Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tymophil" data-source="post: 5972956" data-attributes="member: 46923">Skill challenge stripped to its bare bones.I use MasterPlan to play, and the structure of a skill challenge is beautifully apparent in this software.COMPLEXITY : length of the challenge.It sets the duration of the scene that is driven by the challenge. For me, the complexity is set by the number of primary actions that the player characters will take.DIFFICULTY : mood of the scene.If I want the players to feel that their characters are above the rest, are truly heroes, I set the difficulty to their current level or below. I I want them to feel a tension, I set the level around three levels above.RESULTS : what is the result of the scene within the whole plot.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Victory result : the best that can occur out of the scene. The players characters get what they expected out of the scene and some more.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Defeat result : the worst that can occur out of the scene within the whole plot. The players get the least that it takes to get the plot going, they may branch to a sub-plot that will slow them down... But the action keeps on going.</li> </ul>ACTIONS : what the Dungeon Master expects the players to do through their characters.I put the action first, and the skill last. Depending on how the player states the intended action for his character, the skill tested might be different for a similar kind of action described differently. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Primary actions : the kind of actions that will move the plot, will impact the scene heavily. I prepare the description of the action I think the players will take for their characters, with a few skills that seem likely to test the action, along with the level of difficulty of the action (hard, average, easy). When the player describes the action for his character, I decide which action it looks like and what skill will be tested. For each primary action, I prepare one or several success results : what the player character gets for succeeding in his skill test. Then, I prepare a bunch of failed skill test results. What the player character gets for failing the test. Most of the time, the player character gets much for a failed test, because I want to make sure that the player action matter.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Secondary actions : actions that characters will take when they don't feel they are the best for the scene. For example, the kind of actions a player states for his character when he thinks his character is not up to the task, when he doesn't really know what to do, etc. Generally, for each succeeded skill test in secondary actions, the subsequent tests will get a bonus. But a bunch of informations can slip in. For a failed skill test, the group gets no bonus or gets useless information. The goal is not to discourage players for intending actions they see fitting to the situation and their character profile.</li> </ul>NOTES : altering the structure to fit the scene.Sometimes, the scene should reach a conclusion before the challenge is completed. For example, if the scene is a puzzle resolution, and the players find the solution, the skill challenge is a victory as soon as the players give the solution.I found the skills in Dungeons &Dragons 4th Edition to be fine tuned. It gives me the flexibility to adapt them to player characters actions. In Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, the skills are way too numerous and fit for one action to be useful.Moreover, the fact that in D&D4, the bonus includes half-level makes it easier to calculate the DC required to achieve the level of challenge I want.One last point: a skill challenge is given experience points in a cosistent way in D&D4.I use it all of the time... It's a wonderful tool.</blockquote>

Verification