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<blockquote data-quote="bardolph" data-source="post: 5035745" data-attributes="member: 2304">One possibility is to present the skill challenge without revealing which skills are important. The Players choose their actions, then the DM has them roll skill checks whenever appropriate and conducts the number crunching secretly throughout the challenge.This is similar to a DM who keeps monster armor class and hit points secret during a combat.This sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. Depends on the nature of the challenge. For example, you can't ask players to pick a lock for you at the table.Also, it's reasonable to expect that the PC will know things that the player doesn't. For example, History, Arcana, Insight, Perception.Even for something like Diplomacy, it might be difficult for a shy player to represent a character with a silver tongue and good public speaking skills. This is especially true for younger players.The same held true for combat. However, as combat rules became more codified and streamlined over the editions, running combat became more smooth and consistent.Skill challenges are simply a framework for making non-combat encounters run more smoothly and consistently.Example: the PCs decide to sneak inside a local noble's house to steal a letter intended for the king. Rather than playing the robbery as a dungeon crawl using maps, tokens, and monster stats, you can run this as a skill challenge. Very handy when the DM isn't in the mood to gen up a map in the middle of a session.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="bardolph, post: 5035745, member: 2304"] One possibility is to present the skill challenge without revealing which skills are important. The Players choose their actions, then the DM has them roll skill checks whenever appropriate and conducts the number crunching secretly throughout the challenge. This is similar to a DM who keeps monster armor class and hit points secret during a combat. This sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. Depends on the nature of the challenge. For example, you can't ask players to pick a lock for you at the table. Also, it's reasonable to expect that the PC will know things that the player doesn't. For example, History, Arcana, Insight, Perception. Even for something like Diplomacy, it might be difficult for a shy player to represent a character with a silver tongue and good public speaking skills. This is especially true for younger players. The same held true for combat. However, as combat rules became more codified and streamlined over the editions, running combat became more smooth and consistent. Skill challenges are simply a framework for making non-combat encounters run more smoothly and consistently. Example: the PCs decide to sneak inside a local noble's house to steal a letter intended for the king. Rather than playing the robbery as a dungeon crawl using maps, tokens, and monster stats, you can run this as a skill challenge. Very handy when the DM isn't in the mood to gen up a map in the middle of a session. [/QUOTE]

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