From Tome of Battle, under Swordsage >The Eighty Empresses

>>50695047

Let her stay in a forest for as long as she wants, then you kill one animal and she has to guess which animal was killed.

Meditation. Become at peace with the room, one with all that is within it, perfectly in tune with the atmosphere and resonance of the locale. Returning to it, I simply must return to that same state and find the single note that is missing from the symphony.

>>50695047
Start the game as a Swordsage.

>>50695047
Be a crusader instead

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I guess the ribbon removed was gold, red, pink, orange AND fuchsia. Because if they aren't all the colours, all of them, well, I'm going to need a pretty large sack of ribbons to replace them all during my time there.

Or just bribe the exam official.

Simply picking a different school, with more saner selection process, could be a thing too.

>>50695047
Take all the ribbons, all of them, tie them in a large circle in sequence. If I run out of a certain color, I start a new sequence and count the sequences and remainders.

Then I go through each ring to make sure that there is only ONE break in the pattern. If there are multiple breaks, I extrapolate how many there were based on the number of sequences in each ring and find the odd one out. If there is only one break, then the missing color is the color of the ribbon.

>>50695127
>"Okay write it into your backstory on how you did it."
>"SHIT!"

>>50695047
My character's memory is just that good.

>>50695167
"I took the test and answered correctly."

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>>50695047
Punch DM's face.

>>50695213
>>50695237
>fluff doesnt count for anything gaiz i can be a cleric of beelzebub who beats up liars :)

>>50695047
>The girl is allowed to stay as long as she likes in the dressing room
That could be literal days. Count every single fucking ribbon.

>After she is led away, one ribbon is removed from the room. Then she is brought back. If she can name the color of the ribbon that was removed, she is accepted
Again, no time limit. Recount.

Alternatively
>Wait for the attendant to leave the rome
>Sleight of hand
>"There are no missing ribbons. Oh, you meant THIS ribbon?".

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I state my character is taking in a pen and paper, then make the GM list all 1080 specific combinations in fine detail, write all of them down and then tell him to repeat every combination left in the room, then tick them off one by one.
While the entire party waits.
No mention in the rules that it's a closed exam is there?
I also maintain eye contact the entire time with the GM to let him know this entire thing is an exercise in retardation which he brought on himself.

You play silly fuckers with me, I play silly fuckers with you, that's the unspoken rule.

>>50695282
But I properly engaged with the fluff.

>>50695433
>*rattles tits*

The entire problem with this test is that the person who wrote it doesn't know what the fuck it accomplishes himself.

>>50695047

When you leave the room you take 1079 ribbons with you.

>>50695379
>blaming the GM for doing what the book says

>>50695047
Wonder why the fuck we're playing 3e.
Wonder why the fuck we're playing 3e in what sounds like a generic kitchen sink setting.
Wonder why the fuck I'm not the DM.
Then I roll Perception and a general Wisdom check.

>>50695616

This was going to be my answer as well.

A more time consuming but equally viable option would be to use the rouge or ink or something to mark the space behind every ribbon (since the ribbons are all touching some sort of surface) with something to denote what color the ribbon above it is. When I come back into the room I just look for any of the symbols to be exposed. I'm assuming the point is that the room is identical to how it was before you left, just minus one scarf.

>>50695047

Take all the ribbons and rub rouge all over them. All the ribbons are now rouge.

>>50695167
>"I guessed correctly."

>>50695047
Steal a ribbon.

>>50696692
This. Steal a ribbon before leaving. When they ask which one is gone, say it the colour you stole. If they tell you are wrong, show yours and prove you are right. They likely won't be able to tell you stole it until you reveal it yourself and you are still technically correct.

The best kind of correct.

>>50696692

How stealing one ribbon help?

>>50695047
Use the rouge to paint them all red.

>>50695047
Take the test. Guess at random. If you fail, disguise yourself as someone else and try again. Repeat until successful. If you're intending to approach one who follows the sneaky ninja path of swordsagery, they probably won't even be mad afterward.

Take a dump on the floor. Both in game and real life.

Oh man, I love these kinds of bullshit recruitment challenges. Even moreso if they're actually unsolveable, and are more intended to provide an insight into the recruit's thought process.

Can anyone think of any others?

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1°) Actually be of a correct, appropriate class : wizard.
2°) Invent and cast a spell to resolve the problem.
3°) Destroy the dressing room, annihilate the masters, murder the Eighty Empress, trap and devour their souls, raise their bodies as undead slave, pillage all their belonging and sell them for gold.
4°) Declare oneself the greatest of all swordsages.