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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5467555" data-attributes="member: 3820">I unfortunately don't have any typed-up examples of skill challenges to share, because I treat them, well, kinda like combats. Where a published adventure may show a tactical map with the starting positions of every monster denoted, I sketch something on the battlemat (often improvised) and place some monsters down in a pattern that looks interesting. Frequently when a challenge comes up that looks like it's best resolved with a pile of cumulative successes instead of a roll or two, I jot down some notes about what skills may provide easier target numbers and which would be more peripheral, and then make adjustments in-play as the challenge plays out. Someone made a critical Insight check? Okay, that'll lower an appropriate Bluff DC by about 5.(This isn't to say that I don't pre-plan a few, but often my notes will be something like "DC 18: Bluff, Dungeoneering, Diplomacy, Intimidate; DC 24 History, Arcana, Religion, Nature; DC 18 (secondary) Insight, Perception; 24+ Per roll detects smell of absinthe, opens Streetwise approach". Same as my notes on a planned encounter are frequently things like "L4 Battle-Sergeant, 2 L3 poleaxers, 2 L1 archers, 6 minions?", and then I dig out the appropriate index cards when the time comes to run the conflict.)The more important the skill challenge may be, though, the more skills can come into play. A lot of skill challenges favor one type of character: you know, like the ones where all the primary skills are Int-based, and the most anyone else can hope is to make a roll that gives someone else a +2, possibly at a much higher DC. To my mind such a challenge isn't fulfilling the primary design goal of getting everyone around the table involved. So if a skill challenge has dread consequences, I'd like there to be physical, social and mental ways to contribute in some meaningful fashion. It's really the counterpoint to the design goal that gives every class something interesting to do in a combat -- they should all have something interesting to do in an encounter that is as important as a combat.</blockquote>

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