Skill Challenges

General Rules for Skill Challenges

• The DM:
  • Announces that the players have entered a skill challenge.
  • Describes the scenario.
  • Identifies the objective.
  • Specifies how many success are required before how many failures.
• Players:
  • Describe how they use one of their skills to help the party pass the challenge.
    • Must describe how their character is using a skill, but their descriptions may also reference other character features. In those cases, the costs and effects of using those features are limited to the skill challenge itself.
      • For example, if a player describes casting a spell as part of a skill challenge, then the spell slot is expended and the spell’s effects are resolved as usual, but after the skill challenge ends, the player recovers their spell slot and the effects of the spell do not have any lasting impact on the game world beyond the results of the skill challenge itself.
      • In other words, skill challenges are treated as mini-games, and only the end results of skill challenges are carried over into the larger game world.
  • Can choose their own initiative order every round.
  • Cannot use the Help action.
  • Cannot use the Hold action.
  • Cannot use the same skill as the player whose turn immediately preceded theirs.
  • Cannot use the same skill in two consecutive turns.

Difficulty of Skill Challenges

There are two typos of skill challenges:

• In Media Res
• Downtime

In Media Res Skill Challenge Difficulty

DCs for In Media Res Skill Challenges

Player Level	Easy (8+)	Average (10+)	Challenging (12+)	Very Difficult (15+)
1-4	13	15	17	19
5-8	14	16	18	20
9-12	15	17	19	21
13-17	16	18	20	22
18-20	17	19	21	23

* These DCs consider only baseline proficiencey and ability bonuses and may be adjusted upward if characters acquire supplemental features or magic items beyond their baselines.

Successes before Failures for In Media Res Skill Challenges

These skill challenge difficulty sliders may be adjusted upward as parties acquire supplemental abilities, feats, and magic items.

Difficulty	Successes and Failures
Very Easy	NoPM-2 Successes / 3 Failures
Easy	NoPM-2 Successes / 2 Failures
Medium	NoPM-1 Successes / 2 Failures
Hard	NoPM Successes / 2 Failures
Very hard	NoPM+1 Successes / 2 Failures

* “NoPM” means “Number of Party Members.”

Downtime Skill Challenges

DCs for Downtime Skill Challenges

Use the DCs for In Media Res skill challenges as a guide to set DCs for each character’s proposed use of a skill in each situation.

Situational Variables	Increasing DC	Decreasing DC
Available Time (Hours/Days,Weeks/Months/Years)	Less	More
Readily Available Relevant Information	Less	More
Readily Available Relevant Resources (NPCs, Wealth, Mundane Items, Magic Items)	Less	More

Successes before Failures for Downtime Skill Challenges

Difficulty	Successes and Failures
Very Easy	NoPM-1 Successes / 3 Failures
Easy	NoPM-1 Successes / 2 Failures
Medium	NoPM Successes / 2 Failures
Hard	NoPM+1 Successes / 2 Failures
Very hard	NoPM+2 Successes / 2 Failures

* “NoPM” means “Number of Party Members.”

Rule Varations

Mandatory, Preferred, and Ineffecient Skills

• Some skill challenges may designate certain skills as:
  • Mandatory
  • Preferred (rolled at advantage)
  • Ineffecient (rolled at disadvantage)

Boons & Banes

• Use critical failures and successes from Tome of Skills

Degrees of Success & Failure

• Successes carry cumulative benefits at predetermined points, such as:
  • Every success
  • Every other success
  • At the midpoint of passing the skill challenge
• Failures carry cumulative negative consequence at predetermined points, such as:
  • Every failure
  • Every other failure
  • At the midpoint of failing the skill challenge