Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Pathfinder, borne of D&D, is at its heart a game about combat. We’ve all heard it described as an RPG of “killing monsters and taking their stuff,” and know that the first part of that description is the operative part. Yes, you can do other things in the game, but they get cast in a secondary role and are almost always less intricate, less exciting, and less rewarding than fighting. This is a source of frustration for GMs who want to take the focus off of combat and highlight other abilities that characters have.
Now, there’s an answer for that frustration in the form of 4th Dimension Games’ debut product, Skill Encounters: Non-combat Challenges.
An easy way to describe this book is that it’s dedicated to skill challenges – a series of linked skill checks where you need so many successful checks to achieve a larger task. Now, canny readers will note that this idea isn’t a new one – 4th Dimension Games very name seems to be a nod towards the source of their inspiration – but it’s new to Pathfinder. And it’s very welcome.
Before delving further into what the book presents, let’s go over its technical aspects. The PDF file I received is twenty-one pages long, including the covers. There were no bookmarks present, but since it’s a demo copy for review purposes, maybe the pay-for version has them.
Surprisingly, the pages are all set with a yellow background. I found myself expecting to hate that color, but instead found myself oddly pleased by it; it was plain enough that it didn’t make the text harder to read, but avoided the stark barrenness of an unadorned white page. There were also a set of light grey whorls working across each page’s background – these I was less enamored of, since they did interfere somewhat with readability, but not so much that it was any sort of deal-breaker.
Periodic sidebars were set on a parchment background, which looked odd against the yellow pages, but not so much that they were visually displeasing. There were also a number of illustrations throughout the book, all full-color and quite well-done. Overall, the book looked very professional, and was pleasant to view.
But of course, the real joy came from what it was presenting, and not just how it was presented. The book opens by explaining what a skill encounter is, and explaining how it presents them, and I have to admit that I was surprised by how much detail was presented here. I’d always thought of skill encounters (their name for skill challenges) as a fairly prosaic “use X skill and get five successes before three failures,” or something along those lines. Nothing too complicated.
Indeed, while that basic idea is true, 4th Dimension Games builds on it quite a bit with a uniform structure and branches things out. Each skill encounter notes things like the number of successes necessary, and how many failures end the challenge, but there’s more to it. For example, there are often multiple skills that can be applied to a challenge (and indeed, multiple characters can usually take part in these challenges), all set at various differing DCs (since some skills are more apropos than others). A rubric is presented for outlining how high the skill DC should be, depending on the PCs level and if the challenge is meant for one character or a team. Secondary skill checks are also introduced, which don’t count as a success on the primary task, but have other effects such as negating a failure, adding a bonus to a subsequent primary check, or something else altogether.
If that sounds interesting, it’s just scratching the surface. A tracking mechanism is given for certain checks, allowing them to become more difficult if they’re used over and over during an encounter (e.g. your Knowledge skill DC goes up as you make successes, since you can’t keep gaining new information from the same library indefinitely). Some skills are noted as only providing a limited number of successes. Relevant spells are also noted, charting what effects they have on the encounter. Use of the aid another option is covered. It’s really impressive just how much breadth the book presents; suddenly, it’s not just one character making a few rolls anymore – it’s the entire party breaking off and trying to accomplish a major goal in different ways, which is exactly what’s needed to make a non-combat situation exciting and fun.
In fact, that leads me to one of the complaints I had about what was presented here – for all the discussion of how to set up a skill encounter, there’s nothing about how you should present the possible options to the players. What I mean by that is, when the PCs encounter a skill challenge, do you (the GM) say to them “okay guys, this is a skill encounter here. You can use Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Bluff as primary skills, and Sleight of Hand and Knowledge (local) as secondary skills.” Or do you instead let the PCs figure things out, letting them experiment with various skills that seem appropriate to the situation and finding out what works via trial and error? I’m sure that different gaming groups will have different answers to this, but it still would have been nice to receive some guidelines here.
Five different example skill encounters are then provided, all of them applicable to various situations: chases, gathering information from people, haggling, researching, and wilderness travel and survival. I was quite enamored of the chase rules in particular, since those have never been adequately done before that I’ve seen. If I didn’t mention it before, it should be noted that where there are multiple skills, they represent different ways of tackling the problem. That sounds obvious, but it was really cool to see that in a practical context – when you’re researching, for example, you can be the guy using Knowledge checks to find something out, or the guy using Sleight of Hand to steal the book you need. Creative players will virtually always find something to be doing during a skill encounter.
Interestingly, an example skill encounter that was given as a downloadable preview for this book – showcasing a series of skill challenges based around navigating a ship through a stormy sea – wasn’t found here.
My only other complaint about the book is, again, something that wasn’t given to us. Specifically, I wish there’d been a method of assigning XP for successful skill encounters. Making it possible to gain experience points for successfully completing a skill encounter would give GMs latitude to reduce the amount of combat in the game (perhaps drastically) without curtailing the PCs’ advancement, as well as giving players who wanted to make non-combat-focused characters greater viability. Not having such information here is surely a missed opportunity.
Of course, it’s not much of an indictment of the book’s quality to say “I wish they’d done more.” I’d have been left wanting if the book had been twice as big, that’s how great it is. The concept is well-founded, the execution is brilliant, and the examples are easily introduced into virtually any Pathfinder game. I really can’t recommend this enough if you want to introduce broader challenges to your players than just continually throwing bigger and badder monsters at them. Challenge your group with some Skill Encounters: Non-combat Challenges, and watch them get excited about where they’re going to spend their skill points the next time they level up.
Now, there’s an answer for that frustration in the form of 4th Dimension Games’ debut product, Skill Encounters: Non-combat Challenges.
An easy way to describe this book is that it’s dedicated to skill challenges – a series of linked skill checks where you need so many successful checks to achieve a larger task. Now, canny readers will note that this idea isn’t a new one – 4th Dimension Games very name seems to be a nod towards the source of their inspiration – but it’s new to Pathfinder. And it’s very welcome.
Before delving further into what the book presents, let’s go over its technical aspects. The PDF file I received is twenty-one pages long, including the covers. There were no bookmarks present, but since it’s a demo copy for review purposes, maybe the pay-for version has them.
Surprisingly, the pages are all set with a yellow background. I found myself expecting to hate that color, but instead found myself oddly pleased by it; it was plain enough that it didn’t make the text harder to read, but avoided the stark barrenness of an unadorned white page. There were also a set of light grey whorls working across each page’s background – these I was less enamored of, since they did interfere somewhat with readability, but not so much that it was any sort of deal-breaker.
Periodic sidebars were set on a parchment background, which looked odd against the yellow pages, but not so much that they were visually displeasing. There were also a number of illustrations throughout the book, all full-color and quite well-done. Overall, the book looked very professional, and was pleasant to view.
But of course, the real joy came from what it was presenting, and not just how it was presented. The book opens by explaining what a skill encounter is, and explaining how it presents them, and I have to admit that I was surprised by how much detail was presented here. I’d always thought of skill encounters (their name for skill challenges) as a fairly prosaic “use X skill and get five successes before three failures,” or something along those lines. Nothing too complicated.
Indeed, while that basic idea is true, 4th Dimension Games builds on it quite a bit with a uniform structure and branches things out. Each skill encounter notes things like the number of successes necessary, and how many failures end the challenge, but there’s more to it. For example, there are often multiple skills that can be applied to a challenge (and indeed, multiple characters can usually take part in these challenges), all set at various differing DCs (since some skills are more apropos than others). A rubric is presented for outlining how high the skill DC should be, depending on the PCs level and if the challenge is meant for one character or a team. Secondary skill checks are also introduced, which don’t count as a success on the primary task, but have other effects such as negating a failure, adding a bonus to a subsequent primary check, or something else altogether.
If that sounds interesting, it’s just scratching the surface. A tracking mechanism is given for certain checks, allowing them to become more difficult if they’re used over and over during an encounter (e.g. your Knowledge skill DC goes up as you make successes, since you can’t keep gaining new information from the same library indefinitely). Some skills are noted as only providing a limited number of successes. Relevant spells are also noted, charting what effects they have on the encounter. Use of the aid another option is covered. It’s really impressive just how much breadth the book presents; suddenly, it’s not just one character making a few rolls anymore – it’s the entire party breaking off and trying to accomplish a major goal in different ways, which is exactly what’s needed to make a non-combat situation exciting and fun.
In fact, that leads me to one of the complaints I had about what was presented here – for all the discussion of how to set up a skill encounter, there’s nothing about how you should present the possible options to the players. What I mean by that is, when the PCs encounter a skill challenge, do you (the GM) say to them “okay guys, this is a skill encounter here. You can use Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Bluff as primary skills, and Sleight of Hand and Knowledge (local) as secondary skills.” Or do you instead let the PCs figure things out, letting them experiment with various skills that seem appropriate to the situation and finding out what works via trial and error? I’m sure that different gaming groups will have different answers to this, but it still would have been nice to receive some guidelines here.
Five different example skill encounters are then provided, all of them applicable to various situations: chases, gathering information from people, haggling, researching, and wilderness travel and survival. I was quite enamored of the chase rules in particular, since those have never been adequately done before that I’ve seen. If I didn’t mention it before, it should be noted that where there are multiple skills, they represent different ways of tackling the problem. That sounds obvious, but it was really cool to see that in a practical context – when you’re researching, for example, you can be the guy using Knowledge checks to find something out, or the guy using Sleight of Hand to steal the book you need. Creative players will virtually always find something to be doing during a skill encounter.
Interestingly, an example skill encounter that was given as a downloadable preview for this book – showcasing a series of skill challenges based around navigating a ship through a stormy sea – wasn’t found here.
My only other complaint about the book is, again, something that wasn’t given to us. Specifically, I wish there’d been a method of assigning XP for successful skill encounters. Making it possible to gain experience points for successfully completing a skill encounter would give GMs latitude to reduce the amount of combat in the game (perhaps drastically) without curtailing the PCs’ advancement, as well as giving players who wanted to make non-combat-focused characters greater viability. Not having such information here is surely a missed opportunity.
Of course, it’s not much of an indictment of the book’s quality to say “I wish they’d done more.” I’d have been left wanting if the book had been twice as big, that’s how great it is. The concept is well-founded, the execution is brilliant, and the examples are easily introduced into virtually any Pathfinder game. I really can’t recommend this enough if you want to introduce broader challenges to your players than just continually throwing bigger and badder monsters at them. Challenge your group with some Skill Encounters: Non-combat Challenges, and watch them get excited about where they’re going to spend their skill points the next time they level up.
