Recent content by Rick Danger

The PHB generally explains on page 275 that "Unlike bonuses, penalties don't have types. Penalties add together, unless they're from the same power."

The concept of "failure" is important - not only because it has a different significance for either combat encounters or skill challenges (as many have said) - but also because it moderates how many times the players want to face that type of encounter. If skill challenges had something like a...