Are You Using Skill Checks and Skill Challenges

[Nyronus]

I've found skill challenges to be a great addition to the game. Heck, one of the last adventures I ran was almost 50% skill challenges.

After a first couple of awkward trys, I began to get the hang of them. I found they are best used as a way to gauge the PCs abstracted attempts to overcome an obstacle. How do we unseal the magical seals before the golem beats us into a pulp? How do we stop the burning airship from crashing and out and out destroying the goliath village-without the steering wheel? Social challenges are a little trickier. The main problem I think is complexity scaling. A good rule of thumb is one man, one complexity. It should only take a little back and forth between a single king and the party to settle things. I've run complexity 5 with a group of three guys and it was kind of tense. I ran complexity 5 with the party arguing with 6 people and it was a blast. This isn't a hard and fast law though. I've had a complexity three challenge with only one guy be fun.

If you want a real good example of skill challenges though, I recommend picking up the RPGA Tomb of Horrors modual. Not only is it the best dungeon I've seen in all of 4e, it has some of the most interesting uses of the skill challenge system ever.

 

[surfarcher]

Skill Challenges? In a word utterly amazing... When they are done right.

My group rarely realises the Challenge mechanics are being used tho. I frequently use it as an accounting and progress tool to measure their progress towards an objective... With a lot of roelplaying, successes via things other than skills... And a lot of DM adlib involved. Very open ended. A lot of fun.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I think the key with skill challenges is to bring them back to basics and run them from there. In their simplest form they are:

1. Roll initiative so the players are not all yelling "I do X!" at me.

2. Require each player to do something so I don't get the fighter sitting out and saying that they hate non-combat bits when they could have contributed just fine.

3. Have definite success and failure conditions that will be met without an hour of rolling.

4. Make sure that failure doesn't end the campaign, but still affects the party negatively.

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

Here's an example of the sort of Skill Challenge I run with my group all the time - This is pretty much exactly how it's written up and handed to the Players (this one was used during a modified WoTC adventure).

It may not suit everyone, but my group loves them and we use them often -

COMMANDEERING THE HELM SKILL CHALLENGE
(XP: 2000)

This example is fantastic. It's also, however, pretty extraordinary as compared to the guidelines & framework suggested in the book. As a result, I really haven't done much with Skill Challenges -- I have used the occasional Obsidian challenge to some success, but by and large I just wing it with my skill checks.

 

[Sunseeker]

Still using them, though they're for specific things. Sometimes they're for "surprise", like the player drinks a beer that some random strange gives them, and they have to make an Endurance check because it was poisoned.

Skill checks happen for a reason, someone is tracking them, roll perception, the road is unstable, athletics. Specific cases, though I may surprise a certain player with the check, they will always happen because there is some aspect of the world, or something they are dealing with that calls for it. Individual skill checks however, do not grant XP, party skill checks may.

Overall, I'm not running skill checks constantly because it's just annoying bookwork I don't want to keep track of. Can the rogue jump over the fallen tree? His dex is 20, heck yes he can. Can the ranger find wood for the campfire, his nature is 12, so yes, actually, that skill check was a DC 2, I'm certain even the barbarian who can't read could do that.

 

[NewJeffCT]

don't use them very often

seems like too much of a bother to create X number of successes vs Y number of failures unless I'm running a prepublished module or something that already has the skill challenge in it. And, even then, I usually ignore them in favor or one or two skill checks for the group. Why roll the dice 12-15 times when once or twice will suffice?

 

[fuzzlewump]

Yes.

Only... it doesn't make a bit of difference guys, the skill challenges are inert. Does that mean they don't work? Yes.

Wait a sec. I think we're jumping the gun a bit. What? The skill challenges are inert. But it's still there.

 

[Dragon Sin-Camealot]

Should but 'How' before topic title.

You only want a 'yes' or a 'no' answer. Yes.

 

[Grabuto138]

Should but 'How' before topic title.

You only want a 'yes' or a 'no' answer. Yes.

It would be helpful for everyone if you were to read the original post, rather than just the title, before answering. The post had a number of specific questions.

 

[Dragon Sin-Camealot]

To a veteran like me the justification doesn't matter as much.

I've played many games where I can skip the dialogue and/or turn the animation off. But to give the game spice it's nice to keep the skill challenges.

I did crash the cart that stranded us for a day. A bard doesn't have a good nature check for that as I found out.