spell adive for a riddle

[mafga Neg]

Hello,

the session im in has a Little struggle with a riddel. we are a fighter a ranger 2 clerics (one healer and one necromancer, yeah they are not best friends) and me as wizard.

for the main riddle we Need a Painting of the mother of one of your Team mates, unfortunatly he cannot remember his childhood and so also not his mother. We know that it is one of the Family painting, which some shady guy has, which let us only perchase one of those painting.

we are stuck now in almost 2(.5) sessions in just finding out which painting. we also tried to break in and steal all but ... that building is to fortifided for it -.-.

the gm gave us also a hint that the answer is in his past. that is unfortunalty very vage. since all our dective skills had failed we thought about maybe some necromany or mental/illusion way.

is their maybe a necromany or Illusion spell what either Kind of summons the dead mother, even as ghost or a illusioin spell that we might could use to get over the amnesia.

my i dear was that i might cast an illsuion spell on him which makes him remember/rewitness for example an tragic Event with his mother, that he could not remember because of the amnesia. I also dont want to cast something harmfull like Phantasmal killer on him. since he is still a friend.

hope someone can help me. best regards

[Claxon]

I don't want to sound rude, but in my opinion this is classic bad GMing.

Riddles are something that GMs think sound fun, but usually don't make sense the way they are implemented.

They often require the use of outside knowledge to solve. If they don't, then GMs will often allow a player to substitute a character's int or skill to solve the riddle, but if a player character doesn't roll well enough or have the correct skills it's possible for the party to just be stuck. If the party gets stuck, it's usually very frustrating. Most players aren't playing the game for riddles, this can vary by players but it's something you should ask the party about before including them. Otherwise the game grinds to a halt and stops being fun, which sounds like it's about where you're at.

As a general rule, any clue going to be included should actually have 3 separate ways to be obtained and finding multiples should add additional helpful information.

As for how to actually solve this...go to your GM and explain that the party isn't enjoying this riddle (if this is the case) and that you would like to get on with the adventure.

[mafga Neg]

it is not a game breaking riddle, it is more of a side quest which would give us then Access to his heritage and that way some nice amount of Money. that is also the reason that took us so Long so far because we tried but it is more a side goal

[Pizza Lord]

Sounds perfectly fair so far. There is a painting, there's a guy who has it, there's a way to get to it (sure the building is fortified, it's an adventure), there's magic divinations and spells that could provide additional clues and there's probably even another way past the riddle.

It is not bad GMing when a player has chosen to have amnesia or not remember or even know what their mother looks like. That is the GM actually taking their decision and choices into account and making it a part of the story. Otherwise, it would have been a pointless waste of time to even bother.

As for getting around it, I guess if you need the specific painting of the amnesiac party member's mother (and not a picture of another PC's mother) then that's the challenge. It's an opportunity to explore that PC's past and learn a detail or story that the GM has taken time to develop based on that character (and player's) desires.

Assuming the mother is in fact dead, then yes, you might be able to bring her to life, and then paint her picture but that seems really more complicated as an answer to a Riddle. Assuming the riddle's answer is actually a literal picture of her, then there's probably already one in existence (as a locket or portrait or engraving on her tombstone, if you can find it). You apparently know the location of one such item already. You have many options from there: buying, stealing, charming, performing a service, etc. to achieve it (as you've already attempted a few options.)

Just going by the core spells, there's not a lot for getting a vision of your mother (dead or alive), just remember you may not need the actual existing picture, you just need it if that's the easiest way to see what the mother looked like and then make another picture yourself. So, even if you can't charm the guy into giving you the picture or even selling it (if he wouldn't do that for a friend) a reasonable charm request or suggestion might be to 'see' the picture first "to ensure he actually has the real deal before making an offer'. Once you see the mother (assuming you can identify her if it's a big family picture) then you can try and make your painting or whatever. Clairvoyance(/clairaudience) might also allow you to view the room the picture may be stored in, assuming you know the room or it's an obvious choice, like the room at the top of the tower, or you can see the window of his bedroom (might take a few logical room guesses.) Once you see the likeness you can recreate a new picture.

Seems a really odd riddle answer, but since I don't know the specific riddle, I will have to assume your idea that a picture is required is the correct one.

[mafga Neg]

thank you that did help quite a lot.

yeah it is a odd riddle, but since it is kinda Background Story of a PC and solveing it, would give us a nice advanage in the adventure the GM said, he wont make it so obvious. so that it is not a easy way to "cheat" through it. And so far we know is the mother dead.

[Lorila Sorita]

I would try roleplaying out trying to help him get some memories back. He doesn't need all his memories, just a hint. Like maybe looking at different colors and trying to remember his mother's favorite color, and then maybe she is wearing that color in the painting? Who knows. I assume he tried to remember what his parents looked liked and can't, but it might be easier to pick up side details that could be used as hints.