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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The Unusual Math of Skill Challenges and Complexity
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<blockquote data-quote="Stalker0" data-source="post: 4260173" data-attributes="member: 5889"><p>Alright, so the basics of skill challenges which we all know.</p><p></p><p>You set a DC which is based on the challenge level, then we set a complexity, which determines how many failures and successes we get.</p><p></p><p>Higher level + Higher Complexity = more challenging encounter....right?</p><p></p><p>Actually, its really not as simple as you'd think.</p><p></p><p>Let's compare some skill challenges and you will start to see the weirdness in the math.</p><p></p><p>Scenario 1: A party faces a Complexity 1 skill challenge and a Complexity 3 skill challenge and lastly a Complexity 5. In all cases, we will assume each party members' roll has a 40% chance to succeed.</p><p></p><p>Overall chance for party to succeed in challenge</p><p></p><p>Complexity 1: 8%</p><p>Complexity 2: 3%</p><p>Complexity 3: 1%</p><p></p><p>That's what we expect, more complex = more challenging. And yes, btw, the chance of success is in fact that low.</p><p></p><p>Scenario 2: Same complexities, but now let's give the party a 70% chance of success on each roll. The result:</p><p></p><p>Complexity 1: 53%</p><p>Complexity 2: 57%</p><p>Complexity 3: 60%</p><p></p><p>What happened? A higher complexity actually made the scenario easier!! This is a result of the way skill complexities are handled. Because the success/failure ratio remains the same, there comes a point where once your chance of success is high enough, it's very hard to hit that large number of failures you need. As a result, the challenge is actually easier.</p><p></p><p></p><p>And that number is exactly at 70%. Once your party has a 70% chance on each roll to succeed at a challenge, then if you want to increase the difficult, LOWER the complexity. And increasing the complexity actually makes it easier.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stalker0, post: 4260173, member: 5889"] Alright, so the basics of skill challenges which we all know. You set a DC which is based on the challenge level, then we set a complexity, which determines how many failures and successes we get. Higher level + Higher Complexity = more challenging encounter....right? Actually, its really not as simple as you'd think. Let's compare some skill challenges and you will start to see the weirdness in the math. Scenario 1: A party faces a Complexity 1 skill challenge and a Complexity 3 skill challenge and lastly a Complexity 5. In all cases, we will assume each party members' roll has a 40% chance to succeed. Overall chance for party to succeed in challenge Complexity 1: 8% Complexity 2: 3% Complexity 3: 1% That's what we expect, more complex = more challenging. And yes, btw, the chance of success is in fact that low. Scenario 2: Same complexities, but now let's give the party a 70% chance of success on each roll. The result: Complexity 1: 53% Complexity 2: 57% Complexity 3: 60% What happened? A higher complexity actually made the scenario easier!! This is a result of the way skill complexities are handled. Because the success/failure ratio remains the same, there comes a point where once your chance of success is high enough, it's very hard to hit that large number of failures you need. As a result, the challenge is actually easier. And that number is exactly at 70%. Once your party has a 70% chance on each roll to succeed at a challenge, then if you want to increase the difficult, LOWER the complexity. And increasing the complexity actually makes it easier. [/QUOTE]
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The Unusual Math of Skill Challenges and Complexity
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