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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 5834627" data-attributes="member: 6669384">One concept that I liked from 4e was the Skill Challenge.  The idea of a specific mechanic for designing and implementing challenging situations that don't involve combat is a very good one.  And while 3.5 is supposed to include Exp rewards for dealing with challenging RP situations, the implementation is rather amorphous.The problem with the 4e Skill Challenge is that it's a party challenge that doesn't involve the party.  It involves the one or two people who have the right skills to meet the specific requirements of the challenge.For example, your party is in pursuit of a band of slavers fleeing across the desert.  As a group you need to make 9 successful Skill rolls before you roll 3 failures, on any of a list of skills.  The list might include Handle Animal to manage your mounts, Endurance to maintain a hard pace, Survival/Tracking to be able to handle the harsh environment and follow their trail, Knowledge: Geography to know where water holes are, and/or Knowledge:Nature for the same purpose.In reality, the party Ranger is going to make the Endurance roll, since he has the feat automatically, the Druid is going to handle Knowledge: Nature.  The Ranger will handle Survival/Tracking, and the Druid will roll Handle Animal.  And if you don't have a Druid, the Ranger will make almost all of the rolls himself.Why?  Because people who aren't "trained" in those areas are the ones who will likely roll the failures, and the group can't afford any of those.  If you don't roll, you can't fail.So one man's skill with animals will manage all the horses.  His Endurance feat will carry everyone else, automatically, so long as they don't roll a dice.  His Survival training will suffice to keep everyone well rested, fed, hydrated and on track.  And because the group can roll the same Skill check multiple times without penalty, they'll only attempt the ones that they have someone really good at.The other problem was the general feel of them:  They were an artificial construct, a game within a game if you will, when suddenly the normal rules changed, and PC behavior had to change with them to avoid failure.So lets talk about a mechanic that can be used to present clear skill and/or RP challenges for an entire group, that will end up involving the entire group, and won't feel artificial in play.I have a few thoughts, but I'd like to hear other ideas before I post them.  I'm pretty sure that this group, collectively, is more creative than I am as an individual.And no, this isn't a "Skill Challenge".  We don't fail, as a group, if people try to contribute and fall short.  All ideas are welcome.</blockquote>

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