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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jbear" data-source="post: 5338183" data-attributes="member: 75065">Skill Challenge 2: Stop the Drider RitualI had read a lot about skill challenges before the session and had decided to try out Stalker0’s Obsidian System. I also wanted to have a battle going on throughout the challenge, make movement important, and create a sense of urgency, involving all the PCs in different ways, which is what the Obsidian System seems designed to achieve. For those who don’t know Stalker0’s Obsidian System, I recommend you take a look at it here: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/241440-stalker0s-obsidian-skill-challenge-system-new-version-1-2-a.html" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/241440-stalker0s-obsidian-skill-challenge-system-new-version-1-2-a.html</a>  It is a top class alternate system for skill challenges.For those who don’t like following links I’ll resume the key points of difference to a normal skill challenge:The challenge is divided into 3 segments. Each player is involved in each segment. Success or failure is determined by whether the group achieves the required amount of successes by the time those three segments have been played out. There is no ‘three strikes, you’re out’ mechanic. The group’s performance during each segment can provide advantages or disadvantages during the following segment of the challenge depending on how well they do. There are three kinds of challenges: physical, mental and social. Only certain skills are allowed within each kind of challenge. DMs can determine which of those skills are most relevant and award a +2 bonus to checks when players use that skill. Players can improvise with skills that are not allowed if they do so creatively, however this is limited to once per challenge. There are many other neat features included in the challenge, like “Leading the Way”, but if you want to know more, then stop being lazy and click on the link!Stop the Drider Ritual: Level 1 Battle Challenge 500xp (+1000 xp for the battle and traps)This sets the DCs for the challenge at 18                    I had 7 players at the time, which means they needed a total of 12 successes. 11-10 achieves a partial success.Read:Below on the valley floor a strange altar awaits, weakly lit by circles of light like a sickened rainbow. The altar, forged into the very rock of the valley itself appears like a miniature spider shaped mountain. A rocky stairway twists its way from the ground up to the peak like a snake, interrupted by five circles of diverse colours at different heights along the path. Within each circle two hooded figures stand with their backs to you, arms raised toward the top of the altar where an ebony woman struggles against chains that bind her within a circle of monolithic stones. Above her a living, pulsating shadow forms, the source of the supernatural darkness of the mountains, the source of some unpronounceable evil that is about to happen at any time during this macabre ritual.Insert Map here (coming)Features of the AreaPathway: The path is narrow. PCs must ‘squeeze’ along the path: ½ Speed; -5 Atk; Grant CAdv. PCs can ‘Run’ up the path: requires Acrobatics check CD 10; Success: +2 Speed; Fail: PC falls Prone and must make a SThrow or fall off the Path.                                                                                                           PCs can climb onto the path (10 ft high onto first flight of steps and another 10ft to the top of the path): Athletics CD 10: ½ Speed; Grant CAdv. If PC fails by more than 5 they fall.Climbing up at any other point (20 ft): Athletics CD 15 (if hit while climbing make a new check or fall); Catch hold: Athletics/Acrobatics CD 20Zone A: Large stone statue of Spider: 5 Rune Stone holes run along its back, each hole gives off a weak light of 5 different colours. Stone Runes carried by different ritualists must be implanted to deactivate the magic circles.                                                                                                       Red = Ring 1, Blue = Ring 2, Green = Ring 3, Yellow = Ring 4, Black = Ring 5    Deactivating a coloured rune-slot: Thievery DC 20: Effect of ring ends temporarily (Roll d6 each round; reactivates on a 5 or 6); DC 22: Disable Temporarily (reactivates on a roll of 6); CD 24: Disable permanentlyConfusion Trap: There is a multicolour ring around the spider statue                                                            Atk: +6 vs Will; Hit: Target does random action (save ends): 1: Sing and Dance 2: Throw object away 3: Attack closest creature 4: Lie down 5: Lick Spider and Praise Llolth 6: Attack enemy 7: Attack statue 8: Move Randomly 9-10: No effect                               Countermeasures: Perception: Notice triangular grooves on spiders back and eyes; The key around the cat’s neck (animal messenger) must be placed and turned to deactivate the trap      Unlocks Thievery: Deactivate the trap without a key: CD 25 (roll a d6 each round; on a 6 it reactivates)Ring 1: Red circle of light: When a PC enters: Atk +6 vs Will; Hit: Slowed (save ends)Ring 2: Blue circle of light: When a PC enters: Atk +6 vs Will; Hit: Immobilized (save ends)Ring 3: Green circle of light: When a PC enters: Atk +6 vs Fort; Hit: Ongoing 5 Poison Dmg (save ends)Ring 4: Yellow circle of light: This circle is 30ft high. It is not joined by a path, remaining isolated 10ft from ring 2. From circle 2 they can jump across and catch onto the rocky surface Athletics CD 15 and climb up Athletics CD 15        Jumpimg across directly requires Athletics DC 20 (requires a running start)When a PC enters: Atk +6 vs Fort; Hit: Slowed (save ends); If first SThrow is failed: Unconscious (save ends)Ring 5: Black circle(appears to have no colour unless seen with Darkvision): When a PC enters: Atk: +6 vs Fort: Blinded (save ends)Bound Drow Warlock: (PC being rescued) Make a Athletics check CD 12 or Ref CD 12 to be able to attack (-2 for being prone); This provokes an OAtk from all 5 Mother Claws surrounding her.Mother Claws: Atk: +7 vs CA (they have CAdv as she is prone: +2 atk); Dmg 2; If circle is deactivated corresponding Mother Claw fades away.Set Up:There are 2 Drow Ritualists in each coloured Ring, they do not pay heed to the PCs until they are attacked or they begin to climb the altar. Also, invisible in the shadows there are also two Shadow Claws in each coloured Ring (perception DC 23 to spot before they attack). When they turn to attack the PCs they can see that they are young children aged perhaps 12 or 13.Ritualist Drow (R) Lvl 1 Minion 25xp; Initiative +5; Perception +11, Darkvision; Speed 6               AC 15 Fort 11 Ref 13 Will 12  HP 1 (can’t be killed on a miss)                         Dark Wand: +5 vs Ref; 5 dmg                                      Night’s Veil: (encounter) +5 vs Fort; 5 dmg and Blinded (save ends)                 Shadow Claws (C) Lvl 1 Minion 25xp; Initiative +4; Perception +1, Darkvision; Speed 1         AC 15 Fort 13 Ref 14 Vol N/A HP 1 (can’t be killed on a miss)                     Claw: +6 vs AC; 4 dmg (+3 dmg if target is Bloodied)                         Shadow Wrath: (encounter) +4 vs Fort; 4 dmg and Ongoing 5 necrotic dmg (save ends)One of the challenges building this encounter was the fact the PCs would be dealing with Drow. Now Drow would usually be far beyond the capabilities of PCs at level 1, not to mention having the place mined with effect traps and a player slowly being drained of life to worry about. So I decided to use only minions in the encounter and describe them as Drow children. How they got there, well no one will ever know, and no one ever asked, so … who cares! It certainly made for great entertainment as the poor mums and dads in my group suffered from waves of guilt as they laid waste to those poor kids, innocent or not!Skill Challenge Part 1: Deactivate Protective Runes (mental challenge); all checks are minor actionsAllowed: Arcana (PCs receive +2 to checks), Religion, Perception, HealLocked: Thievery, History, Insight, Arcana (2)Arcana: The multicoloured ring (zone A) is the lock to the other colour rings; the rings seem to lock the upper sacrificial circle.Religion: This is a sacrificial shrine to the Drow spider goddess Llolth. The statue is some kind of guardian. The ritual being cast is summoning some evil servant of llolth, at each moment it grows stronger.Heal: The spidery arms in the stone circle seem to be draining life away from the prisoner; they are probably giving life to each coloured ring which likely have  some unhealthy effect.Perception: Spot the grooves on Spider Statues back and the triangular grooves; Unlocks:Thievery: See DCs above in Zone A to disable rings or the Confusion Trap Arcana (2): Locked: The lock is connected to the slots along the Spider statues back. It must have corresponding coloured stones. The triangular grooves are different, perhaps a separate arcane lock which only affects the multicoloured circleHistory: Locked: The clerics of Lloth are known to carry spider stones similar to the shape of the grooves on the statue. A drop of colour would symbolize the path of learning of the dark artsInsight: Locked: Identify body language of the ‘stone bearers’Many of the Skills relevant to the challenge needed to be ‘unlocked’. They couldn’t be used until they had, in this case, properly examined the Spider Statue.The first part was pretty exciting. Before entering the scene the Swordmage realized the nature of what was going on, the prisoner was being turned into something else and the area was protected magically to keep intruders out. The arcane lock was centred upon the Spider Statue. Armed with that knowledge the Paladin charged up the narrow path, tripped and fell, crashing to the ground heavily 10 feet below. The ranger stayed below and began massacring children with her bow. The fighter for some reason also decided you use his bow and massacred all the rocks in the area. He eventually put his bow away after providing some more comic relief, confirming his growing reputation as a lousy archer, and climbed up the side of the mountain directly into Ring 1 where he was hacked by shadow claws and blinded by the Drow children. The cleric slowly made her way up the path healing her allies and removing their blindness as she burnt several kids to a crisp with rays of radiant light. The bravest of them all was the swordmage who climbed up into ring 2 where he was hacked, blinded and immobilized. Even still he managed to destroy everything in that ring with a blast of fire and a string of massively high rolls. He continually shrugged off all the magical effects, storming his way up the mountain altar into ring 3 and destroying the shadow claws while he was continually blinded. The rogue nimbly made his way up the stairs and entered the coloured circle to examine the Spider Statue. He was struck by the confusion trap and began licking the statue singing praises to Llolth. It was a beautiful moment. When he finally pulled it together he discovered the grooves and the key slot. The cleric, nearby had taken the triangular headed key from the cat, realized its use and threw it to the rogue. It nearly fell down the mountain side and the rogue had to leave the coloured circle to get it and reenter. He was struck again by the confusion trap but this time it had no effect. With the trap off he began work on disarming the the coloured rings. The cleric once aware of the grooves made a connection to the drow’s coloured shadow stones and began the search amongst the bodies of the dead to discover them. The rest of the party joined the search as the Warlock struggling against her bonds cursed the last drow ritualist to death.  At each child ritualist’s death I had been describing the Shadow Spider growing in power. The children had been left there to hold the ritual til the other powerful drow returned. With the last one dead the ritual commenced again and the Shadow Spider began sucking the life out of the Warlock again. It got pretty exciting at this point as the PCs formed a chain gang to relay the shadow stones down to the rogue at the statue. Luckily when the fighter leapt across to Ring 4 he was unaffected by its power and remained awake. Ignoring the shadow claws, he got the stone from the dead child and leapt back. With the circles disabled they raced up the path towards the sacrificial circle.Skill Challenge Part 2: Distract the Summoned Shadow Spider while someone deactivates the protective runes and frees the Warlock (social/mental)Allowed: Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, Arcana, Perception, Heal, Dungeoneering, HistoryInsert MAP here (coming)Kililing the last Drow Ritualist is the catalyst for the final part of the ritual: Warlock receives 5 necrotic damage each turn until she is dead and becomes a DriderShadow Spider Aura: Creatures starting their turn in the area receive 5 necrotic damage and are attacked mentally: Atk: +6 vs Will; Hit: Consumed with fear, run screaming towards the bottom of the altar (save ends)Bluff: (Bluff checks receive a +2 bonus) A successful Bluff that this is not the right moment to convert the warlock (i.e master is not here) puts the shadow spider in doubt; necrotic damage reduced to 2; A second Bluff that the group is there to help will reduce the damage for the rest of the group too.Arcana: Each of the  5 monoliths has an arcane lock; each must be held in place and the correct word spokenPerception: You discover a symbol at the base of the stone which corresponds with the 5 symbols on the stone table where the prisoner is tied. Unlocks:Arcana (2)/Religion: Locked: Identify:  Shen (shadow), Mae (soul),  Treth (drink), Llolth (llolth), Hex (change)Heal: Allows warlock to spend a healing surge and consciousnessDungeoneering: The stone table has power and may possibly block the Spider’s line of sight; Unlocks:Thievery/Stealth: Locked: Make a Stealth check CD 20 to sneak under the table without notice; Fail +2 CD to thievery check; Thievery CD 20 to release WarlockHistory: You have stories of renegade Drow turned into servile Dryders, melded with shadow spiders, deformed evil creatures that do Llolth’s bidding. This is what is happening and it will finish when the warlock diesThere was a collective groan as the Warlock discovered the nature of the Arcane Lock comprised of the rune marked monolithic stones. ‘Not more puzzles!’ So, sensing they had had enough of that I dismissed the idea of requiring them to say the key words in a specific order. Once they discovered where the runes were and their meaning all they had to do was have a person touching each stone and say the correct word. But they did things a little differently. The Paladin, who’d had a pretty miserable time trying to get anywhere near the action, clunking around in his heavy armour, finally got to the top and attempted to cower the Shadow Spider invoking his god. He rolled a critical 20. So, deciding it was a good moment to let him enjoy the spotlight I allowed him to continue intimidating the creature, disabling its damaging aura, while the rogue slipped in beneath the stone table and released the warlock. The Warlock once free, and the spider momentarily neutralized, quickly explained how to undo the arcane lock and dismiss the summoned Shadow Spider. Then she told them they had better run for their lives as her captors would surely return at any moment.Part 3 Escape from the Valley (Physical)The group must distance themselves as far as possible, as fast as possible before the ‘real’ Drow return to complete the ritual and discover what has happened.Required: Endurance (All must Roll): One player can Lead, helping the rest of the group maintain their rhythm; if successful the Leader grants a +2 bonus to everyone else’s check.Need 4/7 successes to count as 1 Team Success; 6/7 counts as 2 successes and gives a +1 bonus to next rolls; Failure: -1 to the rest of rolls hereHeal: Gives a person who failed the Endurance check a reroll if they spend a Healing SurgeThere was only one way out of the valley as the keen eyes of the elf spotted the silhouette of a drider up at the top of the path they had descended into the valley from. So they ran. This is where I began my romance with ‘team rolls’. Everyone is involved. If you have to run, it’s no good if just the fighter is fit. And not everyone fails just because the rogue has the lung capacity of a hedgehog. It’s also where I met with the ‘Leading the Way’ mechanic which made success more feasible for characters who are weak in those areas, and also the inclusion of secondary skills that can correct failures, at a cost because doing so requires an extreme physical effort. While the group outdistanced themselves from danger they were soon stopped in their tracks as the elf spotted a second drider at the end of the valley blocking there escape route.Ravine Guard Post: The way out of the  valley is guarded by a monstrous drider capable of destroying the party single handed. The party must find a way past without being detected. Perception: Understand terrain; success provides a +2 to everyone’s checksEach PC must find their own way past: Each failure gives a -1 penalty to the next attempt and PC loses a HSurge; 4/7 counts as 1 group success; 6/7 gains 2 successesOne PC can Lead the Way along each of the routes, providing a +2 bonus to other PCs following that same path if their check is a success. Acrobatic Path: Sneak up the narrow crumbling path without causing a rock slide. Then walk over the narrow rock bridge above the drider to the other sideAthletic Path: Jump over the rocks. Then climb up onto the path that goes above the DriderStealth Path: Sneak up as close as possible using rocks as cover. Then sneak through the thin line of trees along the side of the valley which make their way past the driderThis was a neat little mini challenge where PCs had to pick which escape route to take. I hadn’t thought of what might have happened if they had failed this part miserably and called the drider’s attention upon them. They had been made well aware of the dangre, however, and they took it seriously, getting into the roleplaying to eek out that +2 bonus from me to ensure their chances of success. The group split into two groups. The strong PCs climbed over the rocks and scaled the valley wall up to a path the elf had spotted that passed above the drider. The subtle PCs snuck past hidden in the trees. The cleric misplaced her step and was about to fall but I allowed the leader to make a check to catch her and pull her up to safety. This sent a shower of rocks down the valley wall. The rogue, hidden in the trees at the time threw a rock behind the drider, distracting it long enough for the PCs up on the valley wall to hide themselves. Once Past the Drider PCs must make their way back to the original path safely: Nature: One person in each group that made their way past the drider can Lead the Way and provide a +2 bonus to the others in that group’s rolls. Perception: Doesn’t count as a success but it can provide a reroll on a failed check at the cost of a HSurgeThis is also a group check; 4/7 successes are required for 1 Team Success; 6/7 successes gains 2 successes. Only one person in each group is required to make a Nature check. Other PCs can use their skills creatively to plausibly aid the group back to their original path.The elf rolled a natural 20 on her Nature check to lead the way, and so I ruled that she lead her group so efficiently that they made enough headway to catch up to the other group, and so they were able to benefit from her leadership on their checks as well. This part seemed like a mere formality at this stage, so I told them to describe how they found their way back to the original path, asking for more rolls seemed unnecessary. I announced that they had achieved success, gaining an important time advantage over their pursuers, time enough for the warlock to introduce herself and tell her story.  I had enjoyed the obsidian system enormously, although I hadn’t run it strictly to the letter. The next series of skill challenges would continue to be based on the same system. The idea of battle while running a skill challenge worked brilliantly. It involved all the PCs in different ways at the same time, and created a situation where they were thinking about a lot more things than just which power to pick or who to hit. These are elements that I would try and include in all my encounter designs from here on out, whether there was a skill challenge going on or not.</blockquote>

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