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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 5467470" data-attributes="member: 23094">Because, generally speaking, having "single points of failure" tends to result in swingier results, and less capability to realize when something is or is not working and change your approach as required.  Consider the difference between D&D's ablative hit points and, say, a damage save system where a failed save knocks you out.  As combat progresses, D&D players can watch hit points (their own and their opponents') decrease and get a feel for how the combat is flowing, and whether they need to start tossing more spells or consider retreating.  In a damage save system, it's much harder to know "where you are" in the combat, as everyone tends to be fine-fine-fine-fine-KO'd.Consider, additionally, save-or-die spells.  If you make your save, nothing happens.  If you fail your save, you die.  Everything comes down to a single die roll - and while you can try to stack the odds in your favor, you can still roll a 1 on that save.Similarly, GMs have long been encouraged on this board to avoid "puzzle rooms" where there is a single solution that the players have to figure out or the adventure stalls or ends.Moreover, you wouldn't routinely design combats where a single attack roll determines the entirety of the results - rather, you want combat to involve meaningful tactical challenges and multiple rolls spread around multiple players so that everyone is participating, and that "Just let the fighter handle all of it" is not a viable solution.This is an outgrowth of that same philosophy: creativity, flexibility, and better progress tracking leading to better player involvement at all times at the table.Mathematically speaking, it's possible, sure.  Just like, say, everyone making Aid Another attempts to buff the fighter's first attack can, depending on the ACs involved, result in better average damage than everyone attacking individually.It is, however, by no means a certainty, especially if people tailor their interactions with the skill challenge to highlight their own strengths and the particular situation's weaknesses.So, as a general rule, no, what you say is not a "feature" of skill challenges.</blockquote>

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