Game: creative solutions to common obstacles.

Here's a game.


1) Pick a typical "challenge" that seems to have an obvious skill check, for any skill, associated with it.
2) Describe five different approaches a player might propose that would use, if a check is called for, rely on each of the five abilities other than Con (with or without an associated skill/tool proficiency)
3) Include a failure consequence for each.
4) Bonus points for creative/non-obvious solutions. (You'll have to pretend this is being scored.)

You can invent whatever additional setting elements are necessary to support each solution. (The point isn't to find solutions to the problem as described, it's to illustrate how skills can be used in unexpected ways.)


Example
Problem: Hall filled with pressure plates.


Strength (Athletics): Running jump to clear the whole thing. Failure: you crack your skull on a low hanging part of the ceiling (1d6 bludgeoning) and land in the middle of the pressure plates. Safe for now, but in a minefield (as it were).


Dexterity (Acrobatics): Spring through, diving and tumbling every time you hear/feel a 'click'. Failure: there's nothing to dodge; the first 'click' fills the hall with poison gas.


Intelligence (Investigation): Identify the first few plates, and then deduce the pattern of the rest of them. Failure: the designer figured you might do this, and the LAST PLATE is anomalous. But your caution pays off: you feel it click down, but have not yet released it.


Wisdom (Animal Handling): Herd the goats (the ones being kept in a previous area as food for the young dragon) down the hall ahead of you. Failure: The goats go the wrong way, and alert the guards, who release the dragon.


Charisma (Persuasion): You 'use Persuasion' on another PC, convincing them to go first. (KIDDING!!!!!)


Charisma (Deception): You fool an NPC into believing the party is dead at the other end of the hall, waiting to be looted by somebody who knows how to deactivate the pressure plates. Failure: the NPC pretends to deactivate the traps and stroll through, but actually he just knows where to step.

Note that some of my consequences don't seem to be examples of 'failing at the skill' but are unrelated to the player's success. Some people don't like that. I do. YMMV.

Your turn.

Problem: A locked, iron-banded wooden door. (Aside: I honestly hate when locked doors have a DC, but no consequence for failure...)

Strength: Bash the door down. Failure: 1d6 bludgeoning damage, plus a fairly loud noise.

Dexterity (thieves' tools): Pick the lock. Failure: The first attempt takes 1 action; the next takes 1d4 minutes; each additional takes 2d4 hours. Yes, hours. Locks are tricky. Everybody get a cup of coffee.

Constitution (carpenter's tools): Using a hatchet, pry bar, or similar improvised tool, you gradually wear the door down over the course of 10 minutes. Failure: If you spend another 10 minutes, you succeed automatically, but you get a level of exhaustion. (Aside: I don't know why this contest disallows Con checks, that seems like a weird restriction.)

Intelligence (alchemist's tools): You pour acid on the lock. Failure: You use up the vial of acid.

Wisdom (Survival): You set a small fire beneath the door, burning it down in about 1 minute. Failure: You make a lot of smoke. I mean a lot. Really, quite a bit. If you let it keep burning, it will burn down in another 2d4 minutes, but with even more smoke. You probably ought to do something about all that smoke.

Charisma (Intimidation): The door is a mimic, and you threaten it into opening. Failure: Roll initiative!

*Deleted by user*

Problem: Reaching an upper story balcony

Strength: Toss the gnome paladin up to the balcony and have him lower a rope. Failure: the gnome makes a SoD, half damage or death.

Dexterity: The gnome paladin has his two rapiers twisted into a grappling hook and it is thrown to catch on the balcony railing. Failure: the gnome takes damages when the twisted blades fall back and hit him.

Constitution: The gnome paladin is squeezed and stuffed up a rain gutter. He has to hold his breath long enough to crawl up to the balcony. Failure: He transpires and the gutter overflows during the next storm. There is water damage to the property's roof. Pay 100 gp to have it fixed.

Intelligence: Someone smacks the gnome and tells him to go get a ladder. Failure: the gnome brings back a cup.

Wisdom: Some recognize that the wisteria is strong enough to climb upon to reach the balcony. Failure: the gnome becomes entangled and self strangles himself.

Charisma: The cute half elven thief seduces/charms the guards to let her in the main door, for, she is terrified of the ugly little rat faced gnome thing. The guards to impress her give chase to the gnome thus allowing the thief to let in her other adventuring comrades. Failure: the gnome does not run fast enough and is mulched by the guards.

This is the [MENTION=6799753]lowkey13[/MENTION] approach.

This went sideways fast.

*Deleted by user*

Elfcrusher said:

This went sideways fast.

Click to expand...

You must be new here...

lowkey13 said:

I blame society.


ALSO? Bump! Someone has to be better at this than me; I mean ... right?

Click to expand...

Wrong.

Problem: You're a fighter and there hasn't been a fight in a while, so you're bored and need to start one.

STR: Pick up something large and heavy and throw it through something delicate and valuable (Yes, that's how the proverbial bull got in the china shop - a bored fighter threw him there). Failure: your action is taken as performance art, you receive a round of applause (only 6 seconds these days), and are afflicted with a level of 3.0 Bard.

DEX: 'Accidentally' trip the most dangerous, ill-tempered creature that passes by (other than yourself). Failure: The creature trips & breaks it's neck, everyone's relieved that it's dead and the they throw you a party. A really boring party.

CON: Plant yourself firmly in a choke point, preferably a bridge, and intone "None Shall Pass!" Failure: the choke point was the door to a wizard school final exam, and the entire graduating class casts magic missile at you.

INT: Challenge a dragon to a riddle contest, when you inevitably fail, it'll try to eat you and you can finally get some sword-swinging in. Failure*: you win the riddle contest and it lets your party pass safely.

WIS: Engage your party in a Socratic dialogue in which you try to convince them to take up pacifism, that should piss them off enough to get them to pick a fight with something. Failure*: your party become a bunch of pacifists.

CHA: Walk into an Amazon bar and make a pass at the hottest Xena-wannabe there. Failure*: She takes you back to her place.



* actually, technically, success on the check - must've rolled a 20.

Ooh! Can I play?

Task: Introduce [MENTION=6799753]lowkey13[/MENTION] to Sir McStabsalot and convince them of the awesomness of Sir McStabsalot, gnomish paladin, order of the owl

Strength(intimidation):
Pick up lowkey by his neck and squeeze until he sees the error of his ways and gurgles out the truth.
Failure: He passes out and you toss him aside because anyone who cannot understand the glory that is dual rapier wielding holiness is not worthy. Wait, was there supposed to be a downside to this?

Dexterity (sleight of hand):
Replace all of his character sheets with Sir McStabsalot's. After actually playing the awesomest PC ever he will see the error of his ways.
Failure: He continues to play his sad, pathetic non-paladin lame excuses for characters.

Constitution:
Let lowkey smell the sweet, sweet scent of glory that will be his if he accepts Sir McStabsalot
Failure: Driven mad by the beauty of the smell of glory, lowkey begins to make endless posts about the glory of gnomish paladins. He even photoshops an image.

Intelligence (arcana):
Explain in mystical game terminology why this particular build is the best build ever.
Failure: driven mad by the complex calculations, he sits drooling in the corner throwing crumpled up characters sheets at passerbys much like monkeys fling poo at bystanders. Basically nothing changes.

Wisdom (nature):
Obviously dual rapier wielding gnomish paladins are the most natural epitomization of PCdom.
Failure: Rejecting nature, lowkey retreats to a soulless mind-numbingly life in a dull gray world devoid of joy. Also known as "Toronto".

Charisma (deception)
Convince lowkey that much like the woman in Hamlet, convince lowkey that he doth protest too much and he really loves gnomes and paladins.
Failure: How can this fail?

Problem: You need directions to the "Lost Tower of Nosenra the Progenitor."

Dexterity (Intimidation): You sneak into the high priest's chambers at night and hold a dagger to his throat and demand he cast divination on your behalf. Failure: Well, he casts a 4th-level spell, but it's not divination...

Constitution (Religion): You go to the local temple and pray and fast night and day until the clerics there are so damn sick of you that they cast divination on your behalf. Failure: You get bored or pass out before the clerics get sick of you, and they just boot you out on the street.

Intelligence (Investigation): You read books in the library. Failure: Each retry takes a cumulative +1d4 days.

Wisdom (Insight): You discretely listen to rumors from old people in bars. Failure: You learn multiple sets of directions, most of which are false.

Charisma (Persuasion): You get people in bars to tell you rumors. Failure: Your big fat mouth lands you in some sort of trouble, possibly with a fighter who hasn't had a fight in a while and needs to start one.