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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Camelot" data-source="post: 5064631" data-attributes="member: 82617">The Merchant's ChallengeThe characters volunteer to participate in a merchant's game. They have to perform various tasks, such as weight lifting, balancing, and even a quiz. Have the characters roll group checks for each challenge in order. If at least half of the group succeeds, it counts as a success. If more than half the group fails, it counts as a failure and they must try the group check again. Level 1 Skill Challenge (300 XP) Complexity: 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, Dungeoneering, History, Nature, Stealth, Thievery First Challenge, Athletics (DC 5, group check): The characters need to lift weights while an hourglass counts down for a minute. Second Challenge, Acrobatics (DC 5, group check): The characters put down the weights, but now they have to balance on them for a minute. Third Challenge, Stealth (DC 10, group check): The characters must tread carefully across a minefield of mousetraps without setting any of them off. Fourth Challenge, Thievery (DC 10, group check): The characters take turns trying to reach through a small enchanted ring to snatch a small object on the other side. If they touch the ring, an alarm blares and they fail. Fifth Challenge, History (DC 10, group check): The merchant asks a question about the history of your campaign setting. A good opportunity to develop flavorful background that might be important later in the story! Sixth Challenge, Nature (DC 10, group check): The merchant asks a question about a natural environment nearby the town the characters are currently in. A good opportunity to foreshadow what beasts the characters may encounter! Seventh Challenge, Dungeoneering (DC 15, group check): The merchant asks an obscure question about underground fungus. Eighth Challenge, Arcana (DC 15, group check): The merchant's last question is his hardest: an obscure fact in the obscure category of arcana. Best if foreshadows an important plot twist later on. Secondary Skills: Endurance, Streetwise Endurance (DC 15): Each time the characters fail one of the first four challenges, each of the characters who failed may make an Endurance check. On a success, their failure turns into a success, but if there are still more failures than successes after every character who failed has attempted an Endurance check, the group check still counts as a failure towards the challenge. Streetwise (DC 15): Each time the characters fail one of the last four challenges, each of the characters who failed may make a Streetwise check. On a success, their failure turns into a success, but if there are still more failures than successes after every character who failed has attempted a Streetwise check, the group check still counts as a failure towards the challenge. Success: If the characters achieve 8 successes, they have completed all of the merchant's challenges, and he awards them a minor wondrous item for free. Failure: If the characters accrue 3 failures, then the merchant ends the challenge immediately, apologizing to the characters and then continuing to advertize his wares. I used this challenge to start my campaign. It was a perfect excuse to introduce the characters to each other rather than a normal ambush-combat-you-all-fight-together-now-you're-friends scenario. I had the Nature question be about kobolds and the Arcana question be about dragons, since that's the direction my campaign is headed. The players found it fairly easy, only accruing one failure, but they seemed to really have fun! Therefore, it must have been good. =) I haven't seen any general ideas for skill challenges other than the standard success/failure and the Traveling through Suderham (or whatever it was called) in DMG2.  I'd be really interested to see any other structures that work!</blockquote>

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