How to handle checks that just HAVE to succeed?

[VGer]

Thanks for all the replies.

I know that I should consider several options, but my problem is just lack of time. I always plan on preparing a great adventure, but never have the time to do it and always end up using something from Dungeon Magazine.

And I have found that many of those adventures rely on finding the secret thing (whatever that is).

I have in the past used the Elf ability as an excuse to finding the secret door (with three elves in the group, is hard to miss, and easy to fudge when they DO miss).

But I totally blocked on the Track checks.

I suppose I will TRY to make sure at least one of the Bad Guys doesn't die. Always hard with this group, but who knows? They are starting to surprise me a lot.

Failling that I will give some help with finding the track. A little blood here, a piece of cloth there...

 

[Ukyo the undead]

Well, when a check just HAVE to succeed, I roll it behind the shield and say it suceeds.

But I always roll checks with no obvious effects on failures( spot, listen, search mainly) behind the shield.

Or, if they fail the checks, make the BBEG find them later, or make the party face the consequences of their failure.

It can become another adventure hook, and a good addition to your campaign background.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

With track checks you could always try this:

The bad guys knew they were being followed and made their trail obvious. A failure on the track check means following the false "trail" into the lair of a Tendriculos/Troll/Advanced Assassin vine etc. From there, however, it's fairly easy to track the bad guy who made the false trail back to his camp--figuring the monsters would kill anyone foolish enough to follow the false trail, he didn't bother hiding his tracks. (Alternately, the monsters aren't expected to kill the PCs--just to make enough noise that the bad guys know they're coming and can set up an ambush).

Success on the track check means recognizing the false trail for what it is. No nasty plant creatures. No ambush.

 

[Cedric]

Explain that at least one person in the party they are tracking wasn't very good at hiding his tracks...

Then inform the player he can take 10, but you'll let him know if the trail gets harder to follow.

Cedric

 

[drnuncheon]

One thing I didn't see mentioned was the possibility of the PCs hiring someone. If they need something tracked, then maybe they need to go back to the nearby town and hire a tracker - a first or second level expert with the Track feat, max ranks in Wilderness Lore, and skill focus who will run at the first sign of a fight, but can get them where they need to go.

J

 

[Siridar]

Not sure if this was mentioned, but maybe the PC's could find some clues that would lead them to the hideout.

Not necessarily tracking, but maybe noticing certain marks or smells from the bad guy that could only come from a certain area or place, but that most people wouldn't easily notice?

As an example:
Maybe someone had seen the bad guy hanging out in a certain part of town or the outskirts, and then the PC's realizes that the bad guy smelling faintly of cinammon could have only come from a bakery in the same area. All leading to an active search near that particular location, culminating in the discovery of the hideout in the bakery basement.

It provides plenty more opportunities for skill checks: search, spot, listen, track, etc. At least one or two of the many skill checks should pass.

[edit]: When I say notice, I don't mean it in the sense that it takes effort to spot, but that it's something that no one would normally think twice about, but useful in that it could provide a link to somewhere/something greater overall.

 

[Sir Edgar]

Anytime a single successful action is *required* to continue play in the adventure, the designer has failed.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Follow the rules. Assign a DC for success.

Make the DC 2.

Roll, and don't fudge the numbers.

 

[bunnyhat]

You could make the track check be a 'degree of success' check instead of a simple 'pass/fail' check. If the tracker rolls high: they find the hideout quickly and they are able to surprise the Bad Guys while they are sharing the ransom. Roll Average: it takes them a few hours, some the Bad Guys are alert. Roll low: it takes them 8 hours to find the hideout, at which point the Bad Guys are alert and fully healed some of them have hidden their shares of the loot.

This way the person who took track as a feat and put points into Wilderness Lore is rewarded, the roll matters, but the adventure doesnt grind to halt if they fail.

If they totally muff the check then you could turn to the alternate route(s).

 

[Super_Troll]

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If they do fail, then it's the end of the adventure. If I fudge, it doesn't feel right.
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..."You may feel a slight stinging, don't worry that is just pride
f&$king with you." -Pulp Fiction

I used to have this same problem. I'm a virgo...need I say more. I learned to first try to plan for such a thing and second to live with the fact that I fudged something.