Skill challenges

[Oompa]

That seems simple to me. Not every successful skill check during a skill challenge has to contribute to the challenge. A skill check to determine how much time they had left would tell them how much time they had, but it wouldn't move them any closer to actually rescuing the victim, so why should it could as a success to the challenge?

Think of it like combat. The PCs are free to do anything, but not everything they do, even they're successful, will directly contribute to winning the combat.

The rogue could cut down the chandelier in the middle of the room, right? He does this with a melee attack. Now, the orc in the room with 52 hit points still has 52 hit points, but now the square the chandelier fell in is difficult terrain. See what I'm getting at?

Yeah.. so i set an few major skills and if they do anything that wont continue the story it will not count as an succes or failure but can have consequences for later checks..

 

[Bagpuss]

Yeah the goal is to reach the woman, but how do you get there? How do you get her out? How much time do you have? Is she injured?

Right but that's what Aid Other is for.

Knowing how much time you have, doesn't actually progress getting her out of the house so it should not be a primary skill check for the challenge. It doesn't give a success to the skill challenge, but the character passes his check to realise the house is in imminent danger of collapse and that spurs the heroes to move faster through the building. Giving a +2 bonus to a check that is a primary skill for the task.

All primary skills for the task should progress the task a significant amount.

So you might say have the primary skills Thievery or Athletics could be used to open the door.

A clever character might suggest he could use Acrobatics to leap through a small window to achieve the same success. This counts towards the target of four success as it gets them into the building.

An character without what he thinks are any directly suitable skills uses a successful Streetwise to tell the rogue what model of lock is common in this area giving him +2 to the Thievery check. It doesn't count as a success toward the challenge but aids another character in there attempt. If the Streetwise check had failed it also would not have counted as a failure.

 

[CountPopeula]

Yeah.. so i set an few major skills and if they do anything that wont continue the story it will not count as an succes or failure but can have consequences for later checks..

Basically, yeah, the players either have to use the primary skills for the encounter, or create a convincing reason why, say, a history check will not only help them, but actually move the encounter forward.

I think the big problem with skill challenges is the only real example with a replay in the DMG is a social encounter, which would really never present the situation you described, of successes not moving the action forward or backwards. Skill challenges to determine scenes like yours basically need a flow chart showing what each success and failure actually means.

I think if there's one problem with the skill challenges it's that they're not fully developed yet, really. No one has seen the real potential they have yet.... and why should they, the game's only been out like a week.

 

[thalmin]

In a combat situation, the attacks and dice rolls for damage don't represent specific damage to the enemy. When he takes enough damage, he goes down. It's more abstract.

In a skill challenge, each success gets you closer to the goal (saving the woman). If player 1 makes a perception check to determine her location, on a success tell the player he entered the building and found a route getting him closer to her. On a failure they are totally cut off.

The skill challenge isn't to determine a plan to get her out, it is to actually save her.