Stalker0's Alternate Core Skill Challenge System: FINAL VERSION 1.8!

[Stalker0]

Just a quick question. So the "Tags" are gone right? Guiding Light and Bold Recovery should be useable on every check? Simplifies things.

Also, I think the "problem" of a weak skill user is really a problem of Challenge design. I think a challenge needs as many Allowed skills as possible with varied Ability bases. All physical, mental, or charisma based challenges will tend to leave one or more player out.

If the tags confused you before I apologize. Even in Ver 1.7 you could use bold recovery and guiding light on every check, except bold recovery could only be used during the time or trials.

The helpful tag just gives you an extra benefit when using Guiding Light, and Daring when using heroic surge and bold recovery.

 

[IvanHo]

I made a somewhat more printable version of the system (still not pretty, but I managed to fit it on a single page and there's less black).

I placed the bold and daring tag info in the setting up skills section.

IvanHo, back to lurking....

 

[Stalker0]

I made a somewhat more printable version of the system (still not pretty, but I managed to fit it on a single page and there's less black).

I placed the bold and daring tag info in the setting up skills section.

IvanHo, back to lurking....

Very nice! I especially like the sideways tables, they are clean and easy to read.

You didn't mention anything about secondary skills though.

 

[Hawke]

The PDF looks nice - one sheet with the info I need as a DM to run it. Overall from a player standpoint they just need to learn what Guiding Light is / does and that they can use a healing surge. Once it gets to the Time of Trials you can give them more info, but just those two bits shouldn't require them to learn a million new things but jump into the challenge.

I'd suggest running extremely forgiving / easy challenges the first few for your players to give them an idea on how the system works and some of the things they can do with it before trying to destroy them. We always run 2-3 easier combat encounters in a very forgiving way that are setup to show major combat elements before we jump into the game. Considering you'll have maybe 1 skill challenge for every 10 encounters (random guess, will vary) it's almost that much more important they know how it's going to work so when you get to that do-or-die moment where it really matters it isn't the first time they're picking their guiding light and making a choice to use a surge or not.

Stalker0, thanks for the great info. IvanHo, thanks for the pdf.

 

[Hawke]

The Skill DC lists as "Easy - Med - High," would consistent language sound better? Easy/Medium/Hard or Low/Med/High?

I think the standard is to use Hard instead of High, though I don't have my books in front of me.

 

[Verequus]

Stalker0, reading through your first two posts I got confused a bit. I first thought that the low DC was missing, but then I discovered it being using by Guiding Light. The way you described it, I expected that a normal roll for success or failure has been given a low DC, not that the low DC belongs only to some new mechanic.

Then the unlocking of new skills isn't mentioned at all. It has to be inferred by the example. Can you give your text another round to look for missing rules? Otherwise your system looks good - I will use it, if I get the chance.

 

[osmanb]

I actually have some similar questions, with regards to the tags in the example. There is no explicit description of those in the rules. All of them make the challenge easier for the players. How much easier? I know that the system is designed to be very robust and tolerant of different parties at this point, but were the simulations done with some assumption about the skills and tags? (eg, there is always one daring skill?).

 

[gonesailing]

Stalker0, reading through your first two posts I got confused a bit. I first thought that the low DC was missing, but then I discovered it being using by Guiding Light. The way you described it, I expected that a normal roll for success or failure has been given a low DC, not that the low DC belongs only to some new mechanic.

Then the unlocking of new skills isn't mentioned at all. It has to be inferred by the example. Can you give your text another round to look for missing rules? Otherwise your system looks good - I will use it, if I get the chance.

The text is a little unclear in some points, but Stalker0 has done the really hard work(math). I am trying use my limited English skills to whip up some better documentation for him to approve but in the meantime read the excellent PDF that IvanH0 attached to his post here
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=4298314&postcount=62

 

[Stalker0]

Stalker0, reading through your first two posts I got confused a bit. I first thought that the low DC was missing, but then I discovered it being using by Guiding Light. The way you described it, I expected that a normal roll for success or failure has been given a low DC, not that the low DC belongs only to some new mechanic.

Then the unlocking of new skills isn't mentioned at all. It has to be inferred by the example. Can you give your text another round to look for missing rules? Otherwise your system looks good - I will use it, if I get the chance.

The reason I did it this way is that in the last version I had people tell me there was too much text, too much complexity. So I tried to streamline, and take the optional things like the tags and secondary skills as an example for people who wanted to use them. But if I have caused more confusion, then I can easily edit that.

 

[Stalker0]

I actually have some similar questions, with regards to the tags in the example. There is no explicit description of those in the rules. All of them make the challenge easier for the players. How much easier?

The core math is done without use of the tags. The tags themselves have little effect on the system overall, as their bonuses tend to be minor and relegated to one roll.

for example with the helpful tag, the real advantage of aid another is not the +2 bonus, its actually the ability to take a person with a low skill mod out of the challenge for a while. So it adding a +3 instead of a +2 actually doesn't make that big of a difference.

So feel free to use or not use various tags as you see fit, they are designed just to give dms more customization in their challenges, and don't serve any balancing function.