Stalker0's Obsidian Skill Challenge System (Update: Version 1.1) Now with PDF!!

[Obergnom]

wow. IMO this system is far superior to the core one! I like it a lot. Thanks so much!

 

[Delgar]

First off I just want to say that this system is more in line of what I think they were originally trying to accomplish with skill challenges, and I applaude you for your efforts.

So here is an example challenge that I'm putting together for a mod I'm making.

T2 The Line

Skill Challenge (Using Stalker0’s Obsidian rules)

Social Challenge (complexity 1, DC 18, Total Success: 7 Successes, Partial Success: 5-6 Successes, Failure: 4 or less successes)
XP: Total Success: 300xp; Partial Success 150xp
Primary Skills: Diplomacy, Streetwise (use of these skills grants a +2 bonus)
Goal: Find information about the kobold attacks, and try to determine the general location of the lair.
Total Success: Grant a +2 bonus to all skill checks to take place in part 2 of the skill challenge (see T4)
Partial Success: Grant a +1 bonus to all skill checks to take place in part 2 of the skill challenge (see T4)
Failure: No bonuses granted to skill checks in part 2 of the skill challenge (see T4)

Roll initiative just to determine an order the PC’s will act in for simplicity or allow the players to decide what order they would like to act in. The challenge will last for three rounds and each player gets to act once each round, no aiding.

GM Notes: Let the players talk to whoever they want and just try to make each NPC interesting. Below is some information to help roleplay the encounter as well as some information that they will hopefully uncover:

Streetwise: - The names of the merchants caravans that have been attacked

- Dorrin Battlehammer (deals mostly arms and armor)​

- Dax Jorsen (deals in all sorts of things)​

- Marisa Monteclair(deals in clothing and textiles)​

- Emeraldagent (deals in all sorts of things)​

- Could also find guard or wagon driver of the most recent attack that could give them information on where the last attack took place​

Diplomacy: - Mostly used to talk to the merchants, captain of the guard and other contacts revealed through the use of Streetwise.

- Dorrin Battlehammer: Gruff middle aged dwarf, tanned skin, salt-n-peppered hair, and a big bulbous nose. He is both a merchant and a smith; he takes orders, crafts the weapons and armor and then delivers them. In the past three years he’s had three shipments of his stolen. All three were heading north out of town and were hit not more than 5 miles away from town.​

- Dax Jorsen: Human male, mid 30’s, slightly balding brown hair, brown eyes, light skin. Well dressed in fine clothing and lots of jewelry. His shop is filled with all sorts of odds and ends, lamps, pottery, jewelry, rope, bags and boxes filled with who knows what (think car salesmen when roleplaying Dax, try to sell the PC’s anything). Getting information from Dax isn’t easy but they can find out that in the past three years 6 of his shipments have been hit no more than 5 miles to the north and east of town.​

- Marisa Monteclair: Human female, mid 30’s, slightly overweight, and bleached blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin. Very well dressed, and well put together. Her shop acts as both a clothing store as well as it has an attached tailoring shop. Her shop is bustling with activity and while the players are talking to her she’ll order her sweatshop workers around and in the same breath try to sell them a Montelcair original. In the past 3 years 4 of her shipments were hit by the kobolds, 2 were heading north and 2 were heading east.​

- Emeraldagent: Human male, mid 20’s, dark hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and a handlebar mustache. He’s in very good shape and wears a suit of green leather armor and has a rapier hanging off his belt. His shop is filled with many boxes, bags and chests, as well as lots of tools, mining equipment, and other odds and ends. The most interesting thing in his shop is a metallic bird, which he calls, metalbird. Have metalbird squawk out all sorts of inappropriate things during any discussions with Emeraldagent. He is very friendly and forthcoming with information, all lies of course as he is a very skilled bluffer (DC 25 versus players passive insight). He will tell the players that his first caravan was attacked about 3 years ago and that he’s lost about 6 in total over the past 3 years. He doesn’t seem to recall where the wagons were heading or coming from.​

- Merrin Lynch (captain of the guard): Human Male, early 30’s, blonde hair, green eyes, worn skin, with a crescent moon scar on his right cheek. Wears scale mail armor and a tabard with the Breeland standard on it. Gruff and to the point. He will tell the players, that the kobolds have been an issue for some time, and that they had attempted to send out a couple of decoy caravans, but the kobolds never attacked any of their decoys. Also, it seems the kobolds seem to know which caravans are heavily guarded and which are not and they only attack the weakly guarded ones. He doesn’t have enough manpower to scour the woods looking for them to put an end to their raiding. He could be negotiated with to provide an award of up to 100 gp for putting an end to the kobold problem.​

At the end of the skill challenge pass or fail they should have a rough idea of where to go about searching for the kobolds.


T4 On the Trail

Skill Challenge (Using Stalker0’s Obsidian rules)

Mental Challenge (complexity 2, DC 19, Total Success: 7 Successes, Partial Success: 5-6 Successes, Failure: 4 or less successes)
XP: Total Success: 400xp; Partial Success 200xp
Primary Skills: Nature, Perception (use of these skills grants a +2 bonus)
All Skills: Total Success from T2: +2; Partial Success from T2: +1
Goal: Find the kobold lair
Total Success: The PC’s find the kobold lair without being noticed and can ambush the guards in C1 (give the players a surprise round)
Partial Success: The PC’s find the kobold lair but are spotted by the guards in C1 (roll initiative as normal)
Failure: The PC’s find the kobold lair, but they were spotted by a patrol, the guards in C1 have a couple of their members ambush the PC’s from the trees (give the kobolds a surprise round)

Roll initiative just to determine an order the PC’s will act in for simplicity or allow the players to decide what order they would like to act in. The challenge will last for three rounds and each player gets to act once each round, no aiding

P.S. Don't mind the name Emeraldagent, I just hadn't come up with a name yet.

 

[Scud.NZ]

I was doing a little work on my campaign this morning, and just wanted a little feedback/advice on a wilderness encounter I am writing up. To avoid spoiling the surprise for my players I'll stick to the mechanics rather than outline the encounter.

It's a physical challenge, and the outcomes go like this:
Victory: PC's avoid the combat. 100XP to each player (They are level 1).
Partial Victory: Combat occurs but PC's are not surprised. No XP as combat accounts for this.
Failure: Combat occurs. PC's are surprised, and the monsters have +1 attack bonus during the encounter.

The points I am looking for feedback on are:
1) Is giving the PC's the full XP for the encounter when they avoid a combat OK? Opinions?
2) Normally one might award some XP for a partial victory. Do you think I should award them less XP (say 50%) when they defeat the monsters because they screwed up the skill challenge?
3) Am I justified in giving the monsters a +1 attack bonus during the encounter? A surprise round seemed a fairly feeble consequence, but is the combat bonus too much?

 

[The Real Aranan]

So I'm giving this system a shot since it looks so sleek and fun to use. I already set up a pair of skill challenges for my next session, but I'm having a bit of a problem figuring out how to set up the last one.

Basically, the PCs are trying to rally a few prisoners in an escape attempt. I wanted to have each of the prisoners have a different "best" approach to dealing with them (diplomacy for one, intimidate for another, etc). I was going to have each segment have a different primary skill, but there are 4 NPCs and only 3 segments and Stalker was pretty adamant about the three segments being a key part of the balancing math of this system.

This next session is already going to be fairly skill challenge heavy, so I don't want to do an entire challenge for each NPC. So, uh, does anyone have any suggestions on how to run this?

 

[Stalker0]

This next session is already going to be fairly skill challenge heavy, so I don't want to do an entire challenge for each NPC. So, uh, does anyone have any suggestions on how to run this?

For the last segment, consider having the party convince two prisoners at once. Basically these guys are inseparable or something. But because they work together, they are harder to convince. The party has a -1 to their skill checks for this segment of the challenge. However, at the same time each guy reacts to different skills...so increase the number of primary skills you allow for this section.

 

[Stalker0]

1) Is giving the PC's the full XP for the encounter when they avoid a combat OK? Opinions?
2) Normally one might award some XP for a partial victory. Do you think I should award them less XP (say 50%) when they defeat the monsters because they screwed up the skill challenge?
3) Am I justified in giving the monsters a +1 attack bonus during the encounter? A surprise round seemed a fairly feeble consequence, but is the combat bonus too much?

1)I think full xp is completely appropriate. Sometimes avoiding combat is as tough as surviving it.
2) In this case, the "penalty" to the party was having to face the combat in the first place, so I would award them full xp for the partial victory and combat.
3) If you feel +1 to rolls for the fight is too good, try just +1 to the first round of combat. That gives the monsters a solid opening, but doesn't lead to a huge increase in power.

 

[Neubert]

Hey Stalker0.
I'll be running a larger skill challenge (two normal skill challenges, one after the other) at the end of this week in a 4-day roleplaying frenzy. It will be the first time my group is going to experience a skill challenge.
They will be defending an outpost (first skill challenge is preparing for the assault, second is the assault itself) and I'll try to make some notes about what the players did and what skill modifiers they had.

A single question though:
When running 2 skill challenges after each other, would you award 2xnormal xp (so 2x500 xp for first level challenges) or simply for a single one? I was thinking of giving 1000 xp for a full victory and 500 xp for a partial one.

 

[The Real Aranan]

Okay, here's what I whipped together for three challenges in my game, a modified version of Kobold Keep (I only have two PCs). I'll post them like I have them in my .doc file, then explain why I chose what I did. It turns out my idea was almost exactly what Stalker0 has as an example, so that was kind of handy.

The Escape
Tevalah and Lucan have been subdued by the Skull Kicker tribe of kobolds. They have been tied up, along with other prisoners, and are being held in a ruined tower above ground. The kobolds are awaiting a slave-caravan to come by and pick up their prisoners per a previously negotiated agreement.

You come to with a throbbing headache. In quick succession, you notice that you cannot see and are unable to move. An uncomfortable and unpleasant smelling burlap sack covers your entire head. Your hands are bound behind you with what feels to be coarse rope. Your feet are similarly tied.

Level 1: DC 18
Challenge Type: Physical
Primary Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics
Party of 2: Victory 4+, Partial 3, Failure less than 3
Party of 3: Victory 6+, Partial 4-5, Failure less than 4
Victory: 200 xp; the PCs escape from their bonds before the other prisoners. Helping the others out will net a +1 bonus on all checks during the next challenge.
Partial Victory: 100 xp; the PCs escape at the same time as the other prisoners. No bonuses or penalties.
Failure: The other prisoners have to free the PCs. They have a -1 penalty on the next challenge.

In this challenge (like some of the others) I have two primary skills. I'm mostly worried that my party of only 2 PCs will have a hard time always having appropriate skills for the encounters and I don't want to tailor every single one specifically to their strengths. This way they have a bit of wiggle room. The victory/failure results are pretty basic.

The Plotting
The prisoners and PCs are all freed now. Each has an idea for the best course of action and, of course, none of them agree with each other. It’s up to Tevalah and Lucan to try and reign in rash impulses and organize this rabble to manage an escape.

Level 1: DC 18
Challenge Type: Social
Primary Skills: R1 (Deran): Bluff; R2 (Olmira): Diplomacy, Streetwise; R3 (Fekel): Diplomacy, History
Party of 2: Victory 4+, Partial 3, Failure less than 3
Party of 3: Victory 6+, Partial 4-5, Failure less than 4
Victory: 200 xp; Branist offers to pay XXXG for a map of the kobold hall. Olmira gives her ring to the PCs and says it might come in handy if they encounter any of her folk on the road. Fekel offers to assist PCs in getting their gear back if they poison and kill the wyrmpriest's pet drakes.
Partial Victory: 100 xp; Party learns hook from Fekel.
Failure: Fight breaks out (Deran attacks Fekel, turning to the PCs if they interfere).

Also captured with the PCs were 4 NPCs--Branist (an eladrin scholar attempting to map some of the ruins of the Nerath empire), Deran (human farmer who lost his family and farm to the kobolds and is a bit reckless in wanting vengeance), Olmira (dwarven bandit who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a kobold raiding party came through), and Fekel (a kobold ambassador from another tribe who obviously wasn't wanted).

I wound up having Branist not be involved in the 3 segment challenge since he's a bit shaken up and will just do whatever someone tells him to do. I'm not sure how to handle the different primary skills here; should I just tell the PCs what they are each segment or have them do something like roll a "free" insight check to find out?

I was also somewhat unsure about how to handle failure in this situation. It seems like infighting among the prisoners and no XP reward would be a decent punishment. I might even have the NPC squabble attract a kobold guard or two which should be pretty rough considering the party is without their gear and would have to make due with improved weapons (which would be kind of fun!).

The Fleeing
It’s time to get out of here!

Level 1: DC 18
Challenge Type: Physical
Primary Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics
Party of 2: Victory 4+, Partial 3, Failure less than 3
Party of 3: Victory 6+, Partial 4-5, Failure less than 4
Victory: 200 xp; PCs run into the woods and find a safe place to rest for the remainder of the evening.
Partial Victory: 100 xp; the PCs encounter a kobold patrol (level 1) on their way to a safe place.
Failure: The PCs lose a healing surge (or take ¼ hp damage if they have no surges remaining) and encounter a kobold patrol (level 1) on their way to the resting place.

A basic escape encounter based somewhat on the Obsidian example. No matter what, they wind up finding a place to rest, but on a partial or failure they have a rougher time.

I'll take some notes during the session (whenever we can all get together again) to see how it works in action. Let me know if you spy something amiss in what I've posted or if you have any suggestions.

 

[Stalker0]

Hey Stalker0.
I'll be running a larger skill challenge (two normal skill challenges, one after the other) at the end of this week in a 4-day roleplaying frenzy. It will be the first time my group is going to experience a skill challenge.
They will be defending an outpost (first skill challenge is preparing for the assault, second is the assault itself) and I'll try to make some notes about what the players did and what skill modifiers they had.

A single question though:
When running 2 skill challenges after each other, would you award 2xnormal xp (so 2x500 xp for first level challenges) or simply for a single one? I was thinking of giving 1000 xp for a full victory and 500 xp for a partial one.

Two Challenges = 2 x xp. Generally I recommend that a partial or a full victory should result in full xp.

 

[Stalker0]

In this challenge (like some of the others) I have two primary skills. I'm mostly worried that my party of only 2 PCs will have a hard time always having appropriate skills for the encounters and I don't want to tailor every single one specifically to their strengths. This way they have a bit of wiggle room. The victory/failure results are pretty basic.

Generally for a two person group I assume that one group member has a solid skill for that challenge, and the other has a poor or midrange skill.

If this is not the case, feel free to toss on a +1 or -1 DC, and of course, adding more primary skills is good adjustment as well.