1

The key is animated, its name is Kyle, and it's looking for its good friend, Lockheed. He can describe to you the place where it last saw him, and even give you enough information to find a castle, filled with entirely animated objects except for one guy in a suit of armor pretending to be an animated armor.

2

A black iron key with a skull wrought into the bow (handle). It opens the door of a mausoleum where a lich has hidden his phylactery for sentimental reasons.

3

A brass key, nearly a foot long, with the bow shaped like an open hand. When the user picks up the bow, it grabs on like a handshake and won't let go until the user finds the door it goes to. Until then, it can be used as a small weapon Roll 1d6. The key goes to a giant's potion pantry, where the user may cart off some massive healing potions.

4

A small stiletto, with a large ornamental pommel, designed to look like a doorknob. Along the blade with the phrase, "Your next adventure is just a stab away!" is etched in small cursive writing. The blade can be used whenever the user has not been in an adventure for more than a week.

The blade, while looking dangerously sharp, is is incapable of piercing any object which has a surface area large enough to fit the user. If used on a large enough surface, the blade can be inserted to the hilt, which causes the surface to become a fancy door made of the same material stabbed, and will open to an area in which an adventure would begin, such as a dungeon or tomb. The door lasts for 1 hour, after which, will close, and the handle can be retrieved from the other side of the door.

In a pinch, user can use it as a small hammer.

5

A glittering, mostly silver key with a sleek flowing design at its head. The shaft of the key appears to be made of iron and is comparatively brutal in design.

The key opens the lock to the first circle of the Untouched Vaults, a completely enclosed and unbreakable stronghold that once was home to the ancient race of Old Gnomes, and has not been opened for centuries since their disappearance. The stronghold is made from multiple rings, each encircled by the previous, with their contents becoming more valuable as the rings close towards the center of the stronghold.

Legend tells of treasure rooms filled with riches and magical devices from an era long past, and how these rooms are guarded by dangerous constructs forged by the Old Gnomes to keep any would-be robbers out. Some even say the stronghold itself is a construct meant to destroy invaders, but there’s no way the Old Gnomes has access to that kind of magical power... right?

6

A simply designed key made from what appears to be made of blue colored steel. They key opens a vault on display in the office of the local tavern, The Rusty Stab. The vault supposedly holds the recipe the tavern uses to make their signature meal, the Stabby Patty; so delicious. It is common knowledge that The Rusty Stab’s rival tavern, The Crumb Bucket, would do anything to get their hands on that secret recipe.

7

A thick, steel rod about 30 inches long. It has hundreds of small spikes gathered in various patterns along half of the key. A flat piece of oval shaped, highly polished iron serves as the handle. This unlocks the vault of a long dead wizard named Arfinkle. The vault may or may not have many humiliating or deadly traps.

8

A roughly chiseled obsidian skull with red crystals for eyes and disturbingly realistic teeth. This unlocks a portal to the first layer of hell. These doors are at the bottom of a volcano. The double doors are an elaborate carving full of demons, carnage, torture, and unspeakable acts.

In the middle of the door is an odd depression. When you press the skull into the depression, the eyes glow and start gushing blood. The skull begins cackling. The skull then disappears to another location in the Material Plane and the doors swing open, the creaking sounds like hundreds of tortured people crying out at once and a swirling portal of blood red fire sits before you. Welcome to Hell.

9

A rough shod key made out of cast iron. It has a few simple teeth and the handle has a silhouette of an orc. This unlocks the chest of an orcish blacksmith named Guthruk. Guthruk doesn't take kindly to thieves or trespassers.

10

A very simple key with only two teeth and a simple handle, but it is made completely out of water. You can still grasp and use the key as normal, but it dissipates into nothingness if brought close a fire. It is hard to see underwater as it is only a bit bluer than the surrounding water. It unlocks the door to a sea elf king's hall.

11

This key has been enchanted to grow gradually heavier the closer you get to the chest it belongs to. An efficient guarding mechanism, if it weren't for the fact that it doubles as a means to find said chest.
Chest contains a very heavy warhammer, enchanted to become heavier the closer it gets to a head. Apparently enchanted by the same gravity-mancer.

12

A golden key that bends away from its designated lock in a cartoonish manner unless spoken to kindly and convinced in a non-hostile way.
The chest contains the diary of an adorably innocent witch which has prototype healing spells in it, mostly against status effects and counter-curses or work-arounds.
It also could lead you to her, the entries stop plus you could find this rather sacred object of hers, perhaps she is in trouble.

13

A key that constantly changes its beard (the frilled part at the front) in a clock-work fashion. It fits in a chest that is equally clock-worked and changes its keyhole mechanism in the same frequency and to the fitting patterns. You can't get anything more securely locked than with this!

14

An enchanted steak which fits into a magical mouth that grows on a chest. The steak does not rot but you can't chew it because it feels like biting a crystal. The mouth can however eat the steak and disappears in a blue puff of smoke.

15

This wooden key seems cartoonishly simple, as though it is a prop for amateur theatre. If tested, however, it works completely fine. It unlocks an old chest filled with theatrical garments and makeup (~3 kits).

16

Crow Talon of Ingress: This black iron rod has an impressive heft with a slim build and easy grip. It disappears easily and inconspicuously under a person's clothing. One end curves to a claw that can slip into very thin gaps and allows the user to apply leverage enough to pry open many a locked chest, door or window. The other end has a heel that can do short work on hinges and pry nails. Also handy to cast infinite number of the Burglar's sleep spell on guards AKA hitting them on the noggin. It's a crowbar.

17

The key is made of dragon bones and unlocks the door to a crypt full of “dead” wizards.

18

A tiny key about 1 inch long. It is a striking cobalt blue color. When held close to your ear you can faintly hear a high pitched whistling.

The key opens a magic lock on a small 5x7 inch black leather book with 35 cobalt blue pages. When the book is opened the whistling from the key becomes extremely loud. Each page in the book has a portion of a door drawn on it in black ink. When the pages are removed from the book and assembled properly into a 5x7 grid the door becomes real. Only then can the key be removed from the book used to open the door - it then falls silent.

19

An immortal earthworm must be tied into a knot around a specific tree branch covered with leaves that stay green through the winter on a tree that's older than the world itself, in a forest where no new trees ever grow.

The next fall, the leaves will fall off and the immortal earthworm will die. The leaves will curl up into a ring and the earthworm will decompose into the shape of key head. They will then fuse together and turn to gold leaving a tiny golden key under the now bare tree branch. The key is used to open a door lost to time itself.

20

(puzzle) There is a large candle burning near a strange metal sculpture and an obstructive locked door. The sculpture looks like it depicts nothing at all, just random shapes of metal protruding vertically from the base. That is, until you look at it from the right direction. Using the candle, you can cast the sculptures shadow on the wall. At just the right angle, the shadow is in the shape of a key.

The players must rotate the sculpture and cast the shadow of the key over the door to unlock it.

Alternatively: the shadow key can be grabbed. From yet another angle, the sculpture casts the shadow of a door which may be opened by the shadow key.

21

The key is a tree the size of a small house and is standing up straight. Players must chop the tree down, move it half a mile to the hole in the ground, flip the tree 180, then turn it.

It opens a massive door in the ground that leads to a subterranean area.

22

This key is a white wax candle in the shape of a key with a wick at the top of its handle. When lit, the light from the candle will illuminate any secret doors with in a 10 foot radius. The candle can be burned for a total of 1 hour.

Alternatively, the key can only illuminate a specific hidden door that can’t be found by other means.

(variation) The flame of the candle burns sideways towards the direction of a hidden door, and grows stronger when you're using the right way to open it. (Will the PCskeep their eyes on the flame?)

23

A fountain with a key shaped water spout at the top. The door it unlocks has no key hole but is instead disintegrated by the water from the fountain.

24

This key is gripped in the hand of a two-story statue in a large room and is raised to the sky triumphantly.

Given that the key is part of the statue, the key must be broken off without breaking the key, or somehow move the statue.

25

This key can be taken apart into five separate pieces and rearranged. Each piece is a different color, and it's up to the party to solve a logic puzzle to discover the order the key pieces go in.

Idea: Red likes blue but hates green and must be two pieces away.

26

This key starts as a handle, just a carving of a skull. However, each skeleton the PCs defeat adds a piece to the bone key until it is complete.

27

The key is a pendent. A hidden latch opens the pendent up into the shape of the sun. Later in the dungeon/castle/whatever, the party will come across a mural. The more intricate the better. If the party opens the pendent and presses it into the carving of the sun, the sun will depress and the wall will open up.

28

The key is made of glass and is easily broken. It is actually a portal key to a demiplane filled with the some of the most dangerous secrets of the universe.

29

The key looks like a metal wire that has been bent in the shape of a key. It bends into different shapes depending on the temperature. In this dungeon there may be a symbol on the door or lock for which shape or temperature it needs to be.

30

This key is the size of a small dog and is extremely heavy. Found at the start of a dungeon, it must be carried to the end. If broken or lost, they must start over from the beginning.

31

A fairly simple-looking key. The only problem is that it doesn't fit anything or anywhere. The indentations, bumps, and grooves on it seem quite intricate.

The thing to do with it is to hold it to the horizon in the right spot. All the bumps, grooves, indentations, etc will all cover some building in the nearby city. Except for one. That one building is the hiding place of an important item.

32

A piece of metal in the shape of the word key. The lock is an indentation specifying what hole that the key inexplicably fits in.

33

The key of the dwarf. The key is made of dwarf beard hair that have been enchanted. This key will open any lock and the hair twists and shapes itself to fit.

(Consider rolling a dice to see if the key breaks after use)

34

You have found a well preserved bone. It appears to be a femur or something similar from a large humanoid creature. Clean, precise notches have been carved down the length at various intervals and rotating around the circumference seemingly randomly.

It is the thighbone of an undead skeleton warrior in full plate armor guarding a treasure. The only way to reveal the treasure is to defeat the skeleton, remove its armor, take out the adamantine rod which has been serving as a replacement and replace it with its original bone. This revives the skeleton warrior as an undead servant who can dispel the wards protecting its former master's vault.

35

The key has the address to your childhood home on a metal disk attached by a delicate key. The problem is you've never seen this key, but there was always that one door that was ALWAYS locked...

36

The key has your name on it and an address written in a familiar hand, though you can't place just where you know it from. The address is located in the next town over.

37

The key is rusted and looks as if it will fall apart at the slightest touch. However, picking it up reveals it to be a mimic.

38

The key is made of a strange opaque material that feels strangely hot to the touch though no matter how long you touch it, it does not burn you. If the correct phrase is spoken, it opens a door to the Underdark in the nearest wall.

39

A local bakery is hiding keys inside their baked goods, and nobody knows why. Coincidentally, there is a notice posted on a message board nearby asking for the location and return of a large chest that was stolen.

40

The key has a knife on the opposite end, and won't turn in its lock unless a blood tribute is paid.

41

The key explodes if thrown on the ground hard enough, and whatever it was supposed to open automatically opens.

42

The key has a compass built into it... but it doesn't point north.

43

The key is carved of dragon's tooth, and has the name of a famous black dragon carved into it.

44

A heavy, cast iron key that is six inches long. It is always cold to the touch and can be easily hidden despite its size.

Using this key on any door while the user is out in the rain will open a portal through the doorway to an ancient hideout. The hideout is always magically stocked with provisions and firewood, and any belongings left in the hideout remain when it is next visited.

(DM is advised to stock this smuggler's stash with all sorts of ill gotten gains when the adventurers first visit it).

45

The Key of Immeasurable Need - Never leave home without it! Once and only once, this key may be used to summon a door which leads to a safe location of your choosing up to a mile away. Only you may pass through the doorway. Once it is used the door and the key disappear.

46

The key to the sacred vault at Arnem Durneth is in actuality a lengthy religious sermon that must be recited into the lock from memory. Even the slightest of deviations from the sacred text will spell doom for the speaker, though none of the monks that inhabit Arnem Durneth know what the true danger is.

47

The rear Gateway to Grimshank Tower appears innocuous enough. A door constructed of ironwood planks with a small steel lock next to the handle. Unfortunately for the unwary, once the key is pushed into the lock it activates a powerful holding spell, preventing the hopeful entrant from releasing the key. The only way to break the spell is to turn the key exactly 90° clockwise, followed by 180° anticlockwise, opening the lock and ending the enchantment.

48

This key is made of seven different precious metals and the handle is ornately carved out of a sapphire with all parts being framed with a thin silver bezel.

The key does not work in a traditional sense. Instead of turning tumblers in a lock, if the layers of metal on the key align with the ones in the keyhole, the door will unlock.