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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6177950" data-attributes="member: 42582">The parameters that shape D&D combat - hit points, position, method of attack, etc - are first and foremost mechanical. While they do have meaning in the fiction ("Hey, I'm over here!" "Whoa, did you see how hard that thing hits?"), in combat resolution that is generally subordinate to their mechanical significance.In a skill challenge, as presented in 4e and modelled on comparable mechanics from other RPGs, the decisions that the players take are not primarily mechanical. They are primarily decisions that change the fiction. These changes in the fiction then open up new options. So, for instance, if I say something polite to the duke, and he accepts my compliment, then I can now ask for an alliance. Whereas if I say something fierce to the duke, and he is shaken by that, then I can now demand his aid. Resolving a skill challenge is about the interplay between the GM's narration of new fictional circumstances in response to successful or failed checks, and the players leveraging those new fictional circumstances in the directions that they want. The logic is that of story and genre, not mechanics and tactics.That's also how a GM stops spamming (if s/he is so inclined): you frame the fiction so that the player can only get what s/he wants by having his/her PC try something different.That's exactly what a skill challenge is. But the change isn't (generally) a change in mechanical circumstances like it would be in combat - for instance, "I'm now two squares away and so the ogre won't get OAs when I use a ranged attack against it - cool, I draw my bow").Rather, it's a change in narrative/fictional circumstances, which then allows use of a different option. For instance, "Cool - you've got the duke to agree that he's a man of action, not just a man of words. I'm going to show him that I'm a man of action, too - I thump my mug on the table and leap to my feet, flexing my muscles and yelling "Now is the time to sally forth!". That's the sort of play in a skill challenge that lets the fighter use Athletics to succeed in persuading the duke to support the party in its fight against the goblins.I don't think those skill challenges are being run strictly as presented in the 4e DMG. They don't seem to be adhering to the instructions on p 74:You describe the environment, listen to the players’ responses, let them make their skill checks, and narrate the results.In paticular, the narration of the results to feed into subsequent checks seems to have been missed out.</blockquote>

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