Degree of Success Skill Challenges

[Scribble]

So I was thinking of something a bit different. As it stands Skill Challenges are basically: If you get this man successes you get this, otherwise this.

What if you determine the outcome based on the degree of success?

Like if the characters need to get into the keep:

If they get 8 successes before 3 failures, they find a secret door that leads into a small escape tunnel, and also a hidden cache of items. (maybe a magic item.)

If they get 8 successes before 4 failures they manage to find a group willing to help them enter the keep undetected.

If they get 4 failures before the 8 successes, they have to fight their way through the front doors...

I guess another alternative would be to have multiple skill challenges running at once... Each one is the same, but the DCs are higher for the one that would give the most benefit...

 

[D'karr]

So I was thinking of something a bit different. As it stands Skill Challenges are basically: If you get this man successes you get this, otherwise this.

What if you determine the outcome based on the degree of success?

Like if the characters need to get into the keep:

If they get 8 successes before 3 failures, they find a secret door that leads into a small escape tunnel, and also a hidden cache of items. (maybe a magic item.)

If they get 8 successes before 4 failures they manage to find a group willing to help them enter the keep undetected.

If they get 4 failures before the 8 successes, they have to fight their way through the front doors...

I guess another alternative would be to have multiple skill challenges running at once... Each one is the same, but the DCs are higher for the one that would give the most benefit...

Thunderspire Labyrinth has a skill challenge in which your success is measured by the total number of successes you achieved before failing.

As an example:
If you get 0-3 you pay X, Y and Z. If you get 4-8 you pay X and Y. If you get 9-11 you pay X. And if you succeeded you pay nothing.

Skill challenges are extremely flexible and allow the DM to set any parameter that he wants.

 

[Paul Strack]

Stalker's Obsidian Skill Challenge rules have something like that. Roughly speaking, a basic number of successes gives a partial victory and two extra successes gives you a total victory (with something extra).