgeoning weapon, he believes them to be just for sissies and wizards.
2. Zeik is a sissy. But not a wizard. And he’s not the lowest-level character, either.
3. The Cleric has achieved the highest level.
4. Arn uses a Sword, and his level is a prime number.
5. The rogue uses an edged weapon, and is at a higher level than the wizard.
6. The staff-wielder is the lowest-level character.
7. The Warrior wields an axe, like all good warriors do.

Please post your solution, and let me know if you find a contradiction or possibility for multiple solutions.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

typo: adventures should be adventurers

Will work on the puzzle later.

My productivity curses you, Chuck!

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

Arn is the level 5 rogue, with the sword.
Melf is the level 4 wizard, with the staff.
Rogar is the level 6 warrior, with the axe.
Zeik is the level 7 cleric, with the mace.

I don't think you need to tell us that Zeik is a sissy...it may seem like a cute throwaway comment, but it might have been misleading. The fact of the puzzle is that it wasn't, but it definitely could have been. I chose to ignore it.

Re: My productivity curses you, Chuck!

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

Also, an axe can be used as a bludgeoning weapon, though it has an edge. Could that be clarified a bit more? And, for that matter, what category is the "staff"? It's a blunt object for hittin', but you have to be pretty tiny for a staff-beating to be considered a bludgeoning.

Re: My productivity curses you, Chuck!

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

What else would you call a staff if not a bludgeoning weapon? You can't effectively slash or stab with it.

Re: My productivity curses you, Chuck!

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Zeik as a sissy was intended to be a bonus clue--he uses a bludgeoning weapon, but isn't a wizard.

Re: My productivity curses you, Chuck!

[tigermelp.livejournal.com]

Intended, perhaps...but Rogar only "thinks" that bludgeoning weapons are for sissies and wizards...I just thought it was his opinion, and not necessarily a fact.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

I have the same answers at Mel--found it fairly easy, though I'm not sure off the top of my head what to do to make it harder. A few suggestions:

1: Change the names--I shouldn't be able to guess correctly that Rogar is the warrior and Melf the wizard, and possibly the weapons; Every D&D player knows that the wizard is the most likely to use a staff and the cleric most likely to use a mace. It's a bit too guessably accurate, I think.

2: More relative clues could add a tougher challenge--Something along the lines of "The cleric is one level higher than Rogar" instead of "The cleric is at the highest level." I don't know that it's solvable with that substitution, but you get what I mean.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

1. Yeah, I should probably rotate around the answers to make them less guessable to your average roleplayer. Give me a break, I'm out of practice.

2. Try the next puzzle (which I'll be posting momentarily).

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Assuming Sissy and Wizard both imply bludgeoning ("wizards and other sissies" would make that clearer if true)

Zeik is the Cleric is Level 7 and uses the Mace
Rogar is the Warrior is level 6 and uses the Axe
Arn is the Rogue is level 5 and uses the Sword
Melf is the Wizard is level 4 and uses the Staff (or Acid Arrows)

[shnayder.livejournal.com]

Got same as Mel, and similar comments: what is a bludgeoning weapon? Does staff count? (I think yes, but it's not necessarily clear). Thank you for making me waste part of my workday :)

[feiran.livejournal.com]

Got the same solution as the others, and I agree about the naming (esp. Melf) and the standard class/weapon guessability.

I did infer that "sissy" meant bludgeoning weapon, but I thought that staff and mace were clear as the two bludgeoning options.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Same as everyone else, only later.

Doesn't anyone else have work to do? :)

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Um...I don't have a job. Makes it easier to waste time solving puzzles :)

[shnayder.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I can't resist puzzles. This is why I try to only check LJ once or twice a day at work :)

Same answers =)

[esprit-du-tigre.livejournal.com]

Dude, I live for these puzzles.

Yeah, got the same as everyone above. I know I'm not a major D&D stud know-it-all, but I would have thought a staff as a spellcasting weapon... In Guild Wars, my flavor of the month, you can't bludgeon with staves, only throw magical fireballs (or chaos balls, or dark balls, depending on the type of staff) at the baddies and watch them squirm. (mwahaha) As with all puzzles, unless you're purposefully playing to a very specific audience, they should be as universally comprehensible as possible.

Did the puzzle in about ten minutes. I think the wording "[Rogar]...believes [bludgeoning weapons] to be just for sissies and wizards" is a bit misleading. It should be stated as a fact that bludgeoning weapons are only for sissies and wizards. I didn't know whether Rogar's beliefs should be taken as fact for the puzzle.

I agree with Brian that relative clues (as opposed to number three, The Cleric has achieved the highest level, which is clearly an absolute, explicit clue) make things a lot more interesting, but of course they are more difficult to craft a workable puzzle with.

This is great stuff, man! I hope to see more of these!

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

These are about the only puzzles in distractions I could do. This and those picture pun thingies on the back cover.

And I got the same answers as everyone else.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Oftentimes, me too. There were puzzles I made that I probably couldn't have solved.

I could make some wacky wordies, but I have no idea how I'd post them to livejournal.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Scan and post as pictures? You'll need some webspace to store them, of course.