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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Success chances for Skill Challenges
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<blockquote data-quote="msherman" data-source="post: 4987858" data-attributes="member: 77344"><p>In my next game, I'm running a mystery type plot. Lots of roleplaying to investigate the source of the mystery, with an ambush in the middle and a boss fight at the end. The RP will be a skill challenge, with the results of the challenge determining how prepared they are for the boss fight: full success will have them surprise the boss and rescue his captives, partial success will have the boss ready for him, and he'll execute the prisoners when the party attacks, and a failure will have the party not even find the bosses lair, so he'll attack them elsewhere, and as a result, they won't get his treasure.</p><p></p><p>We've been using Obsidian, but the one thing I don't like about it is the strict 3 round structure -- it can get in the way of an RP scene, especially a long open-ended one like I plan for this scenario. So I'm going to try something new for this adventure: I'm giving each player 3 tokens, representing their three tries in the skill challenge. I'll call for skill checks left and right during the RP as they investigate the mystery, but it's up to the players to decide when to use a token -- the actions they use tokens on will have more significant results, pass or fail. For example, a player might decide to use one of his tokens on a Streetwise check while trolling for info at a bar. A success without the token might only get him one item from my list of secrets, while with the token he'll get three. A failed check without a token might not get any ill effect, but with the token, a failure might attract the bad guys attention and provoke the planned ambush attack. PCs won't be allowed to use a token for a skill they've already succeeded with in the SC, but of course they can still make the check without a token.</p><p></p><p>So the players will still be making 3 checks each in the skill challenge, but they won't be forced to act in turn, or forced to stop acting just because they've already done something this round, even if there's something to do that their PC is best suited for (like, say, the Bard not being able to sweet-talk someone because he's already acted).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="msherman, post: 4987858, member: 77344"] In my next game, I'm running a mystery type plot. Lots of roleplaying to investigate the source of the mystery, with an ambush in the middle and a boss fight at the end. The RP will be a skill challenge, with the results of the challenge determining how prepared they are for the boss fight: full success will have them surprise the boss and rescue his captives, partial success will have the boss ready for him, and he'll execute the prisoners when the party attacks, and a failure will have the party not even find the bosses lair, so he'll attack them elsewhere, and as a result, they won't get his treasure. We've been using Obsidian, but the one thing I don't like about it is the strict 3 round structure -- it can get in the way of an RP scene, especially a long open-ended one like I plan for this scenario. So I'm going to try something new for this adventure: I'm giving each player 3 tokens, representing their three tries in the skill challenge. I'll call for skill checks left and right during the RP as they investigate the mystery, but it's up to the players to decide when to use a token -- the actions they use tokens on will have more significant results, pass or fail. For example, a player might decide to use one of his tokens on a Streetwise check while trolling for info at a bar. A success without the token might only get him one item from my list of secrets, while with the token he'll get three. A failed check without a token might not get any ill effect, but with the token, a failure might attract the bad guys attention and provoke the planned ambush attack. PCs won't be allowed to use a token for a skill they've already succeeded with in the SC, but of course they can still make the check without a token. So the players will still be making 3 checks each in the skill challenge, but they won't be forced to act in turn, or forced to stop acting just because they've already done something this round, even if there's something to do that their PC is best suited for (like, say, the Bard not being able to sweet-talk someone because he's already acted). [/QUOTE]
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