ComputerSherpa
First Post
Howdy folks! For our last session, my DM came up with an extremely well-done skill challenge which I secured permission to post for y'all's edification. We found it to be extremely well-balanced and to do a very good job of simulating the task of fighting our way into this troll warren and confronting its monarch. One thing I especially liked was the way it let us use combat abilities as part of the skill challenge--this let us squirm our way out of a very tight spot at the end of the challenge at the cost of not being able to use the expended encounters and dailies during the combat encounter which followed.
The backstory is that the adventurers are helping one troll king (Vendul) assassinate his brother, another troll king (Skalmad), by leading Vendul's forces in a diversionary attack on Skalmad's forces. The adventurers wipe out all of the garrisoning forces in Skalmad's Thrall Pit, fight their way through the tunnels to his throne room (planting magical fast-growing brambles behind them to choke the tunnels and cut off reinforcements), and then hold off Skalmad's forces in the throne room long enough for Vendul to arrive with reinforcements. We beat the first two challenges without undue difficulty but failed the first two rolls of the last skill challenge, which led to quite a bit of tension. Anyway, here it is for anyone who wants it:
[FONT="]F[/FONT]ellbane’s assault on the Great Warren, and the battle for supremacy between Vendull and his brother Skalmad, will be a great tale for Bards and poets throughout the Bannerlands…
[FONT="]The Skill Challenge[/FONT]
The Twin Kings Skill Challenge Encounter is comprised of three Level 2 complexity challenges (6 successes before 3 failures). They must be completed in order and successes and failures matter for the next challenge. Although there are three challenges, they are all considered part of one encounter. For full experience point credit, each player should make at least one primary skill check during any one of the three challenges!
[FONT="]CHALLENGE ONE: AERIAL ASSAULT[/FONT]
Accompanied by two Cudgel Trolls, 10 Hobgoblins, and the witches Vlea and Thiln, you rappel in from the great sinkhole above the warren’s thrall pit and battle your way past a Cave Troll Mangler, a Venom-Eye Basilisk, and three Fanged Trolls!
Primary Skills: Athletics (for rappelling – limited to 1 check), Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception (All checks are Hard DC: 25). A member of Fellbane with at least one area, at-will attack can use Arcana instead of Perception (limited to 2 checks). A successful skill check gives you +1 bonus (cumulative) to the next primary check and means you have succeeded in directing Vendul’s forces, driving back or terrorizing Skalmad’s minions in the thrall pit, and keeping everyone alive! A failed check gives you -2 penalty (cumulative) to the next primary check.
Secondary Skills: There are no secondary skills in this challenge, but you can make attacks against the enemies. Choose an enemy and attack! A successful at-will attack adds +1 bonus to the primary skill check, a successful encounter attack adds +3 bonus to the primary skill check, and a successful daily attack adds +5 bonus to the primary check. Any failed attack gives a -1 penalty to the primary skill check.
As a party, you get one Aid Another attempt for the Aerial Assault skill challenge.
Success: If you succeed at this skill challenge, Fellbane gains a +1 permanent bonus to the primary skill checks in the next two challenges. You also gain treasure from your defeated foes.
Failure: If you fail at this skill challenge, you still battle you way through Skalmad’s minions, but lose some of Vendull’s forces, take a -2 permanent penalty to the primary skill checks in the next two challenges, and each member of Fellbane loses a healing surge. In order to guarantee that at least one of the survivors is either Vlea or Thiln (they’re important to the next challenge), any member of Fellbane may spend a daily power and a healing surge. If you failed without garnering at least four successes, each member of Fellbane loses an additional healing surge and the party loses a daily use of a magic item (player chosen by party).
[FONT="]CHALLENGE TWO: THE GAUNTLET[/FONT]
Accompanied by whatever forces remained alive from the aerial assault, you sneak,and/or battle your way through the Great Warren en route to Skalmad’s throne room, seeding the Blightborn Demonthorns and Blightborn Thorn Blights!
Note: the primary skill check suffers a -5 penalty if neither Vlea nor Thiln survived the first challenge.
Primary Skills: Stealth, Endurance, Dungeoneering (Hard DC: 25). A successful skill check gives you +1 bonus (cumulative) to the next primary check and means you have succeeded in planting Blightborns and moving through the tunnels! A failed check gives you -1 penalty (cumulative) to the next primary check.
Secondary Skills: Heal (Moderate DC: 21), Nature (For helping seed Blightborns - Moderate DC: 21), Perception (Moderate DC: 21), Bluff (Hard DC: 25). By either healing the wounded (both your party and Vendull’s force), finding the best route to take, helping one of the witches seed Blightborns, or bluffing past Skalmad’s minions, you keep your assault force moving! With a successful check, the primary skill check gains a +1 bonus. If you fail any one of the secondary skill checks twice (i.e., fail Bluff twice), you’ve locked out that secondary skill.
As a party, you get one Aid Another attempt for the Gauntlet skill challenge.
Success: If you succeed at this skill challenge, you arrive in Skalmad’s throne room and gain +1 permanent bonus to the primary skill checks in the next challenge!
Failure: If you fail at this skill challenge, you still battle your way through Skalmad’s minions, but lose some more of Vendull’s forces, take a -2 permanent penalty to the primary skill checks in the next challenge, and each member of Fellbane loses a healing surge. If you failed without garnering at least four successes, each member of Fellbane loses an additional healing surge and the party loses a daily use of a magic item (player chosen by party). If you failed without garnering at least two successes, you’re briefly lost in the Warrens and face a combat encounter…
[FONT="]CHALLENGE THREE: BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER[/FONT]
Accompanied by whatever forces remained alive from your race through the Great Warren, and protected by the flanking maneuvers of the Blightborn, you run into Skalmad’s throne room, where you have to battle Skalmad, two Drow warriors, two Warren Trolls, a Cave Troll Manger, and a Troll Bloodchanter until Vendull arrives!
Primary Skills: Endurance (Hard DC: 25). A successful skill check means you have rallied and aided Vendull’s forces under your command as you wait for Vendull to arrive.
Secondary Skills: Heal (Moderate DC: 21), Religion (Moderate DC: 21 – limited to 1 check). By healing the wounded (both your party and Vendull’s forces) and focusing some fire on the Troll Bloodchanter, you hold the line! With a successful check, the primary skill check gains a +1 bonus.
Attack! Choose an enemy and attack! A successful at-will attack adds +1 bonus to the primary skill check, a successful encounter attack adds +3 bonus to the primary skill check, and a successful daily attack adds +5 bonus to the primary skill check. Any failed attack gives a -1 penalty to the primary skill check. If the attack is against either Skalmad or the Bloodchanter (or even Vendull, when he arrives), assess damage as normal – this damage will not regenerate until the skill challenge is over.
Success: If you succeed at this skill challenge, you are left in the throne room with Vendull and Skalmad battling! Vendull has with him his Dire Bear, KDL, the Vinespeaker…and you! Skalmad has with him a Cave Troll Mangler, a Drow warrior, and the Bloodchanter. Your presence and aid has emboldened Vendull, and he gains a bonus to both hit and damage as long as you fight with him. All of your further attacks gain +1 bonus to hit, Skalmad and his allies suffer a -1 penalty to hit, and the Blightborn blocking the tunnels prevent Skalmad’s reinforcements from arriving.
Failure: If you fail at this skill challenge, you are still left in the throne room with Vendull and Skalmad battling, but the odds are a bit different. Vendull has with him his Dire Bear, KDL…and you! Skalmad has with him a Cave Troll Mangler, two Drow Warriors, a Warren Troll, and the Bloodchanter. All of your further attacks suffer a -1 penalty to hit, while Skalmad and his allies gain a +1 bonus to hit…and reinforcements will arrive! Each member of Fellbane also loses a healing surge. If you failed without garnering at least four successes, each member of Fellbane loses an additional healing surge and the party loses a daily use of a magic item (chosen by party).
The backstory is that the adventurers are helping one troll king (Vendul) assassinate his brother, another troll king (Skalmad), by leading Vendul's forces in a diversionary attack on Skalmad's forces. The adventurers wipe out all of the garrisoning forces in Skalmad's Thrall Pit, fight their way through the tunnels to his throne room (planting magical fast-growing brambles behind them to choke the tunnels and cut off reinforcements), and then hold off Skalmad's forces in the throne room long enough for Vendul to arrive with reinforcements. We beat the first two challenges without undue difficulty but failed the first two rolls of the last skill challenge, which led to quite a bit of tension. Anyway, here it is for anyone who wants it:
[FONT="]THE TWIN KINGS
[/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Skill Challenge[/FONT]
The Twin Kings Skill Challenge Encounter is comprised of three Level 2 complexity challenges (6 successes before 3 failures). They must be completed in order and successes and failures matter for the next challenge. Although there are three challenges, they are all considered part of one encounter. For full experience point credit, each player should make at least one primary skill check during any one of the three challenges!
[FONT="]CHALLENGE ONE: AERIAL ASSAULT[/FONT]
Accompanied by two Cudgel Trolls, 10 Hobgoblins, and the witches Vlea and Thiln, you rappel in from the great sinkhole above the warren’s thrall pit and battle your way past a Cave Troll Mangler, a Venom-Eye Basilisk, and three Fanged Trolls!
Primary Skills: Athletics (for rappelling – limited to 1 check), Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception (All checks are Hard DC: 25). A member of Fellbane with at least one area, at-will attack can use Arcana instead of Perception (limited to 2 checks). A successful skill check gives you +1 bonus (cumulative) to the next primary check and means you have succeeded in directing Vendul’s forces, driving back or terrorizing Skalmad’s minions in the thrall pit, and keeping everyone alive! A failed check gives you -2 penalty (cumulative) to the next primary check.
Secondary Skills: There are no secondary skills in this challenge, but you can make attacks against the enemies. Choose an enemy and attack! A successful at-will attack adds +1 bonus to the primary skill check, a successful encounter attack adds +3 bonus to the primary skill check, and a successful daily attack adds +5 bonus to the primary check. Any failed attack gives a -1 penalty to the primary skill check.
As a party, you get one Aid Another attempt for the Aerial Assault skill challenge.
Success: If you succeed at this skill challenge, Fellbane gains a +1 permanent bonus to the primary skill checks in the next two challenges. You also gain treasure from your defeated foes.
Failure: If you fail at this skill challenge, you still battle you way through Skalmad’s minions, but lose some of Vendull’s forces, take a -2 permanent penalty to the primary skill checks in the next two challenges, and each member of Fellbane loses a healing surge. In order to guarantee that at least one of the survivors is either Vlea or Thiln (they’re important to the next challenge), any member of Fellbane may spend a daily power and a healing surge. If you failed without garnering at least four successes, each member of Fellbane loses an additional healing surge and the party loses a daily use of a magic item (player chosen by party).
[FONT="]CHALLENGE TWO: THE GAUNTLET[/FONT]
Accompanied by whatever forces remained alive from the aerial assault, you sneak,and/or battle your way through the Great Warren en route to Skalmad’s throne room, seeding the Blightborn Demonthorns and Blightborn Thorn Blights!
Note: the primary skill check suffers a -5 penalty if neither Vlea nor Thiln survived the first challenge.
Primary Skills: Stealth, Endurance, Dungeoneering (Hard DC: 25). A successful skill check gives you +1 bonus (cumulative) to the next primary check and means you have succeeded in planting Blightborns and moving through the tunnels! A failed check gives you -1 penalty (cumulative) to the next primary check.
Secondary Skills: Heal (Moderate DC: 21), Nature (For helping seed Blightborns - Moderate DC: 21), Perception (Moderate DC: 21), Bluff (Hard DC: 25). By either healing the wounded (both your party and Vendull’s force), finding the best route to take, helping one of the witches seed Blightborns, or bluffing past Skalmad’s minions, you keep your assault force moving! With a successful check, the primary skill check gains a +1 bonus. If you fail any one of the secondary skill checks twice (i.e., fail Bluff twice), you’ve locked out that secondary skill.
As a party, you get one Aid Another attempt for the Gauntlet skill challenge.
Success: If you succeed at this skill challenge, you arrive in Skalmad’s throne room and gain +1 permanent bonus to the primary skill checks in the next challenge!
Failure: If you fail at this skill challenge, you still battle your way through Skalmad’s minions, but lose some more of Vendull’s forces, take a -2 permanent penalty to the primary skill checks in the next challenge, and each member of Fellbane loses a healing surge. If you failed without garnering at least four successes, each member of Fellbane loses an additional healing surge and the party loses a daily use of a magic item (player chosen by party). If you failed without garnering at least two successes, you’re briefly lost in the Warrens and face a combat encounter…
[FONT="]CHALLENGE THREE: BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER[/FONT]
Accompanied by whatever forces remained alive from your race through the Great Warren, and protected by the flanking maneuvers of the Blightborn, you run into Skalmad’s throne room, where you have to battle Skalmad, two Drow warriors, two Warren Trolls, a Cave Troll Manger, and a Troll Bloodchanter until Vendull arrives!
Primary Skills: Endurance (Hard DC: 25). A successful skill check means you have rallied and aided Vendull’s forces under your command as you wait for Vendull to arrive.
Secondary Skills: Heal (Moderate DC: 21), Religion (Moderate DC: 21 – limited to 1 check). By healing the wounded (both your party and Vendull’s forces) and focusing some fire on the Troll Bloodchanter, you hold the line! With a successful check, the primary skill check gains a +1 bonus.
Attack! Choose an enemy and attack! A successful at-will attack adds +1 bonus to the primary skill check, a successful encounter attack adds +3 bonus to the primary skill check, and a successful daily attack adds +5 bonus to the primary skill check. Any failed attack gives a -1 penalty to the primary skill check. If the attack is against either Skalmad or the Bloodchanter (or even Vendull, when he arrives), assess damage as normal – this damage will not regenerate until the skill challenge is over.
Success: If you succeed at this skill challenge, you are left in the throne room with Vendull and Skalmad battling! Vendull has with him his Dire Bear, KDL, the Vinespeaker…and you! Skalmad has with him a Cave Troll Mangler, a Drow warrior, and the Bloodchanter. Your presence and aid has emboldened Vendull, and he gains a bonus to both hit and damage as long as you fight with him. All of your further attacks gain +1 bonus to hit, Skalmad and his allies suffer a -1 penalty to hit, and the Blightborn blocking the tunnels prevent Skalmad’s reinforcements from arriving.
Failure: If you fail at this skill challenge, you are still left in the throne room with Vendull and Skalmad battling, but the odds are a bit different. Vendull has with him his Dire Bear, KDL…and you! Skalmad has with him a Cave Troll Mangler, two Drow Warriors, a Warren Troll, and the Bloodchanter. All of your further attacks suffer a -1 penalty to hit, while Skalmad and his allies gain a +1 bonus to hit…and reinforcements will arrive! Each member of Fellbane also loses a healing surge. If you failed without garnering at least four successes, each member of Fellbane loses an additional healing surge and the party loses a daily use of a magic item (chosen by party).
