In the book, Jonah and Tristan pitch an expanded view of Skill Challenges as an effective mechanic for many non-combat encounters and situations. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend the chapter, but the short version is that players make a series of naratively relevant skill checks trying to get 8 successes before 3 failures (the race to the finish and press your luck variants are awesome). They suggest setting DCs in d20 games so a 7 or 8 is required for success depending on the situation. I worked with a data scientist friend to make a jupyter notebook to run simulations to model the skill challenges from Chapter 4 of Collaborative Campaign Design. We are using the PF2e four degrees of success (10+ and 10-, and 20 or 1 upgrades or downgrades one degree of success). We decided a crit would provide one token and remove one of the other type. The model assumes no use of aid or reroll mechanics (hero points, inspiration, etc). Results below. i know, i know, reporting averages for asymmetric data, forgive me BINARY, 8 successes before 3 failures, 10000 simulations DC6 - 74.9% check success, 68.3% challenge success, 9.3 checks required DC7 - 70.4% check success, 53.8% challenge success, 9.0 checks required DC8 - 65.1% check success, 36.9% challenge success, 8.3 checks required DC9 - 59.8% check success, 22.5% challenge success, 7.5 checks required RACE, 8 successes, with a variable number of consequences due to failures, 10000 simulations DC6 - 1.3 average, 1.0 median failures with 11.2 checks DC7 - 2.1 average, 2.0 median failures with 12.2 checks (histogram shown) DC8 - 3.2 average, 3.0 median failures with 13.2 checks DC9 - 4.5 average, 4.0 median failures with 14.3 checks PRESS, variable success at 2 failures (stopping before risking 3), 100000 simulations DC6 - 8.4 ave, 6 median successes with 11.9 checks DC7 - 5.8 ave, 4 median successes with 8.9 checks (histogram shown) DC8 - 4.2 ave, 3 median successes with 6.9 checks DC9 - 3.2 ave, 2 median successes with 5.6 checks

Does anyone have a way of handling an ongoing stealth mechanic rather than just re-rolling stealth? I'm making a one shot for the back of my book that is modeled on Metal Gear Solid.

Does anyone else play Shadowrun? Or is this mainly or exclusively a 5E community?

Okay so forgive me if it's ALL covered in the classroom, but I loved the concept of having goals for NPC's so I added it to my NPC making template. Is there anything I'm missing? - Name: - Profession/Vocation: - Appearance: - Personality: - Fears/phobias: roll d6 1 spiders 2 snakes 3 heights 4 water drowning 5 enclosed spaces 6 something oddly specific like having their back to a window, or the number 13 - Strengths: - Weaknesses: - Mannerisms: - Voice: - Short and long term goals:

Happy GenCon 2025 to all who observe! Those of you who are attending, those of you have in the past, tell us about it! 1. What are the must-see/must-do events and experiences? 2. What are you doing this year that you're most looking forward to? 3. What is your best tip for con-goers to get the most out of the experience? If you're here in Indy, let's hang out - let us know you're in town and we will put something together!