Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7338822" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Alright, so this was to be end of Paragon tier, so lets put the PCs at level 19.  I would have made the "Escape the Collapsing Ice Palace With the Slumbering Princess" a Level +2 C3 Skill Challenge (so 19, 26, 35 for DCs).  Lets say the PCs would have been at 7 successes and 1 failure and used (a) both of their Advantages and (b) 2 of their available 3 Secondary Skills.  They would have passed 1 Hard DC thus far, so this last obstacle would be Hard.They're entering a winding, icy stairwell that will empty them out into the long, high-ceilinged Entrance Hall of the Ice Palace.  A HUGE block of ice falls from the ceiling when they're halfway down their spiraling egress.  With the sleeping princess over the shoulder of the Dragonborn Paladin, he barely is able to throw himself back against the wall as the massive block barrels earthward...obliterating the last 6 flights.  With 60 feet remaining, sheer, icy walls in the cylindrical stairwell, and their way down now in ruins at the bottom, the PCs have little time.  The Eladrin Wizard already used its Arcane Gate Daily to get them out of a pinch earlier (lets say navigating the earlier Hard DC obstacle and choosing to tackle a go at the Hard DC with Arcana for 2 successes rather than just an auto-success) so that isn't available.  With the stair and shaft under imminent collapse, there isn't remotely enough time to affix and anchor a rope to climb down.  No time to go back up the way they came and look for another route.  In very Paladin-ey fashion, the Dragonborn lowers the princess from his shoulder, grabs a long coil of rope from his pack and tells his allies he is going to lower them down and he'll just ride the wave of collapse down when it happens; we'll call that 6d10 HP worth of damage or a Healing Surge worth (whichever is worse).  But this is particularly awesome, heroic, and Paladin-ey, so I give him a +2 untyped to his Athletics effort.  Instead of holding on with the princess over his shoulder, the guileful, quick-fingered Changeling Rogue knots a few cradles for them to sit in with amazing speed (Thievery automatically succeeds the Easy DC and that is our last Secondary Skill use for the challenge).  So another +2.  So Athletics +4 vs Hard DC (35).The player of the Paladin fails the roll.So now the PCs are at 7 and 2 and this nested Combat/Race will decide it.  The Paladin is going to start this combat down 1/4 HPs and I'm going to charge him another Healing Surge  for that failure (so likely, the Paladin is low on Surges as I would imagine this is end of the adventuring day).  [ATTACH]93850[/ATTACH]1)  The PCs would start on the far right.2)  The dragon would start in the middle of the map between the pillars.3)  Success would mean all characters navigating the intervening 48 squares in 6 rounds.  If they aren't there at the end of round 6, Skill Challenge ends in failure.4)  Due to the slightly iced surface, any Run Action would yield an extra 3 squares of forced movement at the end of the move.  However, a Run Action would require a slightly higher than of-level (17) Easy DC Acrobatics check (so 19 which happens to be the Hard DC for a Heroic 1st level PC).  Failure = Prone 3 squares from your beginning square (due to the 3 squares of forced movement).  5)  There would be pockets of Iceshard Pile:Effect: Iceshard Pile squares are difficult terrain. A creature that starts its turn in a Iceshard Pile square takes 10 cold damage. A creature that ends its turn in a Iceshard Pile square is restrained until the start of its next turn.6)  The columns could be stunted with (Medium Athletics check then Attack vs Fort) to collapse on top of the dragon, causing damage + dazed and that area would turn into a 2 * 2  section of Iceshard Pile.7)  Two massive ice chandeliers (The Cs) could also be stunted with for a similar effect except less damage and immobilized (save ends) rider.8)  The White Dragon would be the Monster Vault's Elder leveled to 24 (Ancient).  The only difference would be the following change to Instinctive RampageThe dragon would take that 2d10 +7 (less the resist 5), but would be immune to Slowed and OG Cold (resistance).9)  At the end of each round, I would roll a d12.  Moving clockwise (with the top left pillar being 12), I would have one of the pillars (and attendant ceiling collapse) a la the Instinctive Rampage above effect above.  If a number is rolled and the associated pillar is already collapsed, then nothing would happen.on this from  [MENTION=82106]AbdulAlhazred[/MENTION] :I would handle this mechanically as a stunt.  Basically a Standard Action of-level Religion at Hard DC.  Success would basically mean the dragon is stunned (narratively) and the effect for this challenge would allow all the PCs to take a Free Action Move (thus getting them closer to their egress point).[HR][/HR]That should do it.</blockquote>

Verification