Revised Skill Challenge System
On the thread entitled “Skill Challenge Success Calculator”, baudot provides a great idea for reworking the Skill Challenge rules. Here is my write up of his idea.
Forgiving Failures: In order to compensate for the mathematical problems of skill challenges in the RAW, this house rule includes ways to forgive a number of failures. The number of failures forgiven should equal the complexity level plus one. If one assumes that a character has a 50% chance to succeed in earning a forgiven failure, the skill challenge should provide a number of opportunities equal to twice the number of forgiven failures stated above.
Methods of Earning Forgiven Failures
Action Points: This will negate a failure and allow the challenge to proceed as if the failure had never occurred. The character falls but bounces back up again never having broken stride, the character’s social gaffe is explained by a clever follow up diverting the listener from the ill-advised words, the ranger realizes quickly that he has taken the wrong path and retraces his steps….
Critical Success: The roll of a 20 on a skill challenge allows the roller to choose to count the roll as a success and to forgive one past failure. If there have been no past failures, it counts as two successes.
Improvisational Method: Creative use of a secondary skill by a player can lead to a check that, if successful, forgives a failure.
Imbedded Method: Skill Challenges should be designed with opportunities for forgiving failures. For example, the wizard cannot find the right book in the library, but a Diplomacy check reveals that there is a secret room of additional books and scrolls not available to most patrons. The wizard may try again. The character fails an Athletic check while running after a thief, but the Perception check of a colleague allows a warning to be shouted before he collides with an NPC. The character bumps into the person, stumbles, but keeps moving. I think of these as "immediate interrupts" by the player with the highest skill modifier in the designated skill.
Number of Imbedded Forgiven Failures to Create: Assume that on average a party will use one action point for every level of complexity of the skill challenge. Estimate that a twenty will be rolled 50% of the time in skill challenges of levels one, two, and three and 100% of the time in skill challenges of levels four and five. Regarding improvisational opportunities, be flexible but generally do not allow this method to produce more than one forgiven failure per two levels of complexity of the challenge. Thus, the number of imbedded opportunities for forgiven failures depends on the complexity of the skill challenge, and a general guideline is for the DM to create two to three imbedded opportunities for skill challenges of levels one, two, and three and three to four opportunities for skill
challenges of levels four and five.
What do folks think? I like the skill system idea but agree the math is broken. A totally different system might be better, but I am trying to find something that tweaks the existing rules.
On the thread entitled “Skill Challenge Success Calculator”, baudot provides a great idea for reworking the Skill Challenge rules. Here is my write up of his idea.
Forgiving Failures: In order to compensate for the mathematical problems of skill challenges in the RAW, this house rule includes ways to forgive a number of failures. The number of failures forgiven should equal the complexity level plus one. If one assumes that a character has a 50% chance to succeed in earning a forgiven failure, the skill challenge should provide a number of opportunities equal to twice the number of forgiven failures stated above.
Methods of Earning Forgiven Failures
Action Points: This will negate a failure and allow the challenge to proceed as if the failure had never occurred. The character falls but bounces back up again never having broken stride, the character’s social gaffe is explained by a clever follow up diverting the listener from the ill-advised words, the ranger realizes quickly that he has taken the wrong path and retraces his steps….
Critical Success: The roll of a 20 on a skill challenge allows the roller to choose to count the roll as a success and to forgive one past failure. If there have been no past failures, it counts as two successes.
Improvisational Method: Creative use of a secondary skill by a player can lead to a check that, if successful, forgives a failure.
Imbedded Method: Skill Challenges should be designed with opportunities for forgiving failures. For example, the wizard cannot find the right book in the library, but a Diplomacy check reveals that there is a secret room of additional books and scrolls not available to most patrons. The wizard may try again. The character fails an Athletic check while running after a thief, but the Perception check of a colleague allows a warning to be shouted before he collides with an NPC. The character bumps into the person, stumbles, but keeps moving. I think of these as "immediate interrupts" by the player with the highest skill modifier in the designated skill.
Number of Imbedded Forgiven Failures to Create: Assume that on average a party will use one action point for every level of complexity of the skill challenge. Estimate that a twenty will be rolled 50% of the time in skill challenges of levels one, two, and three and 100% of the time in skill challenges of levels four and five. Regarding improvisational opportunities, be flexible but generally do not allow this method to produce more than one forgiven failure per two levels of complexity of the challenge. Thus, the number of imbedded opportunities for forgiven failures depends on the complexity of the skill challenge, and a general guideline is for the DM to create two to three imbedded opportunities for skill challenges of levels one, two, and three and three to four opportunities for skill
challenges of levels four and five.
What do folks think? I like the skill system idea but agree the math is broken. A totally different system might be better, but I am trying to find something that tweaks the existing rules.
