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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)
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<blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 5023376" data-attributes="member: 2"><p>In that 4e one-shot ("The Caprian Foreign Legion Goes to Tea") I tried two skill challenge variants. The first involved the PCs desperately trying not to be buried alive in shifting sand. I used a 4 success/3 failure model at very hard DCs, but against limited skills (athletics, acrobatics, nature, dungeoneering, + more if the players could rationalize it.) Thing is, everyone had their own challenge. They could help one another if they chose, though; by sacrificing up to a -8 on their check, they could give half of those points to someone else. Thus as an example, the agile fighter once took -8 to give the gnome bard +4 on their check, pushing the bard out of the way of a collapsing dune (a success) but causing the fighter to be partially buried (a failure.) </p><p></p><p>This went really well, but a separate challenge for everyone meant that I had to move things fast. I went around the table each round, and noted down successes or failures on the heroes' initiative cards. The group worked together to help the people who had multiple failures, and described their actions really cinematically and entertainingly. If it had been more than a 4/3 challenge, though, it would have gone on for too long.</p><p></p><p>The other skill challenge was a chase against the bad guy. The PCs were on 3 flying carpets (2 people per carpet), and the bad guy was on one. The bad guy had a head start. I handled this by having the driver of each carpet make an acrobatics or arcana check as a full round action to steer the carpet at high speed; the second rider could roll an assist or make a ranged attack, and if the driver wanted to attack their movement results were halved. I recorded these skill check numbers for each carpet. The bad guy was going to be able to do something awful if he reached a total of 200 before the PCs caught up. He had a 50 pt head start, so the PCs were taking risky shortcuts to try and get additional bonuses on their rolls. </p><p></p><p>Example: At the start of the chase carpet #1 rolls an acrobatics skill check of 31, +2 for an assist, = 33. Carpet #2 rolls an 18, and the second rider casts a spell at the enemy. Carpet #3 rolls a 26 but wants both PCs on it to attack as a standard action instead of steer, so they get a 26/2=13. The bad guy rolls a 25 for his check, and he had a 50 point head start, so he's at 75. They better catch up before he hits 200!</p><p></p><p>I liked how this felt. It provided a method for chasing someone without using a tactical grid, gave real value to the PCs' choices (I might increase the "aid another" bonus next time so the 2nd PC's choice matters more), and let everyone try cinematic stunts like leaping from one carpet to another. A win all around.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Piratecat, post: 5023376, member: 2"] In that 4e one-shot ("The Caprian Foreign Legion Goes to Tea") I tried two skill challenge variants. The first involved the PCs desperately trying not to be buried alive in shifting sand. I used a 4 success/3 failure model at very hard DCs, but against limited skills (athletics, acrobatics, nature, dungeoneering, + more if the players could rationalize it.) Thing is, everyone had their own challenge. They could help one another if they chose, though; by sacrificing up to a -8 on their check, they could give half of those points to someone else. Thus as an example, the agile fighter once took -8 to give the gnome bard +4 on their check, pushing the bard out of the way of a collapsing dune (a success) but causing the fighter to be partially buried (a failure.) This went really well, but a separate challenge for everyone meant that I had to move things fast. I went around the table each round, and noted down successes or failures on the heroes' initiative cards. The group worked together to help the people who had multiple failures, and described their actions really cinematically and entertainingly. If it had been more than a 4/3 challenge, though, it would have gone on for too long. The other skill challenge was a chase against the bad guy. The PCs were on 3 flying carpets (2 people per carpet), and the bad guy was on one. The bad guy had a head start. I handled this by having the driver of each carpet make an acrobatics or arcana check as a full round action to steer the carpet at high speed; the second rider could roll an assist or make a ranged attack, and if the driver wanted to attack their movement results were halved. I recorded these skill check numbers for each carpet. The bad guy was going to be able to do something awful if he reached a total of 200 before the PCs caught up. He had a 50 pt head start, so the PCs were taking risky shortcuts to try and get additional bonuses on their rolls. Example: At the start of the chase carpet #1 rolls an acrobatics skill check of 31, +2 for an assist, = 33. Carpet #2 rolls an 18, and the second rider casts a spell at the enemy. Carpet #3 rolls a 26 but wants both PCs on it to attack as a standard action instead of steer, so they get a 26/2=13. The bad guy rolls a 25 for his check, and he had a 50 point head start, so he's at 75. They better catch up before he hits 200! I liked how this felt. It provided a method for chasing someone without using a tactical grid, gave real value to the PCs' choices (I might increase the "aid another" bonus next time so the 2nd PC's choice matters more), and let everyone try cinematic stunts like leaping from one carpet to another. A win all around. [/QUOTE]
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