Category: Skill Challenges

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Find the Phylactery

phylacteryDefeating a Lich is not a simple as overcoming it in combat. Liches tie their life force to objects known as phylacteries. The phylactery can range from mundane to mystical. Each Lich has their own preference on what constitutes an acceptable phylactery. What Liches have in common is that their Phylactery is to be well hidden and well protected.

This is the first of two skill challenges that deals with Liches and their phylacteries. In part 1 the PCs must Find The Phylactery and in part 2 the PCs must Unlock The Phylactery.

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Player Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Focus: Religion

The most common use for knowledge skills is to identify monsters and perform rituals. The knowledge skills tend to take a back seat to social and physical skills during most skill challenges. The knowledge skills are so tightly focused that most players assume these skills have a limited scope. But this doesn’t mean that they have limited uses. It’s up to players to be imaginative and creative.

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Player Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Focus: Diplomacy

After Perception, Diplomacy seems to be the skill used most often in my games. Any time your PC finds himself in a social situation you know that you’re going to end up making a Diplomacy check. But Diplomacy is more that just talking the talk. It’s usually about knowing what to say and how to say it. Your PC’s body language can also have as much of an impact as the words coming out of his mouth.

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Humour Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Battle for the Remote

How often do you think of real-life situations in game terms? A recent “discussion” in my household inspired me to put together this skill challenge. It’s played from the male point of view. I’ve discovered that in real life whenever my wife needs to make a skill check she uses her at-will, wife paragon path ability to re-roll checks until she gets a result that she feels is favourable.

Background

You’ve worked hard all week and now all you want to do is kick back and enjoy the game. But your significant other has other plans. Her favourite show is on at the same time and she plans to watch it on the flatscreen TV. If you haveany chance of watching the game you’d better act quickly and whatever you do, don’t give up the remote.

Setup

You want to watch sports; she wants to watch something else (not sports). You’re already on the couch with the remote in hand. The game is already on and the kick-off, first pitch, tip-off or puck drop is happening in the next few minutes.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Babysitting the Brats

The PCs are about to face the most dangerous threat of their adventuring careers… kids.

Setup

The PCs need a favour from an innkeeper, merchant or noble figure. The cost of the favour is babysitting. This might be only for a few hours but it could be as long as a few days (this is left up to the DM). Fighting monsters is easy compared to watching young children. Can the PCs entertain and feed the children without getting them killed?

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Player Resources Skill Challenges

First Look PHB3: Skill Powers

Player's Handbook 3It’s been a few weeks since Wizards of the Coast released the latest preview content for the Player’s Handbook 3: Skill Powers. During that time I’ve read over and digested the new information. Overall, I like what I see.

There was a time when I was worried about the direction 4e was going in, but with the recent release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 and the preview content made available to DDI subscribers those fears have been abated. So just what is WotC provided in this latest offering?

“Skill powers are utility powers that you qualify for not based on your class, but by virtue of your training in a particular skill.” In other words more options for you.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Honour the Dead

Adventuring is a high risk profession. Traversing harsh terrain, exploring the cavernous underdark and fighting dragons are just a few things that may lead to an adventurer’s untimely and unexpected death. In a game with magical healing and resurrection rituals, the truly powerful don’t remain dead for long. But there will come a time when someone’s death truly means that they are gone forever. Honouring the dead can be an important role-playing experience to the larger campaign.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Back to School

There comes a time in every adventurer’s career when they need to do something that is beyond their skill-set. In most cases it’s probably something that they’ve never had any need to do before or never expect that they would have to do themselves. When this happens, the DM can simply say that you spend time training or he can make the training sessions a little bit more exciting and throw this skill challenge at you.

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DM Resources Eberron Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Protect The Caravan

Gen Con is here and many loyal gamers flock to Indy on this annual pilgrimage I thought what better way to celebrate than a skill challenge about caravans.

Trade is an integral part of any society. The vital caravans that move goods from one area to another require protection. PCs are often called upon to provide this service. It allows the DM an easy way to move the PCs to a new location or introduce an adventure hook.

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DM Resources Eberron Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Find and Repair the Warforged Scout (Part 2)

In Find and Repair the Warforged Scout (Part 1) the PCs undertook a mission to scour a battlefield in search of the components of Obsidian, a Warforged scout thought destroyed during the war. Newly discovered information led some to believe that Obsidian was not completely destroyed and that with the right ritual he could be reactivated. If this happens information the scout possesses will be incredibly valuable and potentially damaging to very important people in many different nations.

Setup

Part 2 of the skill challenge begins after the PC recover the missing Warforged components. Now that they have the components they can attempt to put Obsidian back together and try to reactivate him. But this is delicate work that requires a coordinated effort from the entire party.

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