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<blockquote data-quote="Badwe" data-source="post: 5384546" data-attributes="member: 61762">I have fallen into this trap, specifically with regards to navigating the wilderness, of underdescribing it and leaning too heavily on &quot;This is how many successes you have, this is how many failures&quot;.if you're a DM trying to do any kind of extended skill challenge, you want to make sure you have something completely unique to describe for EVERY single success.&nbsp; If you have the time, go so far as to describe a unique success for every skill, up to the number of times you're going to allow it in the skill check (obviously if the amount is infinite go back to the first described method).&nbsp; Additionally, some different kinds of mechanical benefits (+2 here, erase a failure, etc.) can be spread out across some of the successes.&nbsp; more importantly, you want a unique and meaningful setback for all 3 of the potential failed checks, as well as a penalty for 3 failed checks that still results in getting from point A to point B (ie: you find the hideout after being ambushed by the bandits).But yeah, even the most gamist PCs will get bored with just a flat count of successes.&nbsp; When I was doing a skill challenge of disabling a ring of magic candles fueling an arcane ritual, because some of my PCs had really high arcana checks i made the number of successes inversely proportional to the difficulty of the check, each candle magically disabled was then not able to keep it's brethren lit. harkening back to my first post though, this was in the middle of a combat, so each failure summoned a throng of minion devils.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Badwe, post: 5384546, member: 61762"] I have fallen into this trap, specifically with regards to navigating the wilderness, of underdescribing it and leaning too heavily on "This is how many successes you have, this is how many failures". if you're a DM trying to do any kind of extended skill challenge, you want to make sure you have something completely unique to describe for EVERY single success. If you have the time, go so far as to describe a unique success for every skill, up to the number of times you're going to allow it in the skill check (obviously if the amount is infinite go back to the first described method). Additionally, some different kinds of mechanical benefits (+2 here, erase a failure, etc.) can be spread out across some of the successes. more importantly, you want a unique and meaningful setback for all 3 of the potential failed checks, as well as a penalty for 3 failed checks that still results in getting from point A to point B (ie: you find the hideout after being ambushed by the bandits). But yeah, even the most gamist PCs will get bored with just a flat count of successes. When I was doing a skill challenge of disabling a ring of magic candles fueling an arcane ritual, because some of my PCs had really high arcana checks i made the number of successes inversely proportional to the difficulty of the check, each candle magically disabled was then not able to keep it's brethren lit. harkening back to my first post though, this was in the middle of a combat, so each failure summoned a throng of minion devils. [/QUOTE]

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