Excerpt: skill challenges

[jaldaen]

Short and sweet... but don't they know good things come in threes... they should give us a couple more examples... just to... umm... make sure we get it... yeah that's the ticket.

 

[MerricB]

A few things of note:

* Not every skill works in every challenge. Note how Intimidate is specifically barred from working in that particular challenge.

* Successful skill use opens up use of other skills. Diplomacy leads to History? Fantastic; if you try to Bluff your way through it doesn't happen.

Me like a lot.

Cheers!

 

[Hawke]

So my questions:

1) When it says "Level" and the answer is "of the entire party" what does that mean? It implies sometimes levels will be specific? How do these encounters scale with level or is this just an XP thing.

2) Complexity 3 - any idea what this means?

3) Moderate DCs ... is this a specific number or will there be mechanics about this that we don't really grasp.

I do also note that it says "Moderate DCs" suggesting they could be used multiple times (each time must be a different character?) but then an easy DC (singular) indicating you can only use the history once. That sound accurate?

 

[malraux]

I like how there's no specific "right" way to pass a skill challenge. While I can see why the 3e system of skills was a vast improvement over what came before it, you kinda hit a wall wherein there's a specific skill that must be used. Regardless of what the trap is, for example, all that really matters is what the disable device DC is. Assuming these are fleshed out, and having a dedicated chapter likely means they will, the 4e DMG would be a worthwhile pickup even for 3e DMs, if only just for this chapter.

 

[NebtheNever]

It's a bit different than what I got from the Escape from Sembia discussion. There it seemed like you could use just about any skill, while the example here is more limited than that. (Which is reasonable enough.)

So what would happen if a PC tried to impress the duke with his acrobatics skill? Would it be an automatic failure, or would it not count for anything?

For non-primary skills, I think PCs would have to be a little more creative. Perhaps you find the court jester and impress him with your Acrobatics skill, and this opens up a way to get the Jester to speak on your behalf to the Duke.

 

[NebtheNever]

2) Complexity 3 - any idea what this means?

Probably means 8 successes before 4 failures.

 

[Kzach]

Ok, I'm daft. I don't get it.

How does a skill challenge actually play out?

Also, this looks really complex. Not something I could just whip up on the fly. So far, I'm not keen on it.

 

[AllisterH]

I like how there's no specific "right" way to pass a skill challenge. While I can see why the 3e system of skills was a vast improvement over what came before it, you kinda hit a wall wherein there's a specific skill that must be used. Regardless of what the trap is, for example, all that really matters is what the disable device DC is. Assuming these are fleshed out, and having a dedicated chapter likely means they will, the 4e DMG would be a worthwhile pickup even for 3e DMs, if only just for this chapter.

I wonder about opposed rolls though...Bluff for example was an opposed roll versus Sense Motive in 3E....

Well, it is an excerpt from a chapter...

 

[charlesatan]

1) When it says "Level" and the answer is "of the entire party" what does that mean? It implies sometimes levels will be specific? How do these encounters scale with level or is this just an XP thing.

Most likely yes to both (challenges scale with party level and dictate how much XP it's worth).

2) Complexity 3 - any idea what this means?

Basically how "difficult" it is, or how many success vs failures is involved in the challenge. There's probably a chart in the book.

3) Moderate DCs ... is this a specific number or will there be mechanics about this that we don't really grasp.

There'll most likely be mechanics for it, something along the lines of Moderate DC = 15 + 1/2 level or Easy DC = 10 + 1/2 level.

 

[Thasmodious]

So my questions:

1) When it says "Level" and the answer is "of the entire party" what does that mean? It implies sometimes levels will be specific? How do these encounters scale with level or is this just an XP thing.

2) Complexity 3 - any idea what this means?

3) Moderate DCs ... is this a specific number or will there be mechanics about this that we don't really grasp.

1. I would assume it scales to level by its complexity. A tough skill challenge, with a small margin for error (only a few failures needed to lose) and/or high DCs would constitute a challenge above party level, I would guess.

2. Now sure. It could just be a reference to a table or some guideline about the ratio of successes to failures or the DCs.

3. Probably a lot of DM wiggle room. I did notice there was nothing in that excerpt about "bidding" on difficulty. It could still be there, and the range is just set by the middle DC, the one for a "normal" try.