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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 5024069" data-attributes="member: 3424">Like Dausuul, I tend to think of skill challenges as a more structured framework for resolving non-combat challenges. Of course, depending on your preferences and abilities as a DM, you may decide not follow a formal framework at all. As you mentioned, you can set the players a goal (or the players may set one up themselves) and then, depending on what the players propose to do, you can ask for relevant skill checks or ability checks, or simply adjudicate the success of the players' actions without rolling dice. However, some DMs prefer to work within a more structured framework. Even with impromptu non-combat challenges which the DM did not prepare for because they arose in the course of play, the DM could take a few moments to decide on and note down:1. The complexity (difficulty) of the challenge, which would determine how many successes are needed and how much XP should be awarded for overcoming it.

2. The rewards of success and the consequences of failure.

3. The failure conditions - whether it is a timed challenge or uses the &quot;three failures&quot; model, including a logical and satisfying way to narrate each failure and why three failures lead to the above-mentioned consequences, if the latter approach is adopted.

4. Constraints, special ways to use particular skills, and other factors that would make the skill challenge more interesting and not just a series of repeated skill checks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 5024069, member: 3424"] Like [B]Dausuul[/B], I tend to think of skill challenges as a more structured framework for resolving non-combat challenges. Of course, depending on your preferences and abilities as a DM, you may decide not follow a formal framework at all. As you mentioned, you can set the players a goal (or the players may set one up themselves) and then, depending on what the players propose to do, you can ask for relevant skill checks or ability checks, or simply adjudicate the success of the players' actions without rolling dice. However, some DMs prefer to work within a more structured framework. Even with impromptu non-combat challenges which the DM did not prepare for because they arose in the course of play, the DM could take a few moments to decide on and note down: [INDENT]1. The complexity (difficulty) of the challenge, which would determine how many successes are needed and how much XP should be awarded for overcoming it. 2. The rewards of success and the consequences of failure. 3. The failure conditions - whether it is a timed challenge or uses the "three failures" model, including a logical and satisfying way to narrate each failure and why three failures lead to the above-mentioned consequences, if the latter approach is adopted. 4. Constraints, special ways to use particular skills, and other factors that would make the skill challenge more interesting and not just a series of repeated skill checks.[/INDENT] [/QUOTE]

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