Would seem like a great place to brainstorm ideas an run rationale for some choices on DCs and bonuses and penalties for check failures based on the context of the poster's example.
I just spent hours studying the existing Skill Challenge "template" and re-created a more readable version for my own use, and then created a few examples Skill Challenges.
And yes, I did go grab all the errata as well, most significantly the DC chart errata and the fact that failure totals are now always 3.
The only major gap in the rules that the DMG text is a bit vague on is adjusting the level of the Skill Challenge, which I'd like some feedback from folks here if would kindly:
If you use easy DCs reduce the level by 2, and if you used hard DCs increase it by 2, most specifically. What exactly does "use" mean?
Does one instance of an easy DC automically reduce your Skill Challenge's difficulty? Or does that mean most or all skill check DCs need to be easy to reduce the difficulty?
Similar question for increasing difficulty by "using" hard DCs. Does one skill check with a hard DC bump it up? Or most of them as hard? All of them?
What makes this hard to figure out is that none of the examples in the DMG use party levels or skill challenge levels, yet they make use of skill check listings within some Skill Challenges which show a mix of easy, moderate and hard DC's.
Which begs that question... what the heck does that do to the Skill Challenge's level? It's hard to be sure when it's unclear if one, some, most, or all of the listed primary skills need to be easy or hard in order to actually reduce or increase the Skill Challenge's level.
Thanks
and apologies if there's a better forum for this and I missed it somehow."Level" refers to the challenge rating just like combat encounter. "Use" referrers to the difficulty that you set for the encounter. A mix of easy and difficult checks should work like using a bunch of mixed level monsters in a battle.
You retain ownership of your ideas. But you give Wizards the right to use it. (Mostly, this is to prevent someone from suing them if something they write ends up resembling something that person wrote.)
You retain ownership of your ideas. But you give Wizards the right to use it. (Mostly, this is to prevent someone from suing them if something they write ends up resembling something that person wrote.)
Oh. Hm. Subtle. Again, I don't think that I'll go on to publish anything I write, but what if I put together a decent Skill Challenge and someone tells me they'd like to use it in an adventure and I "give them the rights" - but at the same time Wizards, who is also allowed to use it, publishes something similar. Seems like the person using my idea might have problems of a legal nature, or something.
But yeah, if you're planning on making money on your IP, it's probably best not to preview the stuff on someone else's website. You should consult a flesh-and-blood attorney for the legal ins and outs, though.
You'd probably want to disclose that these ideas were expounded on a website, the owner of which has a perpetual license to that material.
But yeah, if you're planning on making money on your IP, it's probably best not to preview the stuff on someone else's website. You should consult a flesh-and-blood attorney for the legal ins and outs, though.
I'm just an unfrozen caveman and I don't understand things like "intellectual property" and "internets." What I do understand is that you've been most helpful, and that I should probably stop worrying. Thanks.
I'm just an unfrozen caveman and I don't understand things like "intellectual property" and "internets." What I do understand is that you've been most helpful, and that I should probably stop worrying. Thanks.
To summarize:
If you plan on ever allowing non-wizards people to make money from your ideas: don't post the full idea
If you don't post, if someone wants to use it, disclose that wizard's has the right to use your property as well.