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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 5202337" data-attributes="member: 386">How do your suggestions for balancing a fun skill challenge interact with player choice - especially their strategic/long-term choices?My thought is that, if you are constantly tailoring the skill challenge to fit these PCs at this time, the choices that the players make that lead into the skill challenge aren't as important.One of the reasons I was asking the question is because it leads to this: skill checks in skill challenges are not the same as skill checks outside of skill challenges.  A normal skill check resolves the action of the PC; in a skill challenge, it doesn't.  (Well, maybe; I'm not sure it ever says what a skill check resolves.)  What does it resolve?Skill checks usually count as successes or failures for the challenge, but sometimes a specific use of a certain skill in a challenge just provides a minor benefit or penalty. DMG page 76So it adds to the tally of successes or failures in the skill challenge.  Does it do anything else?  Apparently not!  We'll have to look elsewhere for that.The DMG2 has some better answers. 4a. Each skill check in a challenge should accomplish one of the following goals: <ul style="margin-left: 20px"> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Introduce a new option that the PCs can pursue, a path to success they didn't know existed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Change the situation, such as by sending the PCs to a new location, introducing a new NPC, or adding a complication.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Grant the players a tangible consequence for the check's success or failure (as appropriate), one that influences their subsequent decisions.</li> </ul> ...  In a good combat encounter, the situation constantly changes.  The same thing applies to skill challenges.  The best challenges are those that you can adjust as you react to the player's decisions. DMG2 page 83 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SKILLS Once you have a list of the skills you want to be relevant for the challenge, break them down into primary and secondary skills.  Aim for two or three secondary skills, with the rest primary.  Primary skills give the characters successes (and failures) toward the ultimate goal of the challenge.  Secondary skills don't always directly contribute to the group's success, but they can have other important effects.  For example, a successful check with a secondary skill can accomplish one of the following effects: <ul style="margin-left: 20px"> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cancel out a failure with another skill.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give one or more characters a bonus to a check with a primary skill.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Allow a character to reroll another skill check.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Open up the use of another skill in the challenge.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Increase the maximum number of successes that a primary skill can contribute to the party's total.</li> </ul> DMG2 page 85I could look at the Skill Challenge articles in Dungeon/Dragon.  Maybe later.One big thing jumps out at me: the action the character takes doesn't seem to have any affect on the outcome.Here's something to contrast it with:When you try to seize something by force, or to secure your hold on something, roll+hard. On a hit, choose options. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2: • you take definite hold of it • you suffer little harm • you inflict terrible harm • you impress, dismay or frighten your enemyThis tells us what the player does (describes the actions of the PC), when this mechanic comes into play ("seize something by force, or to secure your hold on something"), what mechanics to use ("roll+hard"), and the result of success or failure ("On a hit, choose options.")That one block of text tells us a lot about how to play the game.</blockquote>

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