Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 5035946" data-attributes="member: 3400">I think we're laboring under an example of a skill challenge that isn't particularly good. Of course PCs are going to use perception to foil a potential bandit ambush. That's how the rules in general are applied when the ambush actually starts! So it's not really appropriate to use in a skill challenge to figure out what road to use to avoid bandit attacks.A better challenge would probably involve using History (history of notorious bandit attacks), Nature (knowing good paths that avoid or reduce ambush terrain), Streetwise (getting info from the locals about recent bandit activity, some of whom may be working with the bandits and may unwittingly reveal some hints), and Bluff (giving the impression that you're far too dangerous for bandits to even try to attack, when you really might not be). Get enough successes and you can chart a course that keeps you safe from bandits. The skill challenge mainly gives the DM a chance to think out what might be helpful and allows him to jot down what sort of success level is necessary before he's willing to declare that the PCs have achieved their objective. What a skill challenge won't do, in this case, is prevent the players from being uncreative or foolish in the tactics they use to try to meet and overcome the challenge. I could certainly see players in 1e declaring some of the same silly or useless ideas as the ones in Gimby's example.On the subject of quantum states, that's not exactly new with 4e. I've been using "quantum" encounters since 1e and I still use them in 3.5. It's simply a tactic for reusing planned out resources you've got when PCs go whereever they want, particularly if they are following a particular plot line for part of the campaign and they get way off track or the DM wants to change the pacing of the campaign.</blockquote>

Verification