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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bert1000" data-source="post: 6568312" data-attributes="member: 29013">I have seen this happen when the DM and group do not shift the meaning of success/failure of a single skill check.It’s not explained well in the material, but by accepting that this is a good situation for a SC, you are also accepting that you need multiple successes (x) to reach your goal.   Therefore, a success on a single skill check can only mean incremental progress toward the goal (unless it is the last one needed).  The meaning of a single skill check has changed and the way a player can dictate her intent has changed.So, in a SC chase scene someone can always say –Player:  “I try to shoot the rope holding the barrels, so the barrels topple on the assassin and take him out”.   Rolls a 20!   “I got him right?”Dm:  “Uhh, I guess you did.   That was a good roll.  Forget this SC.”No!  That is the single roll paradigm where you are expecting to get what you want if you beat the DC.   The DM in fact sets the DC based on your desired goal in the 'normal' paradigm and the player has a lot of say on what that goal is.       SC says that’s not how it works – you always just get closer to your goal.     You can not expect the barrels to stop the assassin if its the first success, no matter what the roll.   It's just a different structure.    By accepting the situation is suitable for a SC, the player needs to accept that she can’t negotiate/expect an ‘all or nothing’ result from a single skill check.   And the DM needs to describe the successes as helpful to the goal but not so helpful that reaching the goal seems inevitable without further action.And there is almost always a fiction first way of showing this incremental progress.  So in a skill challenge:Player:  “I try to shoot the rope holding the barrels, so the barrels topple on the assassin and take him out”.   Rolls a 20!  DM:  “The rope snaps and the barrels come crashing off the rack.   The assassin manages to dodge most of them but one barrel slams into his leg and he falls to the ground for a moment.   He gets back up but you’ve closed some distance and you notice a slight limp.  He’s not going to be climbing up on roofs anymore..   He makes a sharp left behind a building and out of sight.”Players: "We follow him, running"DM:  "You turn the corner and see hundreds of people in the crowded marketplace.   He could be anywhere." So the success has as a gamest component (you’ve tailed 1 success), but it also has a fictional framing component--- the assassin is likely to switch tactics from acrobatics to subterfuge since his leg is messed up.  This gives PCs strong in Perception, Streetwise, etc. the spotlight vs.  those with strong physical skills.   Shifting the focus of the scene midway -- another key to making SC interesting.</blockquote>

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