Don't Let Them See the Sausage
Part 4 Covers Why Skill Challenges Belong Behind the Screen
Skill challenges are the THAC0 of 4th edition. They are a notorious mechanic that many do not understand, but those that do are able to use them to craft some really amazing encounters.
You don’t need to search very hard to find people complaining about skill challenges. It is a popular target for anyone jumping on the, ‘I hate 4th edition’, bandwagon. As with any rule, there are certainly some valid points to be made. But most of the criticisms of skill challenges come down to a single core point.
The Dungeon Master forgot who skill challenges are for.
It is a common complaint that CGI ruins movies. But want we are really reacting to is bad CGI. We never say a word about the dozen other wonderful effects that fit seamlessly onto the screen.
The same is true for skill challenges. You only notice the ones that fall flat. When they are done well, they can be amazing.
Let’s take a look…
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Who Are Skill Challenges For?
If you scour the Player’s Handbooks for information on skill challenges, you will find a total of 512 words that serve only to define what the term means. This definition then points you to the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more details.
Meanwhile, the two Dungeon Master’s Guides dedicate 32 full pages to guiding you through how to create and run skill challenges. Each book includes a ton of examples that you can use in your adventure.
Clearly, skill challenges are a tool for the Dungeon Masters, not the players.
The DM Toolbox
The 4th edition Dungeon Master’s Guides each contain numerous tools to help DMs put together encounters and full campaigns. Random dungeons, wandering monster tables, and encounter-building formulas are part of the DMs toolbox. The player does not need to know about any of these things.
It is the DM that gets to decide which of these components to include in their game. They can use these tools as written or come up with their own approach. As an example, the Dungeon Master’s Guide contains a whole section with recommendations for handing out treasure, but there is no requirement that it be followed to the letter. It is a tool. Nothing more.
Skill challenges are simply another tool in the toolbox to help the DM run a campaign that will be fun for them and the players. If the DM, or the group, does not like skill challenges, then don’t use them. If the DM feels they should be handled differently, then they are free to run them differently.
The D&D rules cannot possibly account for the variety of campaigns and play styles of every group. If you disagree with how the rules handle something, changing them is within your rights. — Dungeon Master’s Guide p189
Keep Your Work to Yourself
Dungeon Masters will toil away for hours putting together interesting combat encounters for their players. They will dig deep into the Monster Manuals. They will run all the numbers through the various formulas to get the right balance. They will use random tables to populate the room with interesting objects. They will find just the right magic item reward that the players can discover after the last monster falls.
And when it is time to run the encounter, the DM doesn’t say a word about all the work they put in. The player doesn’t care about all that. If the players had fun, then the DM did their job and everyone goes home happy.
The same is true for skill challenges. They are a tool for the DM. They help the Dungeon Master set the scene, create tension, anticipate actions, adjust the difficulty, and keep everything moving.
The best skill challenges are the ones that your players didn’t even realize they were in.
A Guide, Not a Script
Monster stat blocks are cheat sheets. They contain everything that a monster could do during the encounter. They are in no way a script that you must follow when running the encounter. The same is true for skill challenges.
The skill challenge is just your cheat sheet to help you adjust to the players as they work through the challenge. You would not, generally, share the monster stat block with the players and you do not need to share the skill challenge details with them either.
When putting the skill challenge together, you will no doubt have thoughts about what actions the players might take. Jot these ideas down and make note of which actions you think the players should roll checks for. Make sure that any time you ask them to roll, there is a reward for success and a penalty for failure.
It is entirely possible that the players do not use any of the ideas that you made note of when you put the encounter together. That is perfectly fine. Let them explore. Let them say crazy things. Let them pull the lever that they shouldn’t. Your notes are not limitations on their creativity, but simply a guide to help you prepare for different scenarios.
I mentioned in the skill challenge paradox why players tend to get frustrated when game mechanics get in the way of their roleplaying. While it can be a tension-builder to announce that a skill challenge is beginning, I personally like to just roll into the encounter without any proclamations at all.
Setup the situation and let the players do their thing. As they take actions, ask them to roll skill checks. Behind your screen, you make a note of the successes and failures. The rewards and penalties from each skill check should be enough to let them know if they are accomplishing the goal.
If your players are immersed in the story and making creative choices for their characters, then your skill challenge is working perfectly.
And they don’t even need to know it was there.
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Couldn’t agree more! It’s especially challenging when you have experienced players that have a ton of monster stat blocks already committed to memory. DMs have to be more clever about not telegraphing. Same concept applies to skill challenges. The best encounters are the ones shrouded in mystery, and the joy comes from uncovering the secrets to these mysteries organically. It’s the art of blending roleplaying with rollplaying.