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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9630568" data-attributes="member: 907">I think both methods have their place. I like having multiple possible success levels (at least basic/critical success) on a single roll, for when you're just doing a single thing. But I think collapsing a larger effort to a series of rolls can also be useful in many cases – particularly if those rolls can be spread out over multiple characters in order to engage multiple players. But a thing to consider in those cases is that a &quot;failure&quot; shouldn't be a showstopper, but more along the lines of &quot;you didn't do so good at that particular aspect&quot;.Troubleshooters, for example, use what they call Challenges frequently. They're basically &quot;roll for three to five different skills to see how well you did overall.&quot; For example, you might be setting out on a wilderness expedition to a forgotten city in the jungle. The Director might call for a challenge for Credit Rating to finance the expedition, Charm or Contacts to get local help, Survival to manage the wilderness, and Endurance to deal with the actual walking. A failure on e.g. Credit Rating doesn't mean &quot;Sorry, you couldn't afford it&quot;, but it might mean &quot;You had to settle for some gear that wasn't as good as you would have wanted&quot; which then leads to a less than ideal result when summed up. IIRC, on a four-skill challenge you need 3 successes for a clean success, while 2 would be a success-at-cost (you got there but it took longer so your rival got there first and has a head start) and 4 would be success-with-upside (you got there with plenty of time to spare and managed to find something cool on the way as well).In another scenario you might want to get into a locked room to look for clues. That might be a three-skill challenge: Security to figure out the guard patrols, Prestidigitation to pick the lock, and Search to look for clues. A failed Prestidigitation check doesn't mean you don't get the lock up, but it could mean it takes a little longer so you don't have the time you had hoped for to search. Two successful checks would mean you find the clues, three would find some additional clue or something else useful, and one might mean you find the clue but the guard shows up just as you were leaving.Basically, multi-roll checks are good for &quot;montages&quot;, but not for doing several things at the same time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 9630568, member: 907"] I think both methods have their place. I like having multiple possible success levels (at least basic/critical success) on a single roll, for when you're just doing a single thing. But I think collapsing a larger effort to a series of rolls can also be useful in many cases – particularly if those rolls can be spread out over multiple characters in order to engage multiple players. But a thing to consider in those cases is that a "failure" shouldn't be a showstopper, but more along the lines of "you didn't do so good at that particular aspect". Troubleshooters, for example, use what they call Challenges frequently. They're basically "roll for three to five different skills to see how well you did overall." For example, you might be setting out on a wilderness expedition to a forgotten city in the jungle. The Director might call for a challenge for Credit Rating to finance the expedition, Charm or Contacts to get local help, Survival to manage the wilderness, and Endurance to deal with the actual walking. A failure on e.g. Credit Rating doesn't mean "Sorry, you couldn't afford it", but it might mean "You had to settle for some gear that wasn't as good as you would have wanted" which then leads to a less than ideal result when summed up. IIRC, on a four-skill challenge you need 3 successes for a clean success, while 2 would be a success-at-cost (you got there but it took longer so your rival got there first and has a head start) and 4 would be success-with-upside (you got there with plenty of time to spare and managed to find something cool on the way as well). In another scenario you might want to get into a locked room to look for clues. That might be a three-skill challenge: Security to figure out the guard patrols, Prestidigitation to pick the lock, and Search to look for clues. A failed Prestidigitation check doesn't mean you don't get the lock up, but it could mean it takes a little longer so you don't have the time you had hoped for to search. Two successful checks would mean you find the clues, three would find some additional clue or something else useful, and one might mean you find the clue but the guard shows up just as you were leaving. Basically, multi-roll checks are good for "montages", but not for doing several things at the same time. [/QUOTE]

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