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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 5698760" data-attributes="member: 20323">It depends on your setup; the idea that there is a one size fits all format for a &quot;skill challenge&quot; really doesn't reflect how these things run at the table.Btw DMG 2 does a much better job with skill challenges and gets into different ways to design them.Maybe it has more to do with the circumstances of the adventure/quest than the DM? I don't know, just throwing out the possibility.But you're right that the DMG's presentation of skill challenges is minimal, fairly unclear, and undeveloped. At least that seems to be the consensus in my group, my FLGS, and on ENWorld.Why in the narrative is repeating use of a skill impossible? Answer that question, then what you've proposed is a good solution.For the most part I've abandons secondary skills in skill challenges, for the same reason Aid Another is rarely used in combat. Players want to do cool stuff and get rewarded for it, and supporting an ally to look cool either is a side benefit or appeals only to a smaller segment of gamers.As far as how transparent your skill challenges are, that's subjective. I find that saying &quot;easy&quot; and &quot;hard&quot; (implying the corresponding level appropriate DCs from Rules Compendium) are good enough clues. More and more I find myself using medium DCs and only occasionally having outlier easy/hard checks. One interesting skill challenge I ran (a horseback chase/race) let the players decide how much risk they took (I.e. Define their own DCs) with corresponding level of reward. I actually liked that because it drew the players a little more intothe narrative while making the rules (mostly) transparent.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 5698760, member: 20323"] It depends on your setup; the idea that there is a one size fits all format for a "skill challenge" really doesn't reflect how these things run at the table. Btw DMG 2 does a much better job with skill challenges and gets into different ways to design them. Maybe it has more to do with the circumstances of the adventure/quest than the DM? I don't know, just throwing out the possibility. But you're right that the DMG's presentation of skill challenges is minimal, fairly unclear, and undeveloped. At least that seems to be the consensus in my group, my FLGS, and on ENWorld. Why in the narrative is repeating use of a skill impossible? Answer that question, then what you've proposed is a good solution. For the most part I've abandons secondary skills in skill challenges, for the same reason Aid Another is rarely used in combat. Players want to do cool stuff and get rewarded for it, and supporting an ally to look cool either is a side benefit or appeals only to a smaller segment of gamers. As far as how transparent your skill challenges are, that's subjective. I find that saying "easy" and "hard" (implying the corresponding level appropriate DCs from Rules Compendium) are good enough clues. More and more I find myself using medium DCs and only occasionally having outlier easy/hard checks. One interesting skill challenge I ran (a horseback chase/race) let the players decide how much risk they took (I.e. Define their own DCs) with corresponding level of reward. I actually liked that because it drew the players a little more intothe narrative while making the rules (mostly) transparent. [/QUOTE]

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