Because you can’t punch the weather
Combat can be fun, but running into bandits or a pissed-off Owlbear every time you make take a trip out of town is a bit of a bore. Skill challenges are a good way to make use of neglected character abilities, and you can pull these out of the air as and when required. They’re perfect for something like a chase scene or a break-in. They made their first appearance in D&D 4E, but you can use them in just about any TTRPG.
This article suggests how I think they would be run, and does not follow a particular system’s rules.
What are skill challenges?
The basic concept of a skill challenge is that players make skill checks to clear obstacles. The difficulty can be adjusted by varying either the DC of the check, or the number of successful checks required. The GM can state what the characters are facing, but it’s generally more interesting to make it collaborative. Let the players describe what they are doing to advance the encounter.
They are a good option for resolving events and pushing the story on.
Running a skill challenge
Start by establishing the dilemma. Is the party trapped in a collapsing tower, do they need to break into a gang’s headquarters? It could be something less grand, such as a chase scene, dealing with an angry mob, or simply a long journey.
Explain the rules
Set the scene for the players; describe the environment in reasonable detail so they have a starting point for deciding their actions.
Inform the players of the number of successful checks required to pass. That is probably around 6-12, but depends on the size of the party. You want everyone to have at least one turn. The number of failed checks is normally 3.
You can use DCs that reflect the challenge difficulty – 10 for easy, 15 for moderate, and 20 for hard. Alternatively, you can pick a DC that reflects the appropriateness of the skill to the intent.
Players can go on order of initiative, rolled initiative, or as they decide amongst themselves. You can also simply go round in a circle.
Player turns
The player explains what they are trying to do, and the skill they are using. Maybe they want to secure a rope and abseil out of the window using acrobatics. You might allow the use of bennies/action points/inspiration for a reroll if the player doesn’t succeed.
Narrating outcome
Regardless of success or failure, describe the consequences of the attempt. A skill challenge is about advancing the story, so use the ‘fail forward’ approach. If the abseiling player fumbles the roll, have the rope come loose but they manage to grab onto the wall.
Their action was not meaningless – it just either wasn’t as successful as intended or caused another complication.
Resolution
The party wins if they succeed enough checks. They escape the tower, catch the bandit, or arrive safely at their destination. The group receives some sort of boon – safety, information, or financial gain.
Failure might lead to physical harm, the henchmen getting away, or a trip to the cells in handcuffs. This isn’t combat – nobody dies.
Variations
You can (and arguably should) mix up skill challenges by forcing players to keep using different skills. For example, a player may not use a skill if it has been used by someone else in the current round, or if it’s the skill they used in the previous round. This might be slightly too restrictive if you have a large group. In such cases, you could simply block the skill used by the player last round, and the skill used by the previous player.
Skill challenges can also be broken up into stages. This is really useful for narratively spanning a long period of time – such as a prolonged journey through the wilderness. Go round the table once and determine the result based on the level of success. Do this a few times, with each representing a time step. You will generally want to state the main obstacle for each stage.
Something like a chase scene is better run as one continuous challenge. These will evolve more naturally, and their progression shouldn’t be pre-planned. Here are a couple of examples.
Staged challenges
What are the players trying to achieve, and over what sort of timeframe? In this instance they’re attempting to navigate an inhospitable mountain range, which is likely to take a few days. Proposed actions should further this aim.
GM: The temperature is dropping, the wind is picking up, and the path is getting rather vague beneath the snow. Nelsavious, what skill will you use to traverse the mountain, and how?
Nelsavious: I’m going to use history to recall some old maps of the area, my father was a cartographer in a nearby town.
GM: Sounds good; that’s a DC of 15.
Degrees of success
There’s no need to have a binary result; I decided on three possible outcomes for this stage.
Resounding success (all/nearly all passed):
As the snowfall thickens, the party make out a faint orange light in the distance – it’s the tent of a travelling merchant. Refuge from the weather, a hot meal, and maybe the opportunity to trade. DC10 Con save in the morning, 1d6 fatigue damage on a fail.
Reasonable success (at least half passed):
Night falls, and the biting wind is relentless. A small cavern could provide the team with partial shelter. DC15 Con save in the morning, 1d6 fatigue damage on a fail.
Poor effort (more than half failed):
It’s going to be a grim night for the group. DC20 Con save in the morning, 1d6 fatigue damage on a fail.
Second stage
The party spot large animal tracks on the next leg of the journey. I’d consider Stealth or Perception to have low DCs, but Intimidation or Survival are also strong options.
Resounding success (all/nearly all passed):
The party successfully avoid the local wildlife, bandits, liches, dragons, and angry mountain gods. They arrive safe and sound at their destination.
Reasonable success (at least half passed):
The team catch sight of a pack of wolves, prowling around a snowbank; everyone makes a DC5 stealth check to slink past.
Poor effort (more than half failed):
Wolves are sneaky, and hard to spot in the snow; they get the jump on the group with a surprise round. Perhaps one of the party members was wounded and they tracked the scent of blood.
Continuous challenges
Dirk, the infamous candyfloss bandit has struck again; he makes a break for it after nabbing the group’s spun confections. You could resolve this by looking at everyone’s movement speed and applying some modifiers – but that is dull AF! A standard skill challenge is far more fun.
GM: Dirk knocks over an applecart, scattering fruit across the street. He speeds up and begins to round the corner; what do you do?
Brindlepit: Using my athletics, I’m going to try and knock him out by throwing an apple.
GM: You shouldn’t play with your food, but alright. He’s quite far away so that’s a DC of 15.
Brindlepit: Success!
GM: You catch Dirk squarely in the back of his head. He staggers and falls against a wall – he’s still on the move but you’ve slowed him down.
Samsimple: I’m going to close the gap by using gymnastics to leap over the cart.
GM: That doesn’t sound too difficult for you, so the DC is 10.
Adjusting difficulty
You can adjust the number of successful rolls required, the amount of unsuccessful checks that lead to failure, or the DC of the checks themselves. This is entirely down to your play style. I like to set an appropriate DC based on the suitability of the skill, so I don’t set the bar too high. I also like to have at least one or two rolls per player, so the number of successful rolls is usually determined by the size of the group. That leaves the number of failed rolls, which works for me.
Don’t drag out a skill challenge for the sake of it. If player actions are awesome and it seems like you’ve reached a natural conclusion, call it a win and end it there.
Final thoughts
A skill challenge requires no preparation and gives your players some narrative control – they’re perfect for bridging the gap between combat and roleplay. You can easily use them in any system that includes character skills; if those aren’t available, you can use base stats or even the dice roll alone. I highly recommend checking out Ten Candles if you enjoy this sort of thing. The game is basically one long skill challenge – collaborative roleplaying at its finest.