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Doh! Killed my party with a skill challenge
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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7507707" data-attributes="member: 97077"><p>If you're looking for some kind of structure to a non-combat challenge, I would do it this way:</p><p></p><p>Frame the scene and the overarching goal. Hopefully that goal is actually based on what the players described they wanted to do. Talk about what success and failure look like to make sure everyone's on the same page with regard to the stakes.</p><p></p><p>Then present a number of specific complications that arise while trying to achieve the overarching goal. For a shorter challenge, make it one complication per PC. For a long one, make it two complications per PC. Describe the complication to a specific player and ask what his or her character does to overcome it. Adjudicate as per the normal D&D 5e process - automatic success, automatic failure, or an ability check. The DM should not call for an ability check every single time unless the player's approach to the goal warrants it! The player should also not ask to make a check, but describe what he or she wants to do to overcome the complication in a reasonably specific way. The DC should be based on the player's reasonably specific approach to the goal, not an abstract number the DM came up with beforehand.</p><p></p><p>When the PCs have faced all of the complications, then tally up the number they've overcome and the number they've failed to overcome. If they succeeded at the majority of them, then they achieve the goal and earn whatever is set forth in the victory conditions. If they failed to succeed at a majority of the complications, they get whatever is laid out for defeat conditions. Progress combined with a setback is the DM's friend in the defeat conditions - the PCs achieve the goal, but it costs them something. The DM can get a little fancier with this part too and set up graduated success and failure. Perhaps success on all complications achieves the goal plus the PCs get a boon of some kind. More successes than failure simply achieves the overarching goal. More failures than successes is progress combined with a setback or cost. All failures and no successes is utter failure plus a big cost. Or something like that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7507707, member: 97077"] If you're looking for some kind of structure to a non-combat challenge, I would do it this way: Frame the scene and the overarching goal. Hopefully that goal is actually based on what the players described they wanted to do. Talk about what success and failure look like to make sure everyone's on the same page with regard to the stakes. Then present a number of specific complications that arise while trying to achieve the overarching goal. For a shorter challenge, make it one complication per PC. For a long one, make it two complications per PC. Describe the complication to a specific player and ask what his or her character does to overcome it. Adjudicate as per the normal D&D 5e process - automatic success, automatic failure, or an ability check. The DM should not call for an ability check every single time unless the player's approach to the goal warrants it! The player should also not ask to make a check, but describe what he or she wants to do to overcome the complication in a reasonably specific way. The DC should be based on the player's reasonably specific approach to the goal, not an abstract number the DM came up with beforehand. When the PCs have faced all of the complications, then tally up the number they've overcome and the number they've failed to overcome. If they succeeded at the majority of them, then they achieve the goal and earn whatever is set forth in the victory conditions. If they failed to succeed at a majority of the complications, they get whatever is laid out for defeat conditions. Progress combined with a setback is the DM's friend in the defeat conditions - the PCs achieve the goal, but it costs them something. The DM can get a little fancier with this part too and set up graduated success and failure. Perhaps success on all complications achieves the goal plus the PCs get a boon of some kind. More successes than failure simply achieves the overarching goal. More failures than successes is progress combined with a setback or cost. All failures and no successes is utter failure plus a big cost. Or something like that. [/QUOTE]
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