Here is the Text Document, I forgot to link it in the description (pulling an all nighter to post 3 videos in one day will get ya! lol) I also put it in the description! I got you! Thank you to Leland Wilson for pointing it out to me! You rock! drive.google.com/open?id=1REK-E16QNHp9Ccs7hIptHOuFc_b1Ot2G
Awesome, thank you!!! I use skill challenges but never thought about breaking it up with your extra's. Plus now I have a pdf I can post for players instead of having to make it myself!!
Ooh this is spicy. 4E had soooooo many rad ideas. For nat 1's, I found sound players sometimes felt guilty for two failures even though it's just luck. So what I do instead is one failure, but someone in the party has to add +5 to their DC to compensate before the round ends. If no one takes then +5, THEN the second failure is counted. Adds a small element of choice and responsibility that way
Jordan Nguyen OMG I LOVE THAT!!! it’s so much more epic that way!! Now the second person has a chance to BRING THEM BACK from that nat 1... I might have to steal that!’ So good!
Finally tried this in my group. It was super fun. Thanks DC, for introducing me to a totally new way to play D&D! My players decided to call it a “Montage” instead of a skill challenge. Priceless! We’re a big group, 9 PC’s (5th level), so each round of play takes forever. We were on the fourth session in a row of them slogging through a goblin-infested mine. Last week it took 3 hrs of gameplay just for the party to retreat and regroup for a short rest! And they had finally figured out the location of the goblin king... So it was the perfect time to introduce the Skill Challenge to our table! I ran it like this: DC 15; 10 successes needed; no limit on fails. Each success gets the party 10% closer to the king’s chambers and “kills” 4 goblins. Each failure causes 4 attack rolls against random PC’s. After 1 1/2 rounds (10 S, 3 F) and about 30 min of energetic table time, the Montage was over and the party was ready for the Boss Battle, having used up some hp, two spell slots, a breath weapon, and some ki. I won’t list all the creative ideas, or the checks I called for. Suffice to say it played out like a movie montage of the party busting through barricades, navigating the tunnels, and pushing through the defenders. This mechanic is a keeper!
Jason P oooooo I LOVE how you took it and ran with it too! And LOVE the attack rolls on failures gained! YES!! This makes me think of a whole new mechanic I want to work on now!! Great story!
I just did a skill challenge for my group. They had to find a specific location in the feywild. I told them they had four tasks: one routine (DC 10), one challenging (DC 14) one difficult (DC 16), and one very difficult (DC 18). I did not tell them the DCs. I asked them to pick one skill check and describe how that check would affect the outcome. If they got zero successes, their enemy would have a major advantage in the upcoming combat. If they got one success, their enemies would get a small advantage. Two successes, things would be more or less even. Three successes, they would get a small advantage, and four successes would give them a major advantage. They got to decide which character would do which difficulty, with two characters teaming up to give one check advantage. It worked out really well - they ended up getting three successes and having advanced warning of invisible enemies waiting to ambush them.
I'm a new DM (5e) and I frequently look for videos to help me improve. I heard about Skill Challenges and looked up some videos from the usual Matt Colville and Web DM, but I didn't understand what I was supposed to do bc I feel like they focused more on the theory and academic discussion rather than a "how to do this and why". This is the first video I've seen from this channel and you explain Skill Challenges PERFECTLY, with a step-by-step walkthrough of how to do it and reasoning for each mechanic, and you do it with a clear, measured voice that's easy to understand and follow. I look forward to watching more of your videos and hope your channel and patronage continue to grow!
Stephen A heck yea man! I love these and throw em in here and there when I can! I’ve even thrown them in the middle of a combat AND skill challenge at the same time haha. But that’ll be in the next video haha
This is my favourite mechanic that you've mentioned. I even figured out a way to put it into my next game. I'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver, and the party just finished Klarg - only he managed to get escape after being beat up. They were understandably disappointed at this outcome. As I read ahead to the next section the Redbrand hideout, it tells me that Glasstaff (the mage) will escape if the players don't find the secret doors.. I didn't want to do that to my players 2 games in a row, so that's where I'm going to put in our first ever Skill Challenge. They are 2nd level, and this is their first game, so I'm going to go with DC 12/5 Success. There is even a Lair Action available, as the chase will go past where the Nothic under the bridge. I'm excited to see what will happen.
Dude this is epic and solved a major issue in my next one shot of traveling to a destination. I didn't want it to be just u travel a to b or rolling for random encounters that would bog things down with enemy's that don't feel thematic or give away the big reveal of what they may face at the end. Thank you for your hard work.
Very good job defining the skill challenge, giving an example of play, and expanding it's possibilities. This make it a teensy bit more complicated, while really rounding it out as a tool for the game. Big thumbs up!
Sam Chafin then get ready for this weeks video! One round skill challenges! But for real thank you! That’s the goal, add new creative options that are understandable
Wow! Just came across this video in the hopes of figuring out how to implement skill challenges into my homebrew 5e game and I got some serious "nerd chills" watching this! The way you told the story while also highlighting the successes and failures is exactly why I want to implement skill challenges into my game. Thank you very much for this epic and helpful video!
Just getting back into dnd after a few decades. You have great and easy to follow content. 5 and 4 editions are fantastic. I started playing with the og up until 3. Keep up the great work.
A game is not only as good as the DM, but as the players as well. Saving your party and sacrificing your life for your group is pretty epic on its own.
I'm really loving these videos. Some of these things I'm already running in my campaigns but with your tweeks I'm really going to make it awesome! so please keep up the awesome content!
Aaaaand I just bought all your stuff (relevant to my game of course) off DMs Guild. You are a hell of a story teller, and clearly a wonderful DM with your players' experience firmly at heart. We can, and I'm sure are, learning tons from you. Thanks a million, bud! Your name is well earned. :)
Just wanted to say, I tried this out actually tonight and it worked decently well. Need some practice with it and running a stealth encounter with these rules was a bit difficult. My whole party was involved and I even got my amazon browser to pay attention through the whole thing! Win in my book! I'll be using this more and refining it.
Jon Porter awesome! It’s definitely a SKILL (eh? See what I did there?) that you’ll get better and better at running, coming up with the cause and effects/ dcs / checks on the fly! NICE
I've actually been avoiding this topic on my "Suggested" list for awhile and finally took the plunge to watch it. I think I have personally avoided it because of another channel who talks about Skill Challenges (they really like them) but they never actually "talk about them." I really like you examples (and your future video that led me back to this one once again). Anyway, you finally won me over as a subscriber.
What I would recommend when running this in larger groups is do about one and a half (rounded down) for failures and success. This gives everyone a chance to participate around the same time. Another thing I did during a skill challenge during an arcane storm is I added complications at the end of each round or if the players got two failures. This basically "locked out" certain skills as the ship got more damaged. Instead of racing to get successes over failure, now they're against the clock to get through the storm before they're ship is scuttled. The last thing I'll suggest for people new to the system while I am rediscovering DnD is to make a complication chart for your first skill challenge. I am running the Matt Coville adventure and planning to make one. This will help visualize whats the next big issue the party faces along with what the next big hazard for the end of round. Skill challenges are really great as a tool to make mundane travel interesting, montage moments, or condensing grand arcs.
I love all the things that you did with yours, and I run mine pretty much the same! We’re synced up! To answer your question at large groups I have a video called one round skill challenge that would be what I do!
I'm sending my players through a maze of old lava, with explosions of poison gasses and shards of glass (a real thing that happens when lava hits water!) and this is SO helpful! Can't wait to use all this in my game this weekend :)
Thanks for the help, I've been running some skill challenges since I do like them and 5e does make them such a viable tool in the DM toolbox, but having watched your video and downloading your rule set, this has given me some needed help to improve the challenges I run in the future.... So again thank you.
Loved this video! Felt like I was at the table during your recapping. I've only followed you for a short time, but I think I've seen just about every video you've put out. Keep up the great work! I'm gonna keep watching.
Thank you so much for posting this! I just bought something on the DMsGuild for running skill challenges, but I LOVE your tweaks (adding initiative and attack rolls as checks) and asking them what they do to figure out what ability check it should be. This is such a wonderful idea!
The Dungeon Coach I added the werewolf skill challenge to my watch later. I'm so excited because it fits so perfectly for my campaign! Again, thank you so much! 😊
I can't think of a higher form of praise than to say I found this even more helpful than the great Matt Colville's video on skill challenges! Well done Coach, you have my sub and top spot in my tutorial video section of my notes on this topic.
Of all the dungeons and dragons commentators and streamers. I actually didn't feel bored at all while watching this. Such a great idea and I hope to implement with my players. Gotta see what their take on it all is.
Brett Andersen dang! Thanks man! I appreciate it! One DM told me he told his players to watch this vid and they knew what to expect going into their first one. O AND I have another video on skill challenges too to help more. I try and keep it fun and efficient! Thanks again
This is very similar to the "Clocks" mechanic from Blades In The Dark and Beam Saber. Which my GM absolutely loves. And you found a way to integrate it seamlessly into D&D. 😁 2 things I'll be changing when I run this: #1: using Spell Slots or limited abilities can give one bonuses to their roll. Nothing too crazy, probably no more than +1-3. #2: Critical Failures giving 2 fails seems like it will make one Player feel like the entire botched challenge was their fault. Which kinda flies in the face of the entire spirit of a group skill challenge in my eyes. So I'd probably have it count as 1 failure, then add another penalty like they take some damage or someone's next roll has a penalty. Probably do the same for Nat 20s depending on the context.
Thank you for the pdf doc breaking down this info. I love your stuff but honestly have a tough time transcribing it so I can reference it and use it in my games. I'm a new DM so your ideas are awesome but I need the reference in order to incorporate them. Much appreciated and keep up the great work.
Thanks Sebastian! I love these things and really wanted to share em with my fellow DMs! I’m workin on the follow up video to this one as we speak! It got over 100 likes, so it’s coming soon 👍🏼
So useful - I am a new DM and heard about these and I wanted to incorporate it and was a bit lost. However, you did an amazing job explaining this and I feel a lot more confident going into my spooky Halloween style one shot.
Just had a cool idea while watching a movie, taking a skill challenge and morphing it into a “cliff hanger” challenge basically a modified contest between a character and a bad guy over a specific plot McGuffin. The McGuffin is just a plot device that acts as a inanimate 3rd combatant and skill challenge. So a wagon dangling over a bridge that will fall that both monster and player are struggling on. A sinking ship where the last 2 are the character and monster fighting each other to get off before they are taken under. Can apply to really anything that fits in your storyline that acts as the 3rd party of the challenge trying to get both the player and monster. An out of control carriage, mining cart track(Indiana Jones), airship diving towards a crash. Lots of current action movies use them. (Was watching live free or die hard).
@@TheDungeonCoach oh I used it in 4e. The rules you pulled out are perfect. I'm so using it. Now I just need to get 1 more player make a passively there dmpc
For both this and your one round skill challenge, I have trouble of thinking of consequences to failures. I'm sure it's very situational, but other than death or taking damage, I'd love some great examples for inspiration.
Awesome! Please do! My advice would be to get in each of your players minds and be ready to help them/ hints (only if they need it) sometimes they might need a little nudge when first doing these. You gotta let me know! I've loved to hear how people have liked it after using, its the best!
@@TheDungeonCoach I gotta say it went, really well. I printed off your attached document, edited it slightly to remove some of the DM side of things, and handed out copies. After using it for a decent sized battle scene, they ended up pulling through and said at the end that they really enjoyed using their creativity and having to think outside of the normal combat actions to be successful! Thank you!
Daniel Friddle dude my jaw was dropped when you were telling that story! That’s SO awesome man! Just made my night! I want to go back and polish off that print out, never knew how useful it could be! I’m so pumped that it went well!!
For the Paladin, I was thinking a charisma based Handle Animal check. Handle Animal because he was riding back. Charisma for his resolve and determination. Its a very Paladin thing to do. I dont tie specific abilities to skills in every case. For the sorcerer to use a lightning bolt to destroy a falling boulder, I'd use a Dexterity based Arcana check or to levitate rocks in the middle of chaos I might use an intelligence based concentration check or just a constitution based one. Either works to show him being able to ignore the rocks falling around himself and the few that actually hit him, and maintain a levitation spell.
Thanks DC, this was epic, and I definitely teared up a bit hearing about the Paladin riding back to save his friends. I found your channel from the rest vid you posted on r/mattcolville and adopted that into my game last week. Plan on running a skill challenge this upcoming wknd. Your vids are great! Keep it up!!
holla52holla awe dude! Really!? Thank for that comment man! Just made my night! It was definitely epic, and I LOVE this system! Let me know how you liked it! (I have one more video on skill challenges too if that helps 😆)
Ran my 1st Skill challenge 2 nights ago. It was in a dream sequence that the party has been in since Halloween and repurposed for a final battle of the dungeon. DC12, 9 successes to win. 1. Vampire Bloodhunter (order of the lycan) aka Snake 2. Silverblight klyntar host/monk [the dreamer] aka Blitz 3. Tortle juggernaught/barbarian aka Grok 4. Starforger dancer aka Alpha 5. Goliath Barbarian aka Elfangor The party makes it through a dense fog (think Bloodborn boss room fog) and find themselves surrounded by a hoard of fungal zombies that drop from the ceiling & their minds are invaded by a necromancer's telepathy. 1. Alpha spits fire (fire bolt) onto the ceiling & burning away the zombies up there while simultaneously lighting up the room as the burning zombies fall into the hoard. 2. Elfangor charges in making a path for the others to follow 3. Grok uses his towershield (Mjolnir form) to keep the party safe from the zombies) They reach a section that has been hallowed, preventing the zombies from chasing them any further. Blitz gets flashes of someone who has yet to be revealed as his uncle & his final fight with the necromancer as the party hear him in their heads again. A kaiju sized corpse flower (who has the conciousness of the necromancer implanted into it) reveals itself (it looks more like a flower in the dream) 4. Blitz transforms into a wolf motif Venom & jumps up onto it and starts ripping out the "teeth" wanting revenge for this silverblight he saw perish 5. Snake joins Blitz by jumping of the walls & using his rapier to climb the rest of the way to it's mouth Lair action: everyone makes a con save against the stench of the corpseflower (blitz & snake with disadvantage due to proximity) both fail & drop off the boss, Alpha keels over as well. 6. Alpha calls upon Luma (his first star attached to his body) and sends it into the boss' mouth to ricochet off the teeth. 7. Blitz pays close attention & calls to everyone that beneath the teeth is a gem that gets sucked back in after a few moments of being revealed. 8. Grok changes his shield from Mjolnir form to patriot form and tosses it in the mouth as well, however it ends up getting swallowed instead. 9. Elphangor takes Blitz' original idea & jumps into the mouth and starts ripping up teeth as well, but with a twist. He uses an item found earlier in the dungeon to cast a blinding light while he's mid-air to blind the boss akin to Solar Flare from DBZ. 10. Snake gets to his feet & decides to use his crimson rite to allow everyone's weapons to deal additional electric damage, however upon jumping to reach Elphangor (his last target) he is knocked away & falls unconscious in the hoard of zombies as the strain of so many uses of crimson rite was too much for him (nat 2, everyone got tense on that) I explain that the next roll will determine the success or failure of the challenge, everyone is on edge. And Blitz, who once again failed the lair action con save, is the first to respond. 11. He wants his symbiote to increase his reach to the boss' mouth, grab the gem, & puncture the body and have it look like a porcupine as the final blow. I let him know this is made at disadvantage, however, Grok chimes in saying he will aid Blitz by concentrating real hard on his swallowed shield to change it back to Mjolnir form & recall it back to knock the boss over. Grok passes the aid ally check and Blitz's player rolls. There was silence as everyone watches their screens to see the roll. The player takes a few sharp breaths and.... nat 20. There was such a loud cheer by even the people who were watching that never played d&d before, I'm surprised we didn't get a notice from the leasing office. The party killed the necromancer & the zombies fell instantly. Blitz slowly wakes from the dream & in the hand he used, he finds a pendant that connects to the family heirloom he wears, changing it from a crescent to a half moon.
@@TheDungeonCoach The Runehammer's angry Bernard made a video on a somewhat similar idea of skill checks ua-cam.com/video/Exgo14aZWTk/v-deo.html. He is a great guy, , maybe you can reach out to him at some point. You guys are my favorite rpg channels on youtube
I independently created my own skill challenge system four years ago when I was a brand new DM, before I ever knew it was a real thing. I barely knew anything about D&D at the time, as my wife and I just dove in to the game head first after watching a few episodes of Critical Role, and I made up the challenge on the spot. It was clunkier than this system, so I won't share the mechanics, but I'll share the two most memorable challenges my players (my two daughters and my wife) had to face. For the first challenge, the players had found a magic lamp with a genie, but they didn't trust the genie, so they brought the lamp to an old hermit who was known to collect magic items. The hermit summoned the genie, and wished to do mortal combat with it. As the genie grew to the size of a small mountain, the hermit revealed his true form as an ancient golden dragon! The two fought, tearing apart the country side, and my players had to act quickly to avoid getting caught by rubble or errant attacks! (Spoiler: dragon won easily) For the second challenge, my players were trapped in a sewer. I had separated my wife's character, to encourage my young daughters to make more decisions and role play more. While looking for their missing companion, they got in to a fight with an alligator, and defeated it with a chromatic orb dealing ice damage. Turned out, the gator was a mother, and she was simply defending her nest. Now, the ice was continuing to freeze the water around the nest, and was in danger of freezing the five babies to death! My daughters had to capture the alligators before they froze, while the gators tried to bite them and squirm away! Four years later, and the party (which now includes some family friends) has a mansion with four alligators (one didn't make it) living in a fountain in the center of a hedge maze!
CrownRock1 I love your stories so much! That is so awesome you went from epic mountain sized battles to heart breaking alligators... beautiful... just beautiful!
This is great. I definitely plan on using this in my new D&D campaign I'm starting. My one concern is the no repeating rule. I totally endorse the idea, and use something similar in social encounters, but I'll have 6 players, four new to 5E. I'm definitely going to say a given character can't repeat the same check round-to-round, but I don't want to bog things down as newer players try to come up with something different than everyone else. Maybe if they seem to flounder I'll suggest Aid Ally.
Jon Osborne Hmmm I see the dilemma with 6 players, that’s a lot of skill coverage across 2 rounds... so 12 unique skills, yea that’s hard. Here’s what I’d do! 1. YOU can’t repeat a skill back to back from round to round 2. A skill can not be duplicated during a round (two people can’t make athletics checks in the same round) I feel like this is totally fair What you think?
@@TheDungeonCoach That's along the lines I was leaning. It keeps players from using their best skills as a crutch and also keeps everyone from trying to pile on something they perceive as 'easy'.
That’s the problem! You can’t make a chart relating those two because they aren’t connected like that and you can combine them in anyway you want! Also to do a party size 👌🏼
Great video, thanks for the ideas! Coincidentally, I just watched a Critical Role episode last night that included a skill challenge getaway scene. It was stressful just watching! Two quick questions for you: 1. What is the earliest PC level you would throw this at a party? If they're experienced players, could you try it at level 1? 2. What is the earliest you would try this with new players? Would this help them to learn their character better and get creative quicker, or just freak them out? Thanks again!
Thanks man! Glad I could maybe shed some light to the behind the scenes of how it all works! Yea I always love watching those too, see what players do with limitless creativity!
To answer your question: 1. I would totally do it at level one, I’ve evened opened a campaign with one lol. I just kept it simple with 4 successes and DC 12 👌🏼 2. New players I’d give them 2 sessions and make sure to have some good out of combat time for them to “play around” with their abilities and then at least a combat (one small, one large) to familiarize with what is possible. You don’t want them to get paralyzed by the endless creativity lol Hope that helps!!
JGook I went back to check, I’m pretty sure it was Campaign 2, Episode 40: Dubious Pursuits. Sorry I don’t have a time stamp, but I believe it was toward the second half of the episode.
Alex McKay ahhh. Thank you. I’m only up to harvest close. Do I dare skip ahead for a teeny bit?! There’s also one I noticed in the sewers (episode 10) when they start looking for the creature and bump into the poop rats!
O damn that’s perfect for you then! I have another system I’ve used that I call “combat challenges” you might like. DM me on discord , or I can type em up once I get my laptop! Glad to help!
I think a video on interesting combat environments would be cool. Those can sometimes play a larger part than the enemies the players are fighting. Bandits ambushing your wagon on the road? Classic. Bandits ambushing your airship on Wyvern-back in the middle of a thunderstorm? Way cooler.
This is so good. Can't wait to use something like this for a chase scene, navigation, or certain combats where going into full combat doesn't seem like the best option. This actually reminds me of using elements from Wushu or other cinematic style rpgs, but with a little more strategy. In Wushu the player is given extra dice for details they give (up to 5) to encourage descriptive action. I wonder if you could give them +1 to their roll up to +5 or something, and set the DC higher, especially if you have a group that needs encouraging to give more details. I wonder how it would work for super duper tense moments like a split second in a hostage situation, where every look and movement is a check. It could even be used in critical social scenarios, like intimidation or deception. Players could describe how they move, or what they say using different checks. Obviously, you wouldn't want to overuse it in times like these, but sometimes a single roll doesn't seems a bit of a quick and boring way to resolve action.
Dom Minniti you got the nail on the head with the “not come down to just one roll” And I have TOTALLY used it in social scenarios, works great!! Glad you’re thinking of where it fits for you!!
Great video but do you ever get that feeling that it boils down to luck? If your characters are having a bad rolling day, does it mean a TPK in the avalanche? The feel bads would be real because no matter how creative your characters are, they get punished... How would you mitigate that? I want to introduce this but I have a suspicion that 5e took this out because it doesn't work as well with bounded accuracy. Thoughts?
Jonathan Ng that’s exactly why you have to really think about what the fail states are, both for each failure along the way, and total failure. So TPK, yea that would be nuts! Here’s what I did in a similar situation to the avalanche I also want to make sure my players know what the failure is a lot of times too, so once they got to 2 failures and we’re one away, I told them what might happen They fail the whole thing: Any player that was in danger of being crushed, rolls a d20, you could have this be a Dex ST of some kind, but I just called it a “fate roll”. And THAT player then drops unconscious, rolls a death saving throw... and the rest of the players now have to find their ally before he dies. I started asking for death saves as time went on This was HUGE at the table as players frantically tried to save their friend... it all felt right and made sense/ fair
@@TheDungeonCoach I guess that would depend on your agreement with your players. If you created this skill challenge (to create tension and out of nowhere) and it resulted to a player death, will your players be ok with that? (It sounds like you have a group of great players) I guess what I am trying to say is - death caused by their own actions still has the sense of control and autonomy whereas "fate rolls" seem to take that control away. Not trying to be argumentative - just having a friendly discussion :)
Jonathan Ng o no for sure, love these discussions! Players are in a story and I throw stuff at them along the way as they make decisions. If I see that the story has led them to a situation where as the DM I decide to issue a skill chanllege to give the best feel towards this scenario they are in... and they end up failing it... then there are consequences, and one of those that should always be on the table is death. Not that I’m trying to kill them, but it’s the fact that the players could die that makes their life so important (one factor) So tippy toeing around the concept of death because the players didn’t agree to it is strange to me. They sit down at my table they are succumbing to my rulings as a DM. I am a fair and carding DM that has nothing but good intentions to tell a great story with them. So death is out there 👌🏼💜
@@TheDungeonCoach Awesome stuff great channel. Liked and subscribed :) Wish you I could player in your campaign - always find myself on the DM side of things ;)
Its actually funny that you said that... I am literally writing the script for my video this week: Low Level Loot: D&D Mundane Items with a twist. It was destiny that you found me!
The Dungeon Coach that’s really awesome. In the campaign I’m playing right now my dm gave us really good items as level 3s and I feel like just giving them to us was cool but it took out the hard work and reward we should have put in to get them so when I finally DM I would love to give them cool items that won’t break that feeling
@@xavierbegerow6402 THAT is the exact reason for this next video! Show it to your DM once it comes out :P Thats a big thing you said too, is as a player learning things that youll do different in your own DM style! Love it!
I found this very insightful and well developed. Thanks for the fantastic video and for providing the rules in text. One question: how do you deal with large parties? I have an idea, but I'd like to get your take. In my case, I DM for a party of 7, meaning there will need to be at least 7 checks each round to ensure everyone gets to participate. To keep it interesting and dynamic, I want the challenge to last at least 2 rounds. That makes a minimum of 14 checks. So, the successes required needs to be around 10-12 to give everyone a shot at actually affecting the outcome. With so many checks, and only 3 failures allowed, I figure the DC has to be comparatively lower to give them a fair shot. However, (and maybe it's just me) lowering the DC seems to take away some of the "epicness" and encourage safe behavior. Perhaps a dynamic DC based on the nature of the player's plan, where a successful check on a high DC could result in more than one success? Greater risks, greater rewards?
John Schroeder i appreciate it man! 7 players! That’s awesome! Here’s my 2 cents DONT lower the DC... maybe even raise it Have them take the AID ALLY action and HELP each other with these checks (that would also help on needing so many checks) I love dynamic DCs and use them myself (check out my other video on skill challenges where I talk about it there) so that’s definitely a good option I would have the Skill Challenge be this: 12 successes before 3 fails DC 15 I don’t know how high of a level your players are, so go up/ down from there, but that would be good for a level 5-7ish Use that as a baseline and go from there! I wouldn’t recommend two FULL rounds, but if they aid ally enough that might happen. But keep it fast and quick! Hope that helps!
I’ve got 9 players in my current campaign plus 2 active NPC’s. (Yeah I know. We make it work.) So this Q/A was helpful to me too. Follow up: how would you manage the “no repeats” restriction with such a large party (11!)? I’m thinking of maybe just no more than one person can do “x” in a row and no single player can repeat himself. Ideas?
Hi there, recently joined your channel and I find the content very useful and inspired, my honest congrats. Wanted to question about the "Text Doc Skill Challenge TDC" document. On the video, the DC for helping an ally is minus 5, but on the document it says that the DC for this are 10 lower. Which one do you use? (I will lean towards 5 but asking so you know the discrepancy). Keep up with the channel, you are doing a great job
Great stuff, as usual. Cinematic and free-form, the way it should be. One thing that I think we should talk about more is giving players more agency in deciding how their failures go. That is, letting them narrate an unsuccessful action. It's not necessarily necessary, but I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the DM's narration of my actions aren't what my character would do, so it'd be good to get them involved as well. Like, I'm talking the kind of mini-negotiation you had with your paladin player: if you do this, X will happen, and maybe the player says, "Well, what if instead of X, Y happened?" It may be that such negotiations would bog down the table, but you might find that a player would come up with something really cool. For instance, my barbarian would definitely be the sort to try and rescue friends and family, so maybe if he messed up his check, he would instead end up not at the home of someone he intended to rescue but in front of a group of ruffians taking advantage of the chaos to rob someone. That next round, he'd have to decide, do I go after my friend and ignore this injustice, or do I stay and fight and possibly not get a chance to save my friend?
Benjamin Blackhurst I agree whole heartedly... the LAST thing I’d want to do is describe a failure that invalidates a players agency! AND I’d tie this in with failing “at a cost” that would be a great video!
This is a great video, I love your channel! Does 5E give rules on how you would've dealt with players trying to dig someone out of the rubble before they die? I see how you could skill challenge that as well, but I'm curious how RAW would apply to something like that..
Great way to bring the storytelling to the next level in your game. I love it. Only question I have: how do you deal with skill monkeys? D&D with its proficiency/expertise system seems to give rogues/bards a huge advantage with those skill challenges …
That's okay though. That's a good thing. Your rogues and bards will LOVE these challenges. It will give them a chance to shine. Other classes have advantages in other situations, and will shine then!
Here is a suggestion, but first a question: what is the element--or combination of elements--that make this approach to skill challenges so cool? Now the suggestion: could some of these process approaches be utilized in standard combat to make day to day combat as exciting and epic as this, every time?
High level play seems to lend itself to skill challenges alot. I seem to use them more the higher level the party is. Maybe you could do a video on keeping high level play interesting
Good recommendation! That also reminds me of a time i threw TWO skill challenges at once (had to choose which one to be in round by round) and I’ve thrown a skill challenge and combat at my players at the same time! Lol Definitely could do an “advanced combat high level play” video
I just discovered your video and found it to be quite useful. I have run skill challenges before to a varying degree of success. This video might be old but I still hope you'll see the comment :) I have some questions regarding your rules: Q1: In your iteration of the SC - do players need to be proficient in the skills they are using ? Q2: Once they use 1 skill in a specific round - that skill is locked for everyone else or only for the PC that uses the skill? Q3: When a player rolls high enough for "Aid Ally" - does this count towards the SC successes ?
Kyle Petkov hey man! Yea I so far have never missed a comment in over 6 months! 👍🏼💜 I got you! 1. You do NOT have to be proficient, I feel the value in players doing “what feels right” in the moment. That wizard was not proficient in persuasion, but that’s what he chose to do! 2. Once a skill is used it is off the table for EVERYONE for the rest of that current round AND the following round. So basically a use of a skill puts it on a one round “cool down” 3. NO, they chose to help an ally, at a reduced risk, they don’t get to double dip and go towards the challenge success too, BUT if they fail the DC it DOES count as a failure, keeps the stakes high but it’s easier because of the lowered DC! Hope that helps!
@@TheDungeonCoach It helps a lot! Thanks for the response :) I will apply those rules this Sunday and will tweak if needed. I am currently binge-watching your vids and looking forward to the new ones. Wish you a steady growth. Waves from Eastern Europe!
Hey Mr Coach - awesome video (and content in general) thank you! I've been trying to implement your take on skill challenges. I got somewhat thrown off by my players' use of spells. In a setting like the avalanche my players were quick to use Dimension Door, Misty Step and Polymorph (to fly). I see how you would make each of these a spell casting check to bring them closer to a total succes or failure. But would you lock out spell casting for the current and next round to avoid repeated spell casting checks? Or is the limit to repeating checks only for the traditional skills? With a bard, druid, warlock, paladin and fighter they see magics as their primary toolbox :)
Lars J. Jensen I have had an entire chase scene destroyed by a gold person BUT NOW here’s what I do: Have them make a spell casting check (spell mod + Prof) then the next caster that just does a spell could make a flat casting mod check WOTHOUT proficiency (just like an athletics check turns into a flat strength check of someone does something too similar) BUT THEN if a third person does a spell I would have it be a spell mod check BUT at disadvantage and keep adding punishments to repeats. THIS makes players start to cast spells creatively with their descriptions and maybe cast invisibility but want it to be a stealth check (if that’s what they are going for) Or a cleric etc doing religion checks or druids doing nature or bards doing performance 👍🏼 This help?? I have a whole video prepared on these extra tips
@@TheDungeonCoach Awesome compromise instead of just locking out further spells after the first one. I like it. You are a great asset to the DND-community - thanks!
So my group has an npc traveling with them right now and I want to do a chase scene. Would you add the npc to the successes or failures or maybe have them roll but only for story purposes and not for success and failure? Or something else?
Can I see that Geomancer homebrew anywhere? I've used Skill Challenges, but they are quite tough when playing with a small party. I'm currently playing with only two players so they don't really have time to think about their next moves and the variety of different skills available is lower than in your average 3-5 character party.
Rampe that class is one of the many digital resources I give to my Patreon Supporters. But shoot me an email and I’ll send it to ya! You’ve been supporting me with all these views and comments lol Thedungeoncoach@gmail.com
Rampe hah you ROCK!! I got your email, so I’ll send it once I’m next to my laptop 👌🏼you’re an awesome addition to this community! I love your outlook! I also have love streams for extra content haha I Homebrew a 2 shot in the ones titled that!
Caleb Heckendorn I do not have it in digital form but is something I am going to open up to my Patrons in the future, unless I make a video about it, then I’ll put it woth that! 👍🏼
Ok so considering you let the geomancer make a spell check to use magic outside of his actual spells (lifting/pushing rocks), how would you handle someone wanting to use an actual spell on their turn? Say you were running a siege defense against an army of undead and the Paladin wants to cast Crusader’s Mantle. This will give all the nearby npc archers on the walls 1d4 radiant damage bonus to use against them. What roll would you call for at that point? Would they still spend a spell slot? Would they get advantage?
17joren So spells are a super fun thing! And you can handle them a number of ways! So they could have buffed an ally/ guards for then THEY make a check they could add a d4 to the roll on top of it (another player joins in with the guards to defends and also gets the radiant surge) Or it could be viewed as the aid ally thing and grant advantage... OR BOTH So I’d rule it in one of two ways 1. Have the spell go off and have them make an Aid ally roll at 5 less of a DC, then I’d have the guards on the wall (assuming there wasn’t a PC there to join in) and they’d make an “attack roll” at advantage AND the Paladin would roll 1d4 to add to it! That seems epic! OR 2. Keep it simple and in line with what normally would happen: Paladin makes a Charisma Spell check (char mod + prof bonus) against the Skill Challenge DC and it either succeeds or fails. Fail = the additional radiant damage the guards have wasn’t enough to overcome the forces Succeed = the radiant damage was SO STONG, it pushed back the assault! I’d say don’t get too caught up in the spell going off exactly as it is written, and look at the overall cinematic effect (see other video in skill challenges) I hope this was thorough, loved the question!
I am planning to use a Skill Challenge for an urban chase encounter. I want it to be quick. Success results in PC's reaching those they are chasing and a possible combat. Failure results in the bad guys escaping, leaving the players with a mystery. I want the encounter to engage the players into a new adventure hook. Probably DC12, 3 success rolls before 3 failure rolls. Question: Do you simply tie narration to the skill being used during the Skill Challenge? With just 3 successes before 3 failures = 5 skill rolls for the whole encounter?
Perkins Dearborn DC 12 is the minimum number id do for a skill challenge, yes and 3 success is the lowest, so that is a perfect intro skill challenge! As they get closer to each game state (failing or succeeding) I change my description accordingly and usually have some kind of trigger for failures (crowd of people block their way, they collapse a fruit cart in front of you and pull away, then 3 failures they jump over a small wall and when you jump over they are nowhere to be seen) And yes that challenge will take between 3 - 5 rolls to finish! 👍🏼
I really wish I had watched this before my last game. The players were in a tower, beat the big bad, and the tower began to collapse. I didn't know how to play it. Skill checks would have made it much cooler. Next time. :)
So 2 years later (I'm going back into your library of videos - found a lot of inspiration in them), and it seems no one took you up on your challenge. My assumption in this is you seperate types of attack rolls, as the last two rounds seem to have an obvious ranged from archer, and melee from barbarian. (Correct me if I'm wrong) Round 1 1. Initiative. 2. Perception. Round 2 3. Tricky one. A save feels cool here and I'll say Int (even though Cha seems more sorcerer-like) 4. Another tricky one. I'll outside the box go Reflex save instead of spell attack (I know i just cheated haha, and still prob got it wrong) Round 3 5. Ranged attack. 6. Arcana. (This too could be many things, pending what the round before was) Round 3 7. Let's say something crazy and go intimidate. (Spell attack might be a safer answer) 8. Medicine. 9. Melee surely! Well did i pass coach? Cheers from Down Under for the creative ideas.
My party is going to have to navigate and get through a stampede of med, large, and huge beasts. There will be 7 of them, and one large ally. What kind of challenges can I throw at them in this scenario. It will be through a lightly forested region. Any ideas?
Here is the Text Document, I forgot to link it in the description (pulling an all nighter to post 3 videos in one day will get ya! lol) I also put it in the description! I got you!
Thank you to Leland Wilson for pointing it out to me! You rock!
drive.google.com/open?id=1REK-E16QNHp9Ccs7hIptHOuFc_b1Ot2G
Thank you sir! This is the first of your videos I've seen. I'll watch the rest as I can.
Leland Wilson all good bro! Let me know if I miss anything on those! You’re my content quality control guy now!!!
Awesome, thank you!!! I use skill challenges but never thought about breaking it up with your extra's. Plus now I have a pdf I can post for players instead of having to make it myself!!
This is fantastic advice! Your text link is broken though :( can you repost it, please?
This was such a good document but the link has since broken.
Ooh this is spicy. 4E had soooooo many rad ideas.
For nat 1's, I found sound players sometimes felt guilty for two failures even though it's just luck. So what I do instead is one failure, but someone in the party has to add +5 to their DC to compensate before the round ends. If no one takes then +5, THEN the second failure is counted.
Adds a small element of choice and responsibility that way
Jordan Nguyen OMG I LOVE THAT!!! it’s so much more epic that way!! Now the second person has a chance to BRING THEM BACK from that nat 1... I might have to steal that!’ So good!
@@TheDungeonCoach ahh rad thanks
That story of the avalanche was AMAZING
Nicolas Kolbe thanks! It’s been a while since I’ve done a narration... I need to do one!
Finally tried this in my group. It was super fun. Thanks DC, for introducing me to a totally new way to play D&D! My players decided to call it a “Montage” instead of a skill challenge. Priceless!
We’re a big group, 9 PC’s (5th level), so each round of play takes forever. We were on the fourth session in a row of them slogging through a goblin-infested mine. Last week it took 3 hrs of gameplay just for the party to retreat and regroup for a short rest! And they had finally figured out the location of the goblin king... So it was the perfect time to introduce the Skill Challenge to our table!
I ran it like this: DC 15; 10 successes needed; no limit on fails. Each success gets the party 10% closer to the king’s chambers and “kills” 4 goblins. Each failure causes 4 attack rolls against random PC’s. After 1 1/2 rounds (10 S, 3 F) and about 30 min of energetic table time, the Montage was over and the party was ready for the Boss Battle, having used up some hp, two spell slots, a breath weapon, and some ki. I won’t list all the creative ideas, or the checks I called for. Suffice to say it played out like a movie montage of the party busting through barricades, navigating the tunnels, and pushing through the defenders.
This mechanic is a keeper!
Jason P oooooo I LOVE how you took it and ran with it too! And LOVE the attack rolls on failures gained! YES!! This makes me think of a whole new mechanic I want to work on now!! Great story!
I just did a skill challenge for my group. They had to find a specific location in the feywild. I told them they had four tasks: one routine (DC 10), one challenging (DC 14) one difficult (DC 16), and one very difficult (DC 18). I did not tell them the DCs. I asked them to pick one skill check and describe how that check would affect the outcome. If they got zero successes, their enemy would have a major advantage in the upcoming combat. If they got one success, their enemies would get a small advantage. Two successes, things would be more or less even. Three successes, they would get a small advantage, and four successes would give them a major advantage. They got to decide which character would do which difficulty, with two characters teaming up to give one check advantage. It worked out really well - they ended up getting three successes and having advanced warning of invisible enemies waiting to ambush them.
I'm a new DM (5e) and I frequently look for videos to help me improve. I heard about Skill Challenges and looked up some videos from the usual Matt Colville and Web DM, but I didn't understand what I was supposed to do bc I feel like they focused more on the theory and academic discussion rather than a "how to do this and why". This is the first video I've seen from this channel and you explain Skill Challenges PERFECTLY, with a step-by-step walkthrough of how to do it and reasoning for each mechanic, and you do it with a clear, measured voice that's easy to understand and follow. I look forward to watching more of your videos and hope your channel and patronage continue to grow!
What an incredible game mechanic! I absolutely love this! I need this in my elemental Homebrew!
Stephen A heck yea man! I love these and throw em in here and there when I can! I’ve even thrown them in the middle of a combat AND skill challenge at the same time haha. But that’ll be in the next video haha
I would have had the paladin make an animal handling check to charge back and pull them out on horseback.
I see it! That totally could have worked, if he referenced his horse more in his statement my mind might have gone there myself too. Good call!
This is my favourite mechanic that you've mentioned. I even figured out a way to put it into my next game.
I'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver, and the party just finished Klarg - only he managed to get escape after being beat up. They were understandably disappointed at this outcome. As I read ahead to the next section the Redbrand hideout, it tells me that Glasstaff (the mage) will escape if the players don't find the secret doors.. I didn't want to do that to my players 2 games in a row, so that's where I'm going to put in our first ever Skill Challenge. They are 2nd level, and this is their first game, so I'm going to go with DC 12/5 Success. There is even a Lair Action available, as the chase will go past where the Nothic under the bridge. I'm excited to see what will happen.
Dude this is epic and solved a major issue in my next one shot of traveling to a destination. I didn't want it to be just u travel a to b or rolling for random encounters that would bog things down with enemy's that don't feel thematic or give away the big reveal of what they may face at the end. Thank you for your hard work.
Monk E3 ooooo perfect! YES yes yes! Love it, glad to help! 👍🏼
Very good job defining the skill challenge, giving an example of play, and expanding it's possibilities. This make it a teensy bit more complicated, while really rounding it out as a tool for the game. Big thumbs up!
Sam Chafin then get ready for this weeks video! One round skill challenges! But for real thank you! That’s the goal, add new creative options that are understandable
I love how this is essentially a quick time event in dnd! I'm definitely going to use this in my sw5e campaign at some point!
Wow! Just came across this video in the hopes of figuring out how to implement skill challenges into my homebrew 5e game and I got some serious "nerd chills" watching this! The way you told the story while also highlighting the successes and failures is exactly why I want to implement skill challenges into my game. Thank you very much for this epic and helpful video!
It's so awesome! I've watched this video 6 times now and I'm preparing to run my first skills challenge. Thanks dungeon coach
Just getting back into dnd after a few decades. You have great and easy to follow content. 5 and 4 editions are fantastic. I started playing with the og up until 3. Keep up the great work.
A game is not only as good as the DM, but as the players as well.
Saving your party and sacrificing your life for your group is pretty epic on its own.
Love this channel. My favorite video so far mostly due to the amazing storytelling. Keep up the great work.
Mike Brock I appreciate it man! Welcome to the Dungeon Crew!
I'm really loving these videos. Some of these things I'm already running in my campaigns but with your tweeks I'm really going to make it awesome! so please keep up the awesome content!
Matthew Prince I’ve loved seeing all your comments too! Thanks man!
Great video! Appreciate the added homebrew elements to keep it spicy.
Aaaaand I just bought all your stuff (relevant to my game of course) off DMs Guild. You are a hell of a story teller, and clearly a wonderful DM with your players' experience firmly at heart. We can, and I'm sure are, learning tons from you.
Thanks a million, bud! Your name is well earned. :)
Just wanted to say, I tried this out actually tonight and it worked decently well. Need some practice with it and running a stealth encounter with these rules was a bit difficult. My whole party was involved and I even got my amazon browser to pay attention through the whole thing! Win in my book! I'll be using this more and refining it.
Jon Porter awesome! It’s definitely a SKILL (eh? See what I did there?) that you’ll get better and better at running, coming up with the cause and effects/ dcs / checks on the fly! NICE
I love your expansion on skill checks here. Definitely going to steal this for my game!
I've actually been avoiding this topic on my "Suggested" list for awhile and finally took the plunge to watch it. I think I have personally avoided it because of another channel who talks about Skill Challenges (they really like them) but they never actually "talk about them." I really like you examples (and your future video that led me back to this one once again). Anyway, you finally won me over as a subscriber.
What I would recommend when running this in larger groups is do about one and a half (rounded down) for failures and success. This gives everyone a chance to participate around the same time.
Another thing I did during a skill challenge during an arcane storm is I added complications at the end of each round or if the players got two failures. This basically "locked out" certain skills as the ship got more damaged. Instead of racing to get successes over failure, now they're against the clock to get through the storm before they're ship is scuttled.
The last thing I'll suggest for people new to the system while I am rediscovering DnD is to make a complication chart for your first skill challenge. I am running the Matt Coville adventure and planning to make one. This will help visualize whats the next big issue the party faces along with what the next big hazard for the end of round.
Skill challenges are really great as a tool to make mundane travel interesting, montage moments, or condensing grand arcs.
I love all the things that you did with yours, and I run mine pretty much the same! We’re synced up! To answer your question at large groups I have a video called one round skill challenge that would be what I do!
What does one and a half mean?
I'm sending my players through a maze of old lava, with explosions of poison gasses and shards of glass (a real thing that happens when lava hits water!) and this is SO helpful! Can't wait to use all this in my game this weekend :)
Thanks for the help, I've been running some skill challenges since I do like them and 5e does make them such a viable tool in the DM toolbox, but having watched your video and downloading your rule set, this has given me some needed help to improve the challenges I run in the future.... So again thank you.
Heartless Justice thanks for stopping by and letting me know! It means a lot! Glad to be of service!
Loved this video! Felt like I was at the table during your recapping. I've only followed you for a short time, but I think I've seen just about every video you've put out. Keep up the great work! I'm gonna keep watching.
Haha thanks Ben! Glad to have ya!! I need to do another recap vid soon! You’ve inspired me to do another one!
Thank you so much for posting this! I just bought something on the DMsGuild for running skill challenges, but I LOVE your tweaks (adding initiative and attack rolls as checks) and asking them what they do to figure out what ability check it should be. This is such a wonderful idea!
xoxlyss I do have one more skill challenge video that you’d like too! Because I am OBSESSED with them haha! I could go on! Haha thank you!
The Dungeon Coach I added the werewolf skill challenge to my watch later. I'm so excited because it fits so perfectly for my campaign!
Again, thank you so much! 😊
xoxlyss your excitement about my videos has made my day! Thank YOU again!
I can't think of a higher form of praise than to say I found this even more helpful than the great Matt Colville's video on skill challenges! Well done Coach, you have my sub and top spot in my tutorial video section of my notes on this topic.
Of all the dungeons and dragons commentators and streamers. I actually didn't feel bored at all while watching this. Such a great idea and I hope to implement with my players. Gotta see what their take on it all is.
Brett Andersen dang! Thanks man! I appreciate it! One DM told me he told his players to watch this vid and they knew what to expect going into their first one.
O AND I have another video on skill challenges too to help more.
I try and keep it fun and efficient! Thanks again
@@TheDungeonCoach I have done the exact same. I always run anything new I want to try by my players to make sure that fun is being had.
Brett Andersen yea I always do that too, like a mini conversation at the beginning of the session
This is very similar to the "Clocks" mechanic from Blades In The Dark and Beam Saber. Which my GM absolutely loves. And you found a way to integrate it seamlessly into D&D. 😁
2 things I'll be changing when I run this:
#1: using Spell Slots or limited abilities can give one bonuses to their roll. Nothing too crazy, probably no more than +1-3.
#2: Critical Failures giving 2 fails seems like it will make one Player feel like the entire botched challenge was their fault. Which kinda flies in the face of the entire spirit of a group skill challenge in my eyes. So I'd probably have it count as 1 failure, then add another penalty like they take some damage or someone's next roll has a penalty. Probably do the same for Nat 20s depending on the context.
Thank you for the pdf doc breaking down this info. I love your stuff but honestly have a tough time transcribing it so I can reference it and use it in my games. I'm a new DM so your ideas are awesome but I need the reference in order to incorporate them. Much appreciated and keep up the great work.
My new favorite D&D Channel. Love the homebrew. Great Work!!
Brian Braunhuber Dude thanks man!! It’s always crazy to hear people say that! Thank you!!
Great video! Really clear and inspiring. Loved the falling rocks skill challenge, really cool.
Thanks Sebastian! I love these things and really wanted to share em with my fellow DMs! I’m workin on the follow up video to this one as we speak! It got over 100 likes, so it’s coming soon 👍🏼
@@TheDungeonCoach Oooo I'm excited for the follow up.
Kyle Maddock I just finished the edits on it! I’m excited. It’s a community members story, I just hope I do it justice!
Thanks, this is great and will come in very handy for my 5e campaign.
So useful - I am a new DM and heard about these and I wanted to incorporate it and was a bit lost. However, you did an amazing job explaining this and I feel a lot more confident going into my spooky Halloween style one shot.
Fantastic video making dude! super entertaining and very informative great work!
jack mati thanks man! I have a lot of energy and this stuff gets me excited lol 😆👍🏼
Late to the party, but this is an EXCELLENT homebrew adaptation of skill challenges! Dope, Coach!
Another wonderful video, thank you so much for these great resources!
Thanks for the comment! It really does mean a lot when people go out of their way to drop a comment, especially kind words. Thank you!
13:09 I get chills every time I watch this hehe
Great video, I really liked the worked example with the canyon!
Ed Chiversth Thanks! I really felt like it would be easier to “explain by doing”! Glad it came across well!
Just had a cool idea while watching a movie, taking a skill challenge and morphing it into a “cliff hanger” challenge basically a modified contest between a character and a bad guy over a specific plot McGuffin. The McGuffin is just a plot device that acts as a inanimate 3rd combatant and skill challenge. So a wagon dangling over a bridge that will fall that both monster and player are struggling on. A sinking ship where the last 2 are the character and monster fighting each other to get off before they are taken under. Can apply to really anything that fits in your storyline that acts as the 3rd party of the challenge trying to get both the player and monster. An out of control carriage, mining cart track(Indiana Jones), airship diving towards a crash. Lots of current action movies use them. (Was watching live free or die hard).
Super cool concept. Really like how you did this.
Thank you so much for this. Just found your channel from LBH collaboration.
skidmoda ooooo awesome! Yea he’s a great dude!! Welcome to the Crew! Thank you!
This is Rad, I love it! Definitely using this
Omg. I LOVE this. Guess what I will be adding.
Chris Kaschafsky DO IT! They are SO FUN 😆
@@TheDungeonCoach oh I used it in 4e. The rules you pulled out are perfect. I'm so using it.
Now I just need to get 1 more player make a passively there dmpc
Chris Kaschafsky hahah love it! Thank you for that too, I tried to find a custom fit rule set that felt the best for me 👍🏼
For both this and your one round skill challenge, I have trouble of thinking of consequences to failures. I'm sure it's very situational, but other than death or taking damage, I'd love some great examples for inspiration.
That was so good! Gonna be implementing this.
Evelyn S thee are my favorite!! (I have 3 videos on them lol)
Great video! I've been looking for something like this and plan to give it a try tonight. I'll let you know how it goes!
Awesome! Please do! My advice would be to get in each of your players minds and be ready to help them/ hints (only if they need it) sometimes they might need a little nudge when first doing these. You gotta let me know! I've loved to hear how people have liked it after using, its the best!
@@TheDungeonCoach I gotta say it went, really well. I printed off your attached document, edited it slightly to remove some of the DM side of things, and handed out copies.
After using it for a decent sized battle scene, they ended up pulling through and said at the end that they really enjoyed using their creativity and having to think outside of the normal combat actions to be successful! Thank you!
Daniel Friddle dude my jaw was dropped when you were telling that story! That’s SO awesome man! Just made my night!
I want to go back and polish off that print out, never knew how useful it could be!
I’m so pumped that it went well!!
Very nicely spelled out! Thank you for this you have a new sub!
Pilot Sun1234 Woop! Thank you! Just wait for this Saturday’s video! I have a custom system I made involving skill challenges too!
For the Paladin, I was thinking a charisma based Handle Animal check.
Handle Animal because he was riding back. Charisma for his resolve and determination. Its a very Paladin thing to do.
I dont tie specific abilities to skills in every case. For the sorcerer to use a lightning bolt to destroy a falling boulder, I'd use a Dexterity based Arcana check or to levitate rocks in the middle of chaos I might use an intelligence based concentration check or just a constitution based one. Either works to show him being able to ignore the rocks falling around himself and the few that actually hit him, and maintain a levitation spell.
Thanks DC, this was epic, and I definitely teared up a bit hearing about the Paladin riding back to save his friends. I found your channel from the rest vid you posted on r/mattcolville and adopted that into my game last week. Plan on running a skill challenge this upcoming wknd. Your vids are great! Keep it up!!
holla52holla awe dude! Really!? Thank for that comment man! Just made my night! It was definitely epic, and I LOVE this system! Let me know how you liked it!
(I have one more video on skill challenges too if that helps 😆)
The Dungeon Coach oh yeah ive seen that one. And all the other videos as well. Binge watched them Sunday before my Sunday night session!
This is such a great feature I can’t believe it’s not in base 5e.
Loving the show so far! Keep it up.
Haha thanks! You’re the first person that’s called it a show! I kinda like it lol
Thanks, this really helped.
Ran my 1st Skill challenge 2 nights ago. It was in a dream sequence that the party has been in since Halloween and repurposed for a final battle of the dungeon. DC12, 9 successes to win.
1. Vampire Bloodhunter (order of the lycan) aka Snake
2. Silverblight klyntar host/monk [the dreamer] aka Blitz
3. Tortle juggernaught/barbarian aka Grok
4. Starforger dancer aka Alpha
5. Goliath Barbarian aka Elfangor
The party makes it through a dense fog (think Bloodborn boss room fog) and find themselves surrounded by a hoard of fungal zombies that drop from the ceiling & their minds are invaded by a necromancer's telepathy.
1. Alpha spits fire (fire bolt) onto the ceiling & burning away the zombies up there while simultaneously lighting up the room as the burning zombies fall into the hoard.
2. Elfangor charges in making a path for the others to follow
3. Grok uses his towershield (Mjolnir form) to keep the party safe from the zombies)
They reach a section that has been hallowed, preventing the zombies from chasing them any further. Blitz gets flashes of someone who has yet to be revealed as his uncle & his final fight with the necromancer as the party hear him in their heads again. A kaiju sized corpse flower (who has the conciousness of the necromancer implanted into it) reveals itself (it looks more like a flower in the dream)
4. Blitz transforms into a wolf motif Venom & jumps up onto it and starts ripping out the "teeth" wanting revenge for this silverblight he saw perish
5. Snake joins Blitz by jumping of the walls & using his rapier to climb the rest of the way to it's mouth
Lair action: everyone makes a con save against the stench of the corpseflower (blitz & snake with disadvantage due to proximity) both fail & drop off the boss, Alpha keels over as well.
6. Alpha calls upon Luma (his first star attached to his body) and sends it into the boss' mouth to ricochet off the teeth.
7. Blitz pays close attention & calls to everyone that beneath the teeth is a gem that gets sucked back in after a few moments of being revealed.
8. Grok changes his shield from Mjolnir form to patriot form and tosses it in the mouth as well, however it ends up getting swallowed instead.
9. Elphangor takes Blitz' original idea & jumps into the mouth and starts ripping up teeth as well, but with a twist. He uses an item found earlier in the dungeon to cast a blinding light while he's mid-air to blind the boss akin to Solar Flare from DBZ.
10. Snake gets to his feet & decides to use his crimson rite to allow everyone's weapons to deal additional electric damage, however upon jumping to reach Elphangor (his last target) he is knocked away & falls unconscious in the hoard of zombies as the strain of so many uses of crimson rite was too much for him (nat 2, everyone got tense on that)
I explain that the next roll will determine the success or failure of the challenge, everyone is on edge. And Blitz, who once again failed the lair action con save, is the first to respond.
11. He wants his symbiote to increase his reach to the boss' mouth, grab the gem, & puncture the body and have it look like a porcupine as the final blow. I let him know this is made at disadvantage, however, Grok chimes in saying he will aid Blitz by concentrating real hard on his swallowed shield to change it back to Mjolnir form & recall it back to knock the boss over. Grok passes the aid ally check and Blitz's player rolls. There was silence as everyone watches their screens to see the roll. The player takes a few sharp breaths and.... nat 20. There was such a loud cheer by even the people who were watching that never played d&d before, I'm surprised we didn't get a notice from the leasing office. The party killed the necromancer & the zombies fell instantly. Blitz slowly wakes from the dream & in the hand he used, he finds a pendant that connects to the family heirloom he wears, changing it from a crescent to a half moon.
This is a great way to handle large-scale events. There should be a supplement just for a dozen examples.
This is amazing, I love this whole idea
andre pimentel Dude! I love this mechanic SO MUCH (only topic I’ve done multiple videos on lol!) glad to have shared it with ya!
@@TheDungeonCoach The Runehammer's angry Bernard made a video on a somewhat similar idea of skill checks ua-cam.com/video/Exgo14aZWTk/v-deo.html. He is a great guy, , maybe you can reach out to him at some point. You guys are my favorite rpg channels on youtube
Fantastic video. Just found your stuff and really loving it. :) Thank you!
I could love to see a video over the homebrew chronomancer class you did^^
I independently created my own skill challenge system four years ago when I was a brand new DM, before I ever knew it was a real thing. I barely knew anything about D&D at the time, as my wife and I just dove in to the game head first after watching a few episodes of Critical Role, and I made up the challenge on the spot. It was clunkier than this system, so I won't share the mechanics, but I'll share the two most memorable challenges my players (my two daughters and my wife) had to face.
For the first challenge, the players had found a magic lamp with a genie, but they didn't trust the genie, so they brought the lamp to an old hermit who was known to collect magic items. The hermit summoned the genie, and wished to do mortal combat with it. As the genie grew to the size of a small mountain, the hermit revealed his true form as an ancient golden dragon! The two fought, tearing apart the country side, and my players had to act quickly to avoid getting caught by rubble or errant attacks! (Spoiler: dragon won easily)
For the second challenge, my players were trapped in a sewer. I had separated my wife's character, to encourage my young daughters to make more decisions and role play more. While looking for their missing companion, they got in to a fight with an alligator, and defeated it with a chromatic orb dealing ice damage. Turned out, the gator was a mother, and she was simply defending her nest. Now, the ice was continuing to freeze the water around the nest, and was in danger of freezing the five babies to death! My daughters had to capture the alligators before they froze, while the gators tried to bite them and squirm away! Four years later, and the party (which now includes some family friends) has a mansion with four alligators (one didn't make it) living in a fountain in the center of a hedge maze!
CrownRock1 I love your stories so much! That is so awesome you went from epic mountain sized battles to heart breaking alligators... beautiful... just beautiful!
This is great. I definitely plan on using this in my new D&D campaign I'm starting. My one concern is the no repeating rule. I totally endorse the idea, and use something similar in social encounters, but I'll have 6 players, four new to 5E. I'm definitely going to say a given character can't repeat the same check round-to-round, but I don't want to bog things down as newer players try to come up with something different than everyone else. Maybe if they seem to flounder I'll suggest Aid Ally.
Jon Osborne Hmmm I see the dilemma with 6 players, that’s a lot of skill coverage across 2 rounds... so 12 unique skills, yea that’s hard.
Here’s what I’d do!
1. YOU can’t repeat a skill back to back from round to round
2. A skill can not be duplicated during a round (two people can’t make athletics checks in the same round)
I feel like this is totally fair
What you think?
And aid ally was a great recommendation too!
@@TheDungeonCoach That's along the lines I was leaning. It keeps players from using their best skills as a crutch and also keeps everyone from trying to pile on something they perceive as 'easy'.
Jon Osborne Done! Do it and let me know how it goes!
I'd love to see a chart made depicting the level of successes needed per difficulty or level
That’s the problem! You can’t make a chart relating those two because they aren’t connected like that and you can combine them in anyway you want! Also to do a party size 👌🏼
Great video, thanks for the ideas! Coincidentally, I just watched a Critical Role episode last night that included a skill challenge getaway scene. It was stressful just watching!
Two quick questions for you:
1. What is the earliest PC level you would throw this at a party? If they're experienced players, could you try it at level 1?
2. What is the earliest you would try this with new players? Would this help them to learn their character better and get creative quicker, or just freak them out?
Thanks again!
Thanks man! Glad I could maybe shed some light to the behind the scenes of how it all works! Yea I always love watching those too, see what players do with limitless creativity!
To answer your question:
1. I would totally do it at level one, I’ve evened opened a campaign with one lol. I just kept it simple with 4 successes and DC 12 👌🏼
2. New players I’d give them 2 sessions and make sure to have some good out of combat time for them to “play around” with their abilities and then at least a combat (one small, one large) to familiarize with what is possible. You don’t want them to get paralyzed by the endless creativity lol
Hope that helps!!
Hey! I don’t suppose you can remember the episode it was from? Would love to see one unfold in a game, especially if Mercer is running!
JGook I went back to check, I’m pretty sure it was Campaign 2, Episode 40: Dubious Pursuits. Sorry I don’t have a time stamp, but I believe it was toward the second half of the episode.
Alex McKay ahhh. Thank you. I’m only up to harvest close. Do I dare skip ahead for a teeny bit?!
There’s also one I noticed in the sewers (episode 10) when they start looking for the creature and bump into the poop rats!
Animal Handling for the Paladin riding back into the falling rock.
maxtrack YES! I love it! That’s also one of the proficiencies he was working on getting better too, very central to the character 👌🏼
Bro!!! Love this mechanic!!! I DM a group of 8 PCs!!!! This will kill the bog.
O damn that’s perfect for you then! I have another system I’ve used that I call “combat challenges” you might like. DM me on discord , or I can type em up once I get my laptop!
Glad to help!
Thank you.
I really like 4e skills challenges, but I *hate* 4e so bad. This was a great idea of how to incorporate that
John the herbalist G updates it with a new 5e spin! Thanks!!
I think a video on interesting combat environments would be cool. Those can sometimes play a larger part than the enemies the players are fighting. Bandits ambushing your wagon on the road? Classic. Bandits ambushing your airship on Wyvern-back in the middle of a thunderstorm? Way cooler.
Spencer Bodine I made a video on spicing up combat with rules and in there I mention this exact thing! Love it! It’s on the list!
@@TheDungeonCoach Radical
This is so good. Can't wait to use something like this for a chase scene, navigation, or certain combats where going into full combat doesn't seem like the best option. This actually reminds me of using elements from Wushu or other cinematic style rpgs, but with a little more strategy. In Wushu the player is given extra dice for details they give (up to 5) to encourage descriptive action. I wonder if you could give them +1 to their roll up to +5 or something, and set the DC higher, especially if you have a group that needs encouraging to give more details. I wonder how it would work for super duper tense moments like a split second in a hostage situation, where every look and movement is a check. It could even be used in critical social scenarios, like intimidation or deception. Players could describe how they move, or what they say using different checks. Obviously, you wouldn't want to overuse it in times like these, but sometimes a single roll doesn't seems a bit of a quick and boring way to resolve action.
Dom Minniti you got the nail on the head with the “not come down to just one roll”
And I have TOTALLY used it in social scenarios, works great!! Glad you’re thinking of where it fits for you!!
I would have made him make an animal handling check with advantage(for such an epic proposal!).
Really good job.
Great video but do you ever get that feeling that it boils down to luck? If your characters are having a bad rolling day, does it mean a TPK in the avalanche? The feel bads would be real because no matter how creative your characters are, they get punished... How would you mitigate that? I want to introduce this but I have a suspicion that 5e took this out because it doesn't work as well with bounded accuracy. Thoughts?
Jonathan Ng that’s exactly why you have to really think about what the fail states are, both for each failure along the way, and total failure.
So TPK, yea that would be nuts!
Here’s what I did in a similar situation to the avalanche
I also want to make sure my players know what the failure is a lot of times too, so once they got to 2 failures and we’re one away, I told them what might happen
They fail the whole thing:
Any player that was in danger of being crushed, rolls a d20, you could have this be a Dex ST of some kind, but I just called it a “fate roll”. And THAT player then drops unconscious, rolls a death saving throw... and the rest of the players now have to find their ally before he dies. I started asking for death saves as time went on
This was HUGE at the table as players frantically tried to save their friend... it all felt right and made sense/ fair
@@TheDungeonCoach I guess that would depend on your agreement with your players. If you created this skill challenge (to create tension and out of nowhere) and it resulted to a player death, will your players be ok with that? (It sounds like you have a group of great players) I guess what I am trying to say is - death caused by their own actions still has the sense of control and autonomy whereas "fate rolls" seem to take that control away. Not trying to be argumentative - just having a friendly discussion :)
Jonathan Ng o no for sure, love these discussions!
Players are in a story and I throw stuff at them along the way as they make decisions. If I see that the story has led them to a situation where as the DM I decide to issue a skill chanllege to give the best feel towards this scenario they are in... and they end up failing it... then there are consequences, and one of those that should always be on the table is death. Not that I’m trying to kill them, but it’s the fact that the players could die that makes their life so important (one factor)
So tippy toeing around the concept of death because the players didn’t agree to it is strange to me. They sit down at my table they are succumbing to my rulings as a DM. I am a fair and carding DM that has nothing but good intentions to tell a great story with them. So death is out there 👌🏼💜
@@TheDungeonCoach Awesome stuff great channel. Liked and subscribed :) Wish you I could player in your campaign - always find myself on the DM side of things ;)
Jonathan Ng hahah same here bro 😆 DMs for life!
When I learned about skill challenges years ago this was just how my DM did them. It has never steered me wrong.
Cameron F nice! It’s a little more open and free from the RAW from 4th edition. Been the BEST! I do em all the time!
A video on magic items that aren’t OP would be good
Its actually funny that you said that... I am literally writing the script for my video this week: Low Level Loot: D&D Mundane Items with a twist. It was destiny that you found me!
The Dungeon Coach that’s really awesome. In the campaign I’m playing right now my dm gave us really good items as level 3s and I feel like just giving them to us was cool but it took out the hard work and reward we should have put in to get them so when I finally DM I would love to give them cool items that won’t break that feeling
@@xavierbegerow6402 THAT is the exact reason for this next video! Show it to your DM once it comes out :P
Thats a big thing you said too, is as a player learning things that youll do different in your own DM style! Love it!
I would give the paladin a 5e point of inspiration!
Brent Snow haha I should have added that in! He got a “Hero Token” which is basically a mega inspiration die! I agree completely!
This is really cool
I found this very insightful and well developed. Thanks for the fantastic video and for providing the rules in text. One question: how do you deal with large parties?
I have an idea, but I'd like to get your take. In my case, I DM for a party of 7, meaning there will need to be at least 7 checks each round to ensure everyone gets to participate. To keep it interesting and dynamic, I want the challenge to last at least 2 rounds. That makes a minimum of 14 checks. So, the successes required needs to be around 10-12 to give everyone a shot at actually affecting the outcome. With so many checks, and only 3 failures allowed, I figure the DC has to be comparatively lower to give them a fair shot. However, (and maybe it's just me) lowering the DC seems to take away some of the "epicness" and encourage safe behavior.
Perhaps a dynamic DC based on the nature of the player's plan, where a successful check on a high DC could result in more than one success? Greater risks, greater rewards?
John Schroeder i appreciate it man! 7 players! That’s awesome!
Here’s my 2 cents
DONT lower the DC... maybe even raise it
Have them take the AID ALLY action and HELP each other with these checks (that would also help on needing so many checks)
I love dynamic DCs and use them myself (check out my other video on skill challenges where I talk about it there) so that’s definitely a good option
I would have the Skill Challenge be this:
12 successes before 3 fails
DC 15
I don’t know how high of a level your players are, so go up/ down from there, but that would be good for a level 5-7ish
Use that as a baseline and go from there!
I wouldn’t recommend two FULL rounds, but if they aid ally enough that might happen. But keep it fast and quick! Hope that helps!
I’ve got 9 players in my current campaign plus 2 active NPC’s. (Yeah I know. We make it work.) So this Q/A was helpful to me too. Follow up: how would you manage the “no repeats” restriction with such a large party (11!)? I’m thinking of maybe just no more than one person can do “x” in a row and no single player can repeat himself. Ideas?
Mind blown.
Chad Gobs hahaha thanks man! Laughed when I read this, made me smile! Thanks bro!
I wish I could Super Like this Video. Awesome
Hi there, recently joined your channel and I find the content very useful and inspired, my honest congrats. Wanted to question about the "Text Doc Skill Challenge TDC" document. On the video, the DC for helping an ally is minus 5, but on the document it says that the DC for this are 10 lower. Which one do you use? (I will lean towards 5 but asking so you know the discrepancy). Keep up with the channel, you are doing a great job
Great stuff, as usual. Cinematic and free-form, the way it should be.
One thing that I think we should talk about more is giving players more agency in deciding how their failures go. That is, letting them narrate an unsuccessful action.
It's not necessarily necessary, but I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the DM's narration of my actions aren't what my character would do, so it'd be good to get them involved as well. Like, I'm talking the kind of mini-negotiation you had with your paladin player: if you do this, X will happen, and maybe the player says, "Well, what if instead of X, Y happened?"
It may be that such negotiations would bog down the table, but you might find that a player would come up with something really cool. For instance, my barbarian would definitely be the sort to try and rescue friends and family, so maybe if he messed up his check, he would instead end up not at the home of someone he intended to rescue but in front of a group of ruffians taking advantage of the chaos to rob someone. That next round, he'd have to decide, do I go after my friend and ignore this injustice, or do I stay and fight and possibly not get a chance to save my friend?
Benjamin Blackhurst I agree whole heartedly... the LAST thing I’d want to do is describe a failure that invalidates a players agency! AND I’d tie this in with failing “at a cost” that would be a great video!
@@TheDungeonCoach I look forward to the video. :)
Benjamin Blackhurst finishing it up now! 👍🏼
This is a great video, I love your channel!
Does 5E give rules on how you would've dealt with players trying to dig someone out of the rubble before they die? I see how you could skill challenge that as well, but I'm curious how RAW would apply to something like that..
Great way to bring the storytelling to the next level in your game. I love it. Only question I have: how do you deal with skill monkeys? D&D with its proficiency/expertise system seems to give rogues/bards a huge advantage with those skill challenges …
That's okay though. That's a good thing. Your rogues and bards will LOVE these challenges. It will give them a chance to shine. Other classes have advantages in other situations, and will shine then!
Here is a suggestion, but first a question: what is the element--or combination of elements--that make this approach to skill challenges so cool? Now the suggestion: could some of these process approaches be utilized in standard combat to make day to day combat as exciting and epic as this, every time?
Have you covered using random tables and wandering monsters?
Perkins Dearborn I have videos on my long rest system and travel system, but not a video about random encounters yet. 😆
High level play seems to lend itself to skill challenges alot. I seem to use them more the higher level the party is. Maybe you could do a video on keeping high level play interesting
Good recommendation! That also reminds me of a time i threw TWO skill challenges at once (had to choose which one to be in round by round) and I’ve thrown a skill challenge and combat at my players at the same time! Lol
Definitely could do an “advanced combat high level play” video
I just discovered your video and found it to be quite useful. I have run skill challenges before to a varying degree of success. This video might be old but I still hope you'll see the comment :) I have some questions regarding your rules:
Q1: In your iteration of the SC - do players need to be proficient in the skills they are using ?
Q2: Once they use 1 skill in a specific round - that skill is locked for everyone else or only for the PC that uses the skill?
Q3: When a player rolls high enough for "Aid Ally" - does this count towards the SC successes ?
Kyle Petkov hey man! Yea I so far have never missed a comment in over 6 months! 👍🏼💜
I got you!
1. You do NOT have to be proficient, I feel the value in players doing “what feels right” in the moment. That wizard was not proficient in persuasion, but that’s what he chose to do!
2. Once a skill is used it is off the table for EVERYONE for the rest of that current round AND the following round. So basically a use of a skill puts it on a one round “cool down”
3. NO, they chose to help an ally, at a reduced risk, they don’t get to double dip and go towards the challenge success too, BUT if they fail the DC it DOES count as a failure, keeps the stakes high but it’s easier because of the lowered DC!
Hope that helps!
@@TheDungeonCoach It helps a lot! Thanks for the response :) I will apply those rules this Sunday and will tweak if needed. I am currently binge-watching your vids and looking forward to the new ones. Wish you a steady growth. Waves from Eastern Europe!
Kyle Petkov Europe! Nice! Glad to help and appreciate the support!! 👌🏼 I got you bro!
I totally thought Con save throw
Hey Mr Coach - awesome video (and content in general) thank you!
I've been trying to implement your take on skill challenges. I got somewhat thrown off by my players' use of spells.
In a setting like the avalanche my players were quick to use Dimension Door, Misty Step and Polymorph (to fly).
I see how you would make each of these a spell casting check to bring them closer to a total succes or failure. But would you lock out spell casting for the current and next round to avoid repeated spell casting checks? Or is the limit to repeating checks only for the traditional skills?
With a bard, druid, warlock, paladin and fighter they see magics as their primary toolbox :)
Lars J. Jensen I have had an entire chase scene destroyed by a gold person BUT NOW here’s what I do:
Have them make a spell casting check (spell mod + Prof) then the next caster that just does a spell could make a flat casting mod check WOTHOUT proficiency (just like an athletics check turns into a flat strength check of someone does something too similar)
BUT THEN if a third person does a spell I would have it be a spell mod check BUT at disadvantage and keep adding punishments to repeats.
THIS makes players start to cast spells creatively with their descriptions and maybe cast invisibility but want it to be a stealth check (if that’s what they are going for)
Or a cleric etc doing religion checks or druids doing nature or bards doing performance 👍🏼
This help?? I have a whole video prepared on these extra tips
@@TheDungeonCoach Awesome compromise instead of just locking out further spells after the first one. I like it.
You are a great asset to the DND-community - thanks!
So my group has an npc traveling with them right now and I want to do a chase scene. Would you add the npc to the successes or failures or maybe have them roll but only for story purposes and not for success and failure? Or something else?
Can I see that Geomancer homebrew anywhere?
I've used Skill Challenges, but they are quite tough when playing with a small party. I'm currently playing with only two players so they don't really have time to think about their next moves and the variety of different skills available is lower than in your average 3-5 character party.
Rampe that class is one of the many digital resources I give to my Patreon Supporters. But shoot me an email and I’ll send it to ya! You’ve been supporting me with all these views and comments lol
Thedungeoncoach@gmail.com
@@TheDungeonCoach Done! I'm already running out of videos from you so can't wait to see more in the future!
Rampe hah you ROCK!! I got your email, so I’ll send it once I’m next to my laptop 👌🏼you’re an awesome addition to this community! I love your outlook!
I also have love streams for extra content haha
I Homebrew a 2 shot in the ones titled that!
Elemental Archer? Sounds dope could someone link me to where I could find it?
Caleb Heckendorn I do not have it in digital form but is something I am going to open up to my Patrons in the future, unless I make a video about it, then I’ll put it woth that! 👍🏼
@@TheDungeonCoach Awesome!
how would you handle them casting spells? would it take a spell slot or would it be free during a skill challenge?
Ok so considering you let the geomancer make a spell check to use magic outside of his actual spells (lifting/pushing rocks), how would you handle someone wanting to use an actual spell on their turn?
Say you were running a siege defense against an army of undead and the Paladin wants to cast Crusader’s Mantle. This will give all the nearby npc archers on the walls 1d4 radiant damage bonus to use against them. What roll would you call for at that point? Would they still spend a spell slot? Would they get advantage?
17joren So spells are a super fun thing! And you can handle them a number of ways!
So they could have buffed an ally/ guards for then THEY make a check they could add a d4 to the roll on top of it (another player joins in with the guards to defends and also gets the radiant surge)
Or it could be viewed as the aid ally thing and grant advantage... OR BOTH
So I’d rule it in one of two ways
1. Have the spell go off and have them make an Aid ally roll at 5 less of a DC, then I’d have the guards on the wall (assuming there wasn’t a PC there to join in) and they’d make an “attack roll” at advantage AND the Paladin would roll 1d4 to add to it!
That seems epic!
OR
2. Keep it simple and in line with what normally would happen:
Paladin makes a Charisma Spell check (char mod + prof bonus) against the Skill Challenge DC and it either succeeds or fails.
Fail = the additional radiant damage the guards have wasn’t enough to overcome the forces
Succeed = the radiant damage was SO STONG, it pushed back the assault!
I’d say don’t get too caught up in the spell going off exactly as it is written, and look at the overall cinematic effect (see other video in skill challenges)
I hope this was thorough, loved the question!
@@TheDungeonCoach Great solutions, thanks bro!
17joren I got you bro!
I am planning to use a Skill Challenge for an urban chase encounter. I want it to be quick. Success results in PC's reaching those they are chasing and a possible combat. Failure results in the bad guys escaping, leaving the players with a mystery. I want the encounter to engage the players into a new adventure hook. Probably DC12, 3 success rolls before 3 failure rolls.
Question: Do you simply tie narration to the skill being used during the Skill Challenge?
With just 3 successes before 3 failures = 5 skill rolls for the whole encounter?
Perkins Dearborn DC 12 is the minimum number id do for a skill challenge, yes and 3 success is the lowest, so that is a perfect intro skill challenge!
As they get closer to each game state (failing or succeeding) I change my description accordingly and usually have some kind of trigger for failures (crowd of people block their way, they collapse a fruit cart in front of you and pull away, then 3 failures they jump over a small wall and when you jump over they are nowhere to be seen)
And yes that challenge will take between 3 - 5 rolls to finish! 👍🏼
I really wish I had watched this before my last game. The players were in a tower, beat the big bad, and the tower began to collapse. I didn't know how to play it. Skill checks would have made it much cooler. Next time. :)
I wish i posed it a weeks sooner for you bro! Also... I JUST saw this comment... or maybe... I have been ignoring it for 5 months... muahahaha
The paladin would need to make an animal handling check to make the horse ride back into danger and to spurr it to ride faster.
So 2 years later (I'm going back into your library of videos - found a lot of inspiration in them), and it seems no one took you up on your challenge. My assumption in this is you seperate types of attack rolls, as the last two rounds seem to have an obvious ranged from archer, and melee from barbarian. (Correct me if I'm wrong)
Round 1
1. Initiative.
2. Perception.
Round 2
3. Tricky one. A save feels cool here and I'll say Int (even though Cha seems more sorcerer-like)
4. Another tricky one. I'll outside the box go Reflex save instead of spell attack (I know i just cheated haha, and still prob got it wrong)
Round 3
5. Ranged attack.
6. Arcana. (This too could be many things, pending what the round before was)
Round 3
7. Let's say something crazy and go intimidate. (Spell attack might be a safer answer)
8. Medicine.
9. Melee surely!
Well did i pass coach?
Cheers from Down Under for the creative ideas.
My party is going to have to navigate and get through a stampede of med, large, and huge beasts. There will be 7 of them, and one large ally. What kind of challenges can I throw at them in this scenario. It will be through a lightly forested region. Any ideas?