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<blockquote data-quote="Dungeoneer" data-source="post: 5432468" data-attributes="member: 91777">Because you didn't ask...Is It A Skill Challenge?&nbsp; Dungeoneer's Official Rules Of Thumb For Determining If Something Should Be An SC:<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Is it okay for the players to fail?&nbsp; In other words, can the players lose the SC without grinding the plot to a halt?</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Is there a consequence for failure?&nbsp; Or can the players just try over and over again until they get it right?</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Is there a clear objective?&nbsp; Do the players understand that they are at Point A and need to get to Point B?&nbsp; Just like an encounter, an SC needs a clear end point: do this and you Win!</li>
</ol>If you answered Yes! to all three questions above, then congratulations!&nbsp; This task could be written up as a Skill Challenge!&nbsp; If the answer to any of them was no, meh, just make a skill check and move on with your life.Some examples of things that are Not Skill Challenges:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Discovering the location of the BBEG's hideout. This fails question one, which requires failure to be an acceptable outcome.&nbsp; If the players can't find the Evil Sorcerer's Top Secret Hideout what do they do next?&nbsp; Twiddle their thumbs until he comes out and finds them?&nbsp; If you need X to happen to move the plot forward, X should not be a skill challenge.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Picking a lock in an empty building. This has the opposite problem - failure is inconsequential.&nbsp; No matter how hard the target DCs are, the players can just keep trying until they get it right.&nbsp; Either make the door 'unpickable' or add some kind of time pressure (You hear footsteps coming down the hall!&nbsp; Hurry!).</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Find out that the Duke is really an evil shapeshifter.&nbsp; You may or may not make the skill challenge explicit, but the objective has to be!&nbsp; In this case the players probably don't know why they should talk to the Duke or what information they are trying to discover so they have no way of knowing what they should do.&nbsp; They're just stumbling around and making random stabs in the dark.&nbsp; That's going to frustrate them, or even worse, bore them.</li>
</ul></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dungeoneer, post: 5432468, member: 91777"] Because you didn't ask... [I] Is It A Skill Challenge? Dungeoneer's Official Rules Of Thumb For Determining If Something Should Be An SC:[/I] [LIST=1] [*][B]Is it okay for the players to fail?[/B] In other words, can the players lose the SC without grinding the plot to a halt? [*][B]Is there a consequence for failure? [/B]Or can the players just try over and over again until they get it right? [*][B]Is there a clear objective? [/B]Do the players understand that they are at Point A and need to get to Point B? Just like an encounter, an SC needs a clear end point: [I]do this and you Win![/I] [/LIST] [I]If you answered Yes! to all three questions above, then congratulations! This task could be written up as a Skill Challenge! If the answer to any of them was no, meh, just make a skill check and move on with your life.[/I] Some examples of things that are Not Skill Challenges: [LIST] [*][B]Discovering the location of the BBEG's hideout. [/B] This fails question one, which requires failure to be an acceptable outcome. If the players can't find the Evil Sorcerer's Top Secret Hideout what do they do next? Twiddle their thumbs until he comes out and finds them? If you need X to happen to move the plot forward, X should not be a skill challenge. [*][B]Picking a lock in an empty building. [/B] This has the opposite problem - failure is inconsequential. No matter how hard the target DCs are, the players can just keep trying until they get it right. Either make the door 'unpickable' or add some kind of time pressure (You hear footsteps coming down the hall! Hurry!). [*][B]Find out that the Duke is really an evil shapeshifter.[/B] You may or may not make the skill challenge explicit, but the objective has to be! In this case the players probably don't know why they should talk to the Duke or what information they are trying to discover so they have no way of knowing what they should do. They're just stumbling around and making random stabs in the dark. That's going to frustrate them, or even worse, bore them. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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