Any ideas for refinement or other methods of handling it?
Dungeoneering might let you present two caves or other forms of shelter (maybe ruins, or the remains of a caravan; perhaps the hollowed husk of some giant beast), and allow the party to determine which one is "safer."
Make it a 3 stages skill challenge:
Stage 1, Pre-Sandstorm:
A sandstorm suddendly looms on the horizen, moving with uncanny speed towards the party. A deep rumble accompanies the storm, as if the wind howls for revenge. You have only a moments notice to find some shelter to withstand the oncoming onslaught.
Special: The sandstorm "surprises the company", all characters that pass a nature or perception check (Moderate DC) can make 2 checks in this stage. Characters that fail this check are surprised, and only get 1 check because they caught off guard.
Primary Skills (moderate DC): Athletics to gain ground on the sandstorm before it hits; Nature and Perception to find an location that contains suitable shelter resources before the sandstorm hits;
Secondary Skills: Streetwise, the skills used to scavange the streets are relevant here; Dungeoneering helps find suitable shelters.
If the party makes X successful checks in Stage 1, the party is successful in building a suitable shelter and gets Y bonus successes for stage 2.
Stage 2, Hunkering Down:
Failed Stage 1:
The fierce winds whip apart any and all your efforts to build a shelter. You must survive the storm without one, and hope that it blows over quickly.
Successful Stage 2:
You brace your makeshift shelter against the strong winds and shards of sand. As the power of the storm hits, you feel sand and silt get in your lungs, and the shelter creaks and groans against the ancient and savage primordial power of the sandstorm.
Primary (hard DC): Endurance, Athletics, Stealth, Heal
Goal: X successes.
At the end of each round, if X successes haven't been reached, all characters lose a healing surge.
Stage 3, Cleaning Up:
The winds die down as the sandstorm moves on to ravage another part of the tableslands. It leaves you covered with sand and broken rubble. Silt coats your mouth and small insects crawl over your skill. You all need to dig yourselves out of your predicament.
Primary (easy DC): Athletics to escape out from under the rubble and sand.
Failure: Player begins to suffocate under the sand and small insects begin to bore into your skin: Make an endurance check to avoid suffocation and pain. Success on suffocation gives you -1 to your upcoming checks. Failure on suffocation means you lose a healing surge.
Success: You've dug yourself out. You may aid another to help them escape.
Aid Another Checks (easy DC): use Athletics, Nature, Dungeoneering.
Goal: All characters must pass the Athletics check once.
Big_Goon, that's a great idea! I'll have to tweak it a bit to fit the story, but I like the multi-stage approach.
Don't forget about skills like History, Stealth, Streetwise, Intimidate, etc... players will get training in these skills too.
Maybe the Sandstorm hits right when they find shelter at an ancient city ruins. Streetwise and History suddenly becomes important. Or maybe the storm is filled with wailing banshees and religion is needed to get around them? Or a bloodsucking-cactus manages to snag a player, and Theivery is needed to free the player from the "trap", or... okay I can't think of a way intimidate might be useful :P
Just some curveballs to throw into the mix... sandstorms are fun, fantasy sandstorms are MORE fun.
or... okay I can't think of a way intimidate might be useful :P
"This oasis isn't big enough for the two of us."
or... okay I can't think of a way intimidate might be useful :P
"This oasis isn't big enough for the two of us."
Only a Dwarf would stand his ground against a sandstorm. Only a Dwarf.
I was saying that finding shelter during a sandstorm, and having another group already there, would be justification for Intimidate.
You obviously don't intimidate a non-sentient force of nature.
- The last words the Elf said to the Dwarf before running off...
To fantasize it a bit: the sandstorm might be controlled by a psychotic spirit of Air. A sprit "could" be intimidated, especially if the Dwarf is a primal warrior/druid and knows how to speak to spirits of the land. Just saying.
"You obviously don't intimidate a non-sentient force of nature."
- The last words the Elf said to the Dwarf before running off...
To fantasize it a bit: the sandstorm might be controlled by a psychotic spirit of Air. A sprit "could" be intimidated, especially if the Dwarf is a primal warrior/druid and knows how to speak to spirits of the land. Just saying.
Touché and well played, sir!
- Wanna see a Cerulean Storm skill challenge!