Aiding Another Skill Challenge

[Caliber]

How does everyone handle the Aid Another action inside of Skill Challenges? Is it totally free form, with everyone essentially aiding everyone on every check? Does an aiding character lose the ability to make his own check during that "round" of the Skill Challenge? Are there any official rules in this regard, or is it mostly a DM feel area?

Thanks!

 

[Stalker0]

both my skill challenge systems (in my sig) put hard limits on aid another in skill challenges. For the regular system, I'll let others answer I haven't used them in a while.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm running out the door, so I don't have time to respond properly, but definitely listed to the recent WotC skill challenge podcast -- they address this in a really interesting way.

 

[Caliber]

Woo, commentary from some of the heavy hitters over here. I'm honored.

Stalker, the system I use is pretty close to your Obsidian System, really. I tried to figure out how your system dealth with aiding another but I couldn't find it; I ruled on the spot that aiding another used up your action for that round (so, made it more likely to get a success, but reduced the number of attempts the party got to make a success ...)

Is that how you imagine it?

Piratecat, is this the podcast you are talking about? I'm downloading it now!

Thanks a ton, both of you. XP to you both.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Generally speaking I don't allow Aid Another itself in skill challenges. Instead it is better to provide additional skills or ways of using skills that a character can perform which lets them give other characters a bonus on their next use of one of the key or alternate skills. You will see this a lot in SCs that have been written up as well. It is just too easy for characters to otherwise stack the odds by just all using Aid Another to give the highest bonus character a massive bonus every round instead of them actually doing anything themselves.

 

[babinro]

Aid another is one of those things I've come to house rule in both 3E and 4E. My ruling on it is such that if someone fails to provide assistance the overall score receives a -2 as they actually hinder(be it the form of delays since these checks are time sensitive or something more obvious depending on the check being made). This rule tends to help prevent an excessive amount of abuse since there is a penalty to failure.

 

[Stalker0]

Woo, commentary from some of the heavy hitters over here. I'm honored.

Stalker, the system I use is pretty close to your Obsidian System, really. I tried to figure out how your system dealth with aiding another but I couldn't find it;

In Obsidian, there is no aid another allowed mechanically...it is only a flavor description. You are welcome to say that you are using X skill to help your buddy, but for mechanical purposes you still roll your skill and it still adds a success (or not) to the challenge.

For example, in the game I had tonight my "Mentalist aka Bard" character basically do a mind meld with another character, granting the other character my ability to see magical auras. Mechanically I rolled an arcana check and he rolled a perception check...but the fun is in the flavor.

In my Alternate Skill Challenge System, Aid is limited to one character only, and has its own rules. Aid another is actually exceptionally powerful on the math of a skill challenge, and for balance purposes requires tight control.

 

[Piratecat]

There are a few ways to handle Aid Another on a case-by-case basis.

1. Sometimes it's totally appropriate, maybe even desired, especially if the DC to succeed is very high and everyone gets behind one player to help.

2. Some times it logically wouldn't help, such as in a skill challenge to disarm a magical trap or speak to someone important. In these cases, I let the group know that I'll be raising the DC by 2 points for everyone who fails to Aid, as more people doesn't always help.

3. In addition, some times it's just harder to aid - such as disarming a small magical trap or speaking to a king, where more voices make things worse. In these cases I let the grou know that the DC to aid has risen to 15 (or higher). I combine this with #2 if I really want to limit aid another.

4. The best solution is to add time pressure to an occasional skill challenge so that other negative things happen while you're aiding instead of racking up successes. I can provide more information on this if you'd like.

The important thing is to make sure that not every challenge feels the same; vary these guidelines around to help achieve this.