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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wedgeski" data-source="post: 5468691" data-attributes="member: 16212">I like to make mundane skill challenges (such as "cross the swamp with the minimum of fuss") more interesting through the use of quirky penalties for failure, for example:First failure: the company ventures hopelessly off track, losing sight of landmarks and applying a -2 penalty to all skill checks until the next success.Second failure: the PC's fail to recognise they have entered the sacred grounds of the marshbogpeatmud tribe. They attract a marsh spirit, which will haunt them (randomly attack/scream out their location/attract vermin/whatever) until it is appeased.Third failure: the PC's emerge from the swamp at pretty much the point they went in, much to the derision of those who saw them to the fringe of the marsh.Other than that the main benefit for me, as a DM, in designing skill challenges is that they force me to build interesting skill synergies into the encounter, which I can then have fun hinting at during the narrative.Longer SC's must also be punctuated with events which might change the nature of the challenge completely (e.g. "After a second successful Nature check, the party realises that the rain which has been following them is anything but natural."), giving other members of the party than the survival expert a chance to shine.These events can easily be entire encounters in themselves (e.g. the party encounters a group of bandits who have deliberately tampered with markers mentioned on their map in order to lead them astray), and can also lead to other interesting branches in the challenge (e.g. "if the party makes three successes before any failures, they realise something is suspicious about the placement of the landmarks they've been told to find.")But yes, a task which allowed those trained in Nature to simply make six rolls and "win" is the worst kind of Skill Challenge. Unfortunately for all of us that's exactly the kind of design that the DMG1 and early adventures propagated (but which was mostly expunged by Mearls and subsequently in the DMG2).No doubt about it, creating a rich, textured, and engrossing skill challenge is every bit an art as creating a memorable combat encounter.</blockquote>

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