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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6279697" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I figured I'd relay this recent Skill Challenge that came to be in my current home game that was somewhat riffed off of the "Adjure" Ritual.  There is another that took place with the Rogue (Darklord) in my game where he is gathering/recruiting a Shadow Army (Army of Darkness?) for the coming invasion of the Abyss but I will include later.  However, it works off the exact same archetecture as the one detailed below:This one was initiated by the player of the Druid, a Ritual Caster, in my level 28 home game.  She wanted to perform a "Spiritual Sojourn" and commune with the Elder Spirits.  In order for her to cross over into the spirit realm, she had to spend 1/10 the cost of a magic item of her level.  Within the fiction this was the expenditure of the material components required to enter the trance necessary to invoke the gatekeeper of the "Gate of Dreams", the Great Elder Spirit "The Soul Serpent." He admits worthy spirits into the spirit realm where they may commune with the other Great Elder Spirits.  The legend of the Great Elder Spirits are briefly outlined in 4e's Primal Power.  Very good book.So:1)  She enters her trance to transcend her mortal form which involves the 1/10 cost of a 28th level (her level) item.2)  We roleplay the meeting with the gatekeeper to the Gate of Dreams. The Soul Serpent tells her of the difficulty and dangers of what is to come (such as a fall in the spirit world will hurt her body in the mortal world - eg Healing Surge loss), etc, etc.  She accepts the risk and the spirit admits her.3)  She engaged in a series of thematic trials with each of the Great Elder Spirits that she invokes.  She is seeking a boon and some information that she may act upon in the Abyssal conflict to come.  More than anything, she is seeking the means to transport herself and the Rogue to The Abyss and reunite with their companion (the Bladesinger who willingly entered Juiblex's domain in a fight to the death in order to save the Paladin NPC after the Bladesinger failed the exorcism ritual).  As outlined above, the Skill Challenge was somewhat riffed off of the Skill Challenge that takes place in the "Adjure" Ritual.  Each of these trials would be a nested challenge that could (at the player's request) include a Secondary Skill Check (at the Easy DC) to augment (or hinder on a failure) a Primary Skill Check (at the Hard DC) that would dictate the outcome of the trial with the specific Great Elder Spirit.  Except for the success with the Fate Weaver, each success in these nested challenges earned her a + 3 (Consumable - No Action) untyped bonus that she could invoke as an open-descriptor resource when taking any action that that is thematically relevant to the trial with the respective Elder Spirit.  The legend of the Fate Weaver (or Grandmother Spider) is that she spun the web that bound all of the planes together.  As such, success in  her trial earned the Druid a magical strand of (Consumable) spirit world silk that would allow the Druid and Rogue to transcend their corporeal form, transverse the silken web that binds the planes, locate the pathway to their companion in the Abyss, enter and assume their corporeal form.  The way back would have to be of the PCs' own devising.  Each failure (such as falling on an unclimbable mountain in the midst of an earthquake, being the hunted rather than the hunter and ultimately consumed, and losing a reincarnated battle) of the nested trials would accrue a failure in the challenge, abruptly end the trial and start the next trial as if waking from one dream to the next, and would cost the Druid a Healing Surge.  Upon 3 failed nested challenges, the communion would end abruptly and she would be shunted back into the mortal realm and lose 2 Healing Surges.  4)  What transpired is:4a)  She succeeded at her trial with Fate Weaver by unraveling her mysteries and riddles.  This earned her the afformentioned spirit silk to transit to the Abyss.4b)  She failed at her trial with The Monster Slayers when she lost the reincarnated battle of when the demonic incursion ocurred orginally and the Slayers beat them back.  Healing Surge loss.4c)  She succeeded at her trial with Stormhawk, who fought in the initial battle witht he Gods and Primordials, for possessing the wisdom and instinct to come in peace but the resolve to end conflict with decisive fury when the enemy will not accept your offer.  She earned a + 3, open-descriptor consumable relevant to this trial (as above).4d)  She succeeded at her trial with The Deep Winds by successfully navigating the dark, endlessly winding corridors of the underworld.  She earned a + 3, open-descriptor consumable relevant to this trial (as above).4e)  She failed at her trial with The Primal Beast when she turned out to be the hunted rather than the hunter and was ultimately consumed.  Healing Surge loss.4f)  She succeeded at her trial with The World Tree when she displayed how all things are connected in the natural world, death and life, civilization and wilderness.  She earned a + 3, open-descriptor consumable relevant to this trial (as above).4g)  She succeeded at her trial with The World Healer when she provided food, sustenance and healing for a war-ravaged world (people, flora, fauna), as The World Healer did after The Dawn War.  She earned a + 3, open-descriptor consumable relevant to this trial (as above).4h)  She  failed at her trial with Stoneroot after failing to climb a nigh-unclimbable mountain in the midst of an earthquake.  The fall from the mountain cost her 2 Healing Surges and ended her Spiritual Sojourn as her spirit was shunted back into her corporeal body in the mortal realm.  This is 4 Healing Surges total worth of damage (effectively her HP pool) so, in the fiction, the trials almost claimed her life.  The trusted NPC that watched over her during this transit nurses her back to health in the coming day.I like the Adjure Ritual and I found that this usage of the Skill Challenge framework did a good job in handling this sort of conflict and its output/fallout (and the "gather an army" conflict by the Darklord as well).</blockquote>

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