jenskot
First Post
We hacked the following together to add drama, player choice, teamwork, and strategy without changing too much of the core 4E rules.
It needs a lot more playtesting but so far the results have been fast and really fun. Lots of risk and reward type tension. Take a look, give them a try, and let me know what you think. I'm really enjoying our weekly 4E game and this is the one missing piece we're close to ironing out to complete our awesome gaming experience.
SETTING UP
Questions:
- What obstacles must the players overcome?
- What happens if the players win?
- What happens if the players lose?
- Time is running out, why?
Obstacles:
- For every player, the DM has 3 Obstacle Points (OP).
- OPs are Hit Points for Obstacles.
- A successful Easy Skill Check reduces an Obstacle by 1 OP.
- A successful Medium Skill Check reduces an Obstacle by 2 OPs.
- A successful Hard Skill Check reduces an Obstacle by 3 OPs.
- Once an Obstacle reaches 0 OPs, it is overcome.
- Assign OPs to your Obstacles.
- No less than 3 OPs and no more than 6 OPs per Obstacle.
- Give the obstacle a short description.
- Don't specify which Skill Checks are needed.
- Diversify the types of Obstacles between physical, perception, social, and knowledge based Obstacles.
- The DM may immediately reveal all the Obstacles or reveal them in a predetermined order.
- For a more difficult Skill Challenge, increase the number of OPs.
Skill Difficulty Classes:
- Aid: 10
- Easy: 13 + 1/2 PC level*
- Medium: 18 + 1/2 PC level*
- Hard: 23 + 1/2 PC level*
* round down
PLAYING
Actions:
- Like combat, Skill Challenges are played in rounds.
- Each player may only act once per round.
- Players may act in any order.
- Players may Aid another player or try to Overcome an Obstacle.
Aid:
- Choose a player to help.
- Make an appropriate Skill Check.
- Describe how you are helping.
- If you beat a DC 10, give that player a +2 bonus to their next Skill Check.
Overcome:
- Select an obstacle.
- Choose between an Easy, Medium, or Hard Skill Check.
- Make the appropriate Skill Check.
- Describe how you are overcoming the Obstacle and how your Skill Check is an Easy, Medium, or Hard action.
- If you beat an Easy DC, reduce the Obstacle by 1 OP.
- If you beat a Medium DC, reduce the Obstacle by 2 OPs.
- If you beat a Hard DC, reduce the Obstacle by 3 OPs.
Time is running out:
- After every round, increase all Easy, Medium, and Hard Skill Check DCs by 2 (leave Aid as is).
Healing Surge:
- You may spend a Healing Surge to re-roll a failed Skill Check with a +2 bonus.
- You may spend multiple Healing Surges in a round.
Modifiers:
- A DM may award a clever idea with a +2 bonus.
Losing:
- If a round passes where the players were unable to reduce any Obstacles, the Skill Challenge ends and the players lose.
Winning:
- If the players overcome all the Obstacles, the Skill Challenge ends and the players win.
Partial Success (optional):
- The DM may award the players with a partial success if they were able to overcome at least half the Obstacles.
Interactive Elements (optional):
- For every 2 players, name 1 Interactive Element that can either hurt or help the players.
- Interactive Elements can range from inanimate objects, people, animals, tools, terrain, and more.
- Instead of taking your standard Air or Skill Check action, you may instead Activate an Interactive Element.
- To Activate, make a Medium Skill Check.
- If you succeed, you or any other player may gain a +5 bonus to an appropriate Skill Check with the Interactive Element's help.
- If you fail, you gain a -5 penalty to your next Skill Check (not sure if this should include Aid checks).
- Interactive Elements may also be Activated without a Skill Check.
- The GM determines a few ways an Interactive Element can be Activated without a Skill Check.
- For example, an animal may become Active if you feed it or a guard may become Active if you bribe them.
It needs a lot more playtesting but so far the results have been fast and really fun. Lots of risk and reward type tension. Take a look, give them a try, and let me know what you think. I'm really enjoying our weekly 4E game and this is the one missing piece we're close to ironing out to complete our awesome gaming experience.
SETTING UP
Questions:
- What obstacles must the players overcome?
- What happens if the players win?
- What happens if the players lose?
- Time is running out, why?
Obstacles:
- For every player, the DM has 3 Obstacle Points (OP).
- OPs are Hit Points for Obstacles.
- A successful Easy Skill Check reduces an Obstacle by 1 OP.
- A successful Medium Skill Check reduces an Obstacle by 2 OPs.
- A successful Hard Skill Check reduces an Obstacle by 3 OPs.
- Once an Obstacle reaches 0 OPs, it is overcome.
- Assign OPs to your Obstacles.
- No less than 3 OPs and no more than 6 OPs per Obstacle.
- Give the obstacle a short description.
- Don't specify which Skill Checks are needed.
- Diversify the types of Obstacles between physical, perception, social, and knowledge based Obstacles.
- The DM may immediately reveal all the Obstacles or reveal them in a predetermined order.
- For a more difficult Skill Challenge, increase the number of OPs.
Skill Difficulty Classes:
- Aid: 10
- Easy: 13 + 1/2 PC level*
- Medium: 18 + 1/2 PC level*
- Hard: 23 + 1/2 PC level*
* round down
PLAYING
Actions:
- Like combat, Skill Challenges are played in rounds.
- Each player may only act once per round.
- Players may act in any order.
- Players may Aid another player or try to Overcome an Obstacle.
Aid:
- Choose a player to help.
- Make an appropriate Skill Check.
- Describe how you are helping.
- If you beat a DC 10, give that player a +2 bonus to their next Skill Check.
Overcome:
- Select an obstacle.
- Choose between an Easy, Medium, or Hard Skill Check.
- Make the appropriate Skill Check.
- Describe how you are overcoming the Obstacle and how your Skill Check is an Easy, Medium, or Hard action.
- If you beat an Easy DC, reduce the Obstacle by 1 OP.
- If you beat a Medium DC, reduce the Obstacle by 2 OPs.
- If you beat a Hard DC, reduce the Obstacle by 3 OPs.
Time is running out:
- After every round, increase all Easy, Medium, and Hard Skill Check DCs by 2 (leave Aid as is).
Healing Surge:
- You may spend a Healing Surge to re-roll a failed Skill Check with a +2 bonus.
- You may spend multiple Healing Surges in a round.
Modifiers:
- A DM may award a clever idea with a +2 bonus.
Losing:
- If a round passes where the players were unable to reduce any Obstacles, the Skill Challenge ends and the players lose.
Winning:
- If the players overcome all the Obstacles, the Skill Challenge ends and the players win.
Partial Success (optional):
- The DM may award the players with a partial success if they were able to overcome at least half the Obstacles.
Interactive Elements (optional):
- For every 2 players, name 1 Interactive Element that can either hurt or help the players.
- Interactive Elements can range from inanimate objects, people, animals, tools, terrain, and more.
- Instead of taking your standard Air or Skill Check action, you may instead Activate an Interactive Element.
- To Activate, make a Medium Skill Check.
- If you succeed, you or any other player may gain a +5 bonus to an appropriate Skill Check with the Interactive Element's help.
- If you fail, you gain a -5 penalty to your next Skill Check (not sure if this should include Aid checks).
- Interactive Elements may also be Activated without a Skill Check.
- The GM determines a few ways an Interactive Element can be Activated without a Skill Check.
- For example, an animal may become Active if you feed it or a guard may become Active if you bribe them.
