My Game is Tomorrow Night; Help with Skill Challenge

[Paul Strack]

It's funny; I get one person in this thread saying 'Take out the skill challenge' and the other saying 'take out the combat'.

My basic suggestion is that a combined combat/challenge encounter is just too complicated to throw at players new to the game, especially if this is the very first encounter you are putting them through. I think you should pick one or the other.

I think combat is a better kick-off than a skill challenge. Have the party start off with a straight-up combat against the sea monster, possibly with some skill checks to avoid environmental hazards.

Follow up with a skill challenge to keep the damaged boat from crashing and to salvage as much as they can (partial victory: no crash, total victory: the boat can still be used).

If you'd rather start with a skill challenge, swap the order (save the ship, then fight the monster).

You can do more complicated things later in the game.

 

[Rechan]

My basic suggestion is that a combined combat/challenge encounter is just too complicated to throw at players new to the game, especially if this is the very first encounter you are putting them through. I think you should pick one or the other.

I think combat is a better kick-off than a skill challenge. Have the party start off with a straight-up combat against the sea monster, possibly with some skill checks to avoid environmental hazards.

This will not be The First encounter the group has. I plan on giving them a Tutorial, walking them through a simple combat. Actually, it's a "Gauntlet", a test by their patron, who wants to see if they are as good as he's heard they are. I might even have them run afoul with some pirates, or a ship with were-rats on it, or something, as a real combat. So, I would like to think they will at least have a good grasp of the rules by this time.

In fact, I believe a player will be missing during the first session, out of town. So I may reserve this encounter for the second session.

What I meant by this being their First is that this is their first exposure to a Skill challenge. So how to really get them to throw themselves into the Skill challenge was advice I was seeking, among others.

I like the idea of initiating a skill challenge beforehand (I.e. you're in the water/below deck, get back on) or afterwards (salvage the ship and try to sail it).

A third option is to do this: The PCs give the monster a bloody nose, so to speak. They've wounded it, and now it sticks its head underneath the waves, instead intent on just smashing the ship apart. Hacking at it isn't going to help. So, I say through very strong DM dsecription, 'You realize hacking it won't really help at this point; you might want to try finding some other means of driving it off or saving the ship'.

 

[Stalker0]

What I would recommend is that you treat this as a combat, and use Obsidian's combat challenge rules to get the effect you want.

Basically, run the encounter as a combat. However, allow players to spend actions to get skill successes, and once a partial victory is received, they get some advantage. Once a true victory is reached, they get a better benefit.

For example, perhaps the Beast has a special attack, and with a partial victory the players disable that attack, and with a total success they reduce the creature's defenses by 1, or something like that. Then your players choose if they want to make more combat actions or skill checks.

You can find the information about combat challenges in Obsidian's pdf.

 

[FadedC]

I kind of like the idea of not having it be a skill challenge too. You already have a really cool way for the combat bits to work (good enough that I'd be tempted to steal some), adding in a skill challenge would seem a bit tacked on.

If you absolutely have to have a skill challenge, you could make one to keep the boat from sinking after the serpent isgone. You could even make the challenge harder or easier based on how much damage they let the serpent do before it was driven off.

 

[the_redbeard]

First, this sounds awesome.

I'm in favor of skill challenge PLUS combat - I can think of several movies where actions must be performed while fighting off some beasties. Good drama and fun.

I have to say I think the problem is the design of the monster as a constrictor. There doesn't seem to be a way for the ship to escape (other than the brilliant reef idea) so using skills on the sails or to steer aren't effective. Possibly find a way to secure the ship's anchor to the beast, slowing it or dragging it away? (Winners like this and the reef piloting should be worth two successes.)

If you have a tentacle beast of some kind, grasping at the masts and picking off crew, you give the players the possibility of knocking the beast away from the ship and sailing away.

Tentacles are also great if they have enough reach to potentially threaten most of the ship.

More drama, and a dilema to choose: Give the beast tentacles some grab ability. Within a few rounds someone grabbed will suffer a tremendous bite attack (use the red shirts to demonstrate.) A successful hit on a tentacle will cause it to drop their juicy bite - but that's an action you're not using to free the ship or attack the monster's body.

Edit to add: it's been pointed out that long combats with solos can be repetitive. There are ways to keep solos more interesting: abilities that recharge (a tentacle beast might have an ink cloud like noxious ability perhaps) or that they do something different once bloodied (perhaps that ink blast).

Sounds awesome though. Tell us how it runs!

 

[Rechan]

Thanks Redbeard, but I really want to avoid tentacles. Too close to a Kraken for my tastes. I'd rather conjure the image of a sea serpent from the Far Realms, rather than "Ye Olde Colossal Squid"

 

[On Puget Sound]

Besides, if you have tentacles, you need schoolgirls on the boat too, and the MM doesn't have any stats for schoolgirls.

 

[jasonbostwick]

Besides, if you have tentacles, you need schoolgirls on the boat too, and the MM doesn't have any stats for schoolgirls.

Which is a shame, given that WotC have already produced a miniature for them .