A Skill Challenge inspired system (that hopefully works)

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OgreBattle
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A Skill Challenge inspired system (that hopefully works)

Post by OgreBattle »

After seeing all the discussion on all the ways skill challenges have failed and some pointers on how to make them succeed I decided to put together a rules set of how I think Skill Challenges should work, made to be its own standalone game of sorts:

Resolution Mechanics
-Roll a d20+modifiers to beat DC.
-Gain X successes before Y turns pass.
-If you fail 3 times in a row you are knocked out of the challenge



Character Creation
You are a murderhobo adventurer. Choose 6 skills from the list below to be Proficient in, and then choose 3 skills you are proficient in to be Focused in.

If you are not trained in a skill you are -4 on rolls to use it
Proficiency has a +0 bonus, removing the penalty for being untrained
Focused grants a +3 bonus to rolls.

You gain a modifier to ALL skills equal to your level

Skill List
Athletics
Acrobatics
Endurance

Insight
Perception

Thievery
Stealth
Apothecary

Bluff
Intimidate
Diplomacy

Religion
Arcana
Nature
Streetwise
History

Running a Challenge


The nature of the challenge determines how effective/limited each skill is.

Determine the effectiveness of each skill for the challenge
Perfect: The skill is highly appropriate and gains +2 when rolled.
Neutral: The skill works as normal without any modifiers
Bad: The skill is inappropriate for the challenge and suffers a -2 penalty to rolls.
Locked: Using this skill cannot add a success

Certain Skills may have additional effects when a success is achieved
-Limited: After X successes are achieved with this skill it becomes Locked
-Unlock: This skill's success changes the effectiveness of another skill, such as making a Locked skill now neutral or a Bad skill becomes Perfect.
-Save: This skill's success allows a KO'd player back into the challenge
-Extend: This skill's success adds another round of rolling to the skill challenge

DC's and level appropriateness
Here's a guide to setting DC's for challenges

Too Easy: DC= Character level +2
Very Easy: DC= Character level +5
Decent Challenge: DC= Character level +8
Evenly Matched: DC= Character level +10
Tough: DC= Character level +12
Very Tough: DC= Character level +15
Incredibly Tough: DC= Character level +18
Impossible: DC= Character level +20
The mechanics are set on where success and failure happens, but when you roll the dice you vividly describe how the actions are carried out.

If I were to cram this into a D&D4e inspired heartbreaker the math would probably be adjusted, but how does it stand as it is?

Building a challenge is basically the GM taking a list of the skills listed and marking off which skills will be perfect/neutral/bad/locked/limited/unlockers/savers/extenders.
Last edited by OgreBattle on Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Fix your tags, dude. It's murder to try and read something in a tag-fucked thread.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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