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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 8271317" data-attributes="member: 58416">I liked the concept of skill checks in 4E.At the same time, I found (back when I was running 4E) that I enjoyed them far more (and felt they worked better) by constructing them in a way which heavily departed (and sometimes outright ignored) the official way of doing them. One example is that instead of X successes before Y failures producing a binary yes/no or pass/fail result, I ran a few in such a way that the players had a certain amount of rolls for a situation and the number of successes and failures achieved within those rolls would help determine how good (or bad) the outcome was on more of a sliding scale. So, let's say there were a total of 6 possible rolls to do an Audience With the King Skill Challenge. •6 success - 0 failure = the results were especially good; not only was the request granted, but the PCs receive something extra•5 - 1 = The request was granted. •4 - 2 = mostly granted, but with a small caveat •3 - 3 = some complication prevents the request from being granted•2-4 = the request cannot be granted either due to failure on the part of the PCs or due to some external complications •1-5 = the request is denied•0-6 = the results were especially bad and could range from simple refusal to the PCs having somehow insulting the king and making their situation worse... depending upon what exactly was said and etcI had other different ways of constructing them too. The disease track was the basis for how I did a few of them if the problem faced was ongoing and didn't have a definitive beginning or end.  An example of that would be an encounter I ran in which the PCs were stuck in a room which was meant to be one huge magical trap & maze of doors. The idea was basically a room with multiple doors; choosing wrong door would lead to it appearing as though you had somehow walked back into the same room again, but with a variety of traps, monsters, and effects. Rolls could be made against insight, arcana, and various other skills to gain hints concerning which door would lead back in the "healthy" direction. Choosing wrong lead to a situation which became increasingly worse -sliding down the "disease" track.In some cases, it wasn't necessary to even announce that a skill check was happening. In the audience example, it would simply be presented as an audience and I would keep track of skill check results as they occurred. The same idea could still work in 5E.I've found that using proficiency dice (an alternate rule from the 5E DMG) woks better than a flat proficiency bonus. It encourages people to try things rather than just asking who has the biggest bonus.</blockquote>

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