Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paul Strack" data-source="post: 4884476" data-attributes="member: 71340">Here is how I ran a physical skill challenge in my last game session.The PCs were in a village gathering information when their enemies, a group of ogres, hurled flaming barrels of tar into the center of town. This set various buildings on fire and the PCs had to save the villagers and put out the fires.I told the players up front what skills were relevant to the challenge (Athletics, Acrobatics and Endurance). I then had them each make an ability check to determine who went first. After that I just went clockwise around the table.On each player's turn, I asked them what they were doing. After they talked for a bit, I had them roll an appropriate skill check based on their "action". Several of the players attempted an out-of-challenge, which (per the rules) I allow, but only once per challenge and at the higher difficulty. I put out glass beads with each success or failure so the players have a visual representation of their progress.When the players are successful, I have *them* describe what happens, sometimes with my own elaborations if they get stuck. I usually describe their failures myself, but I try not to make their characters look stupid when they roll poorly.For example, our dragonborn tried so smash his way into a burning building, which I decided called for an Endurance check. When he blew the roll, I said that there was a rush of smoke that kept him for getting close enough, as opposed to having him fall on his face or doing something silly.I find that this approach encourages a lot of creativity in my players. The wizard raised the water levels of a nearby stream to drown out the flames, the warlord started a bucket chain and the rogue was climbing up buildings to pull people out. The challenge ended with the rogue making a dramatic acrobatics roll to pull the mayor out of the way of a collapsing building. That was all the players' inventions, none of mine.</blockquote>

Verification