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Message: <blockquote data-quote="UniversalMonster" data-source="post: 5136097" data-attributes="member: 1034">I run skill challenges only *partially* in stealth modeI guess that is to say: it's not in stealth mode. Here's my procedure: 1. I will usually draw a success/failure chart right on the battlemap and leave it there. I let them know what the goal of the challenge is, and that they are in one. 2. I set up the baseline DC for a moderate check up front, and a hard is +5 from that, and an "impossible" is +5 from that one. So for 1st-2nd level, the DC is 11. It goes up by +1 every two levels for the average party level. Ok, stop there. We don't do the round-robin "I intimidate the wall.. does that work? Ok, next..." stuff. We jump into stealth mode at that point.At that point, it's just roleplaying stuff. "Pretend a skill challenge isn't taking place. What are you guys doing?"<a href="http://terrible-and-true.tumblr.com/post/434972757/assassination-as-a-skill-challenge" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://terrible-and-true.tumblr.com/post/434972757/assassination-as-a-skill-challenge" target="_blank">Here's an example of my "Assassination as a Skill Challenge" post. </a>It started just by running scenes, but I had already set it up that they were supposed to 1. gather information on a target, 2) surveill the possible locations for the assassination, and 3. carry out the actual killing. So it plays out as if this was just your normal roleplaying stuff. Characters are doing their thing, until someone finally starts pursuing a goal, and if it's something that requires a skill check I'll let them know that it counts towards the skill challenge for good or for ill. In a sense, it's like running the challenge in the background. And it isn't simply a roll-off.. a typical give-and take room by room dungeon exploration can be run as just one long skill challenge as long as you have some goal in mind, and decent consequences for failure. You can run a single 8/3 or 12/3 Skill Challenge over the course of a 3-4 hour adventure this way. Setting DCs is what makes this work: use the lowbie DC of 11+(average party level/2) as your moderate DC, and YOU (the DM) tell the PC what skill he should be using regardless of whether he is good at it. If he wants to get creative (use a different skill) and has a good explanation, allow it, or allow it at a slightly higher +5 DC. Or disallow it. But remember that you (the DM) are in charge.  This keeps the intimidating character from trying to use intimidate on walls or the wizard trying to arcana his way over a pit. But if the rogue wants to acrobat his way over a wall vice climbing it? Yeah, I'd allow that. At a slightly higher DC <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />So by this standard, you should feel free to assign the heavily armored dwarf a stealth check or give the wimpy wizard an athletics check. Why not? This has been a tradition in D&D since the beginning and it really does happen. The number is still possible (usually) and players can still get creative.. and most importantly: do the Skill Challenge right, and you have a decent handle for about how much XP to reward.Skill challenges are encounters, so I can't justify removing them entirely- they affect milestones and XP. And played correctly..they are a lot of fun. But it's also import that *losing* a skill challenge be kinda fun or at least interesting too. The clock runs out, the prisoners die, the goblin bandits escape the area, the planned ambush becomes a counterstrike.. the assassins leave clues to their identity. Failure shouldn't just be a possibility, it should be an alternate plotline.</blockquote>

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