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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5065782" data-attributes="member: 82106">There is one feat that really needs to know you're in a skill challenge to work. There is one other that mentions skill challenges but has the same effect outside them, and there is one power, Emissary of the Gods, which specifically mentions a mechanic for its use in an SC, yet it would still be a power you would use even outside a challenge with the same skill check. In the rare instance where one of these 3 things comes into play I expect the DM can let the player know they have this option.As for KD's et al issues with SCs there are 2 things to note. First exactly how would you create an SC mechanic that magically meshes better with the flow of the game? We're all waiting to hear. ANY mechanical system is going to be something that starts and ends at some point. Its going to have exactly the same issues regardless of how you structure the mechanics. No amount of tweaking with the rules is going to hand to the DM a way to magically have it just work all the time.I'd really strongly advise people that have access to DDI to read the columns on SCs. As Mearls points out it is pretty much worthless to create an SC that amounts to a situation where a skill check is called for. If its simply a situation where you need to do some fairly simple and direct thing that involves a single skill, then just make it a skill check. If its a bit more involved then you MAY want to make it a simple complexity one challenge, which should take 5 minutes of table time to resolve, tops.Look at your interrogation situation KD. The DM could either handle it as a complexity one challenge that he starts as soon as the prisoners are captured (remember, an SC can proceed within the framework of other activity) OR he should just make it a simple intimidate check. In the former case tying up the prisoners could count for one success (very intimidating, that, and it can't really fail either). An Insight check could reveal that the prisoners can understand common (+2 to other checks from now on). A Bluff check could let the PCs pretend not to notice the prisoners can understand them (this works because now if they say "eh, just kill them" the prisoners are going to BELIEVE its not a ploy for sure!). See how it works? The DM doesn't really have to say its an SC or how the various rolls work in it. Each roll is just a natural part of the challenge. A lot of challenges you have to remember are things that measure how well the PCs accomplish some goal that is higher level than the check. That doesn't mean the check shouldn't work in the normal way in the context of the game world. For example in the pursuit type challenges the SC works fine. Each thing the PCs do (each check) has its natural effect. You hide then the pursuers are thrown off the trail temporarily or you slip past their search perimeter, etc. The SC measures the OVERALL progress of the escape without forcing the DM to keep track of a large number of enemies on a large scale map, etc. If the PCs fail 3 checks then they have a fight because they failed to get away clean. If they pass the challenge then eventually the pursuit gives up and they get away scott free.</blockquote>

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