5e Skill Challenge Examples [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

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Credits Written by Justin Handlin @critacademy Layout JVC Parry @jvcparry Editing JVC Parry @jvcparry Cover Artist Breaker Maximus via Shutterstock Internal Artists Dean Spencer, DMsGuild Creator Resources, Luis Prado, Patrick E Pullen, Shutterstock

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Contents Credits3 Into the Goblin Camp Introduction5 Skill Challenges What is a Skill Challenge? Malleable Skills Challenge Ratings Skills Success and Failure Hazards Why Hit Dice? Running a Skill Challenge Skill Challenges in Combat Defenders in Need Assassin Urban Chase Blizzard Discovering Secret Lore Emergency Surgery  Flooding Chamber Interrogation

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5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 9 9 10 11 12 13 14 16

Legions Pass Lost in the Forest Magically Sealed Door Misunderstanding Murder in the Streets Rift to the Abyss River Rapids Weathering the Storm

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Fantastic Terrain and Traps

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Choke Frost Defiled Ground Ember Moss Grab Grass Loadstone

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Complex Traps

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Spear Gauntlet White Dragon Breath Torrent Maddening Mural

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Introduction

Skill Challenges

his product was created by our team over at Crit Academy, a D&D discussion podcast. On our show we provide guidance and inspiration to both players and DMs. Every episode we hope to inspire you with creative content that you can bring with you on your next adventure. You can check out our show on your favorite podcasting platform, or visit us at www.critacademy.com. We also record live every Sunday at 7pm est on www.twitch.tv/ critacademy. We want to give a huge shout out to R. P. Davis, creator of “Skill Challenges”, an adaptation and guide for introducing one of greatest hidden secrets in fourth edition to fifth edition. His product was a huge inspiration to us here at the Crit Academy. Make sure to check out his amazing product to learn how to make your own skill challenges. You can listen to our coverage of this amazing product here. Several of us on the show are huge fans of fourth edition D&D. While it had its flaws, there were a few things that stood out as amazing mechanics; our favorite by far was skill challenges. After covering R. P. Davis’s product we ventured out to expand on his amazing work and create a collection of ready to use skill challenges for DMs to bring to their table. We decided on a fluctuating difficulty system with DCs in the hope that DMs could quickly and easily scale them to the level of their party. This allows the challenges to be used at any level and still be effective.

&D is a game that consists of multiple pillars of play; combat, roleplay and exploration. This adaptation is designed to help enhance all those various challenges in a controlled and structured format called a skill challenge. In many scenarios our heroes find themselves in encounters and social situations that revolve entirely around their skills. Other times they are in combat and the challenges add a level of complexity or strategy to the encounter. This supplement contains predesigned skill challenges that you can fit into your campaigns.

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What is a Skill Challenge? Fundamentally a skill challenge is a kind of encounter, similar to a combat encounter. Part of playing the game finds our heroes using skill checks to interact with the world around them. Part of the excitement of D&D is that success or failure is often uncertain. Skill challenges offer the DM a tool to introduce a complex series of changing conditions, keeping track of the results to determine the overall success or failure of a complex collection of challenges over different lengths of time. In some instances, a skill isn’t sufficient, and a special tool check must be used, such as thieves tools. For example; the party are attempting to persuade an Archmage to send aid to defend a small village. Or maybe they are trekking through a mountain to find a hidden cave during a blizzard. This supplement will provide you with a structured roadmap full of challenges for you to introduce to your players. Regardless of success or failure, the story should always move forward as a result.

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Malleable Skills

Challenge Ratings

While the skill challenges offer an outline for running the skill challenge, do not limit yourself, or your players, to just the options that are presented. Every encounter will be different, and thus you should absolutely allow the skill challenge to be malleable. If a player offers a reasonable reason of how a skill, spell or feature could be used and it’s not listed, make sure to do your best to allow it! Thinking players are engaged players. Players who are constantly thinking of solutions will come up with some clever uses for skills and spells. It’s best to try and avoid just saying no outright. If you believe that it is a stretch, instead consider giving it a hard DC and only good for a single success. This will encourage the player to constantly think of ways to overcome the challenges. If you don’t believe it is a direct success, you could instead grant advantage to another, complementary skill check. Additionally, while many of the skill challenges come with flavor text, you can change them as little or as much as you want to fit your needs. You could even use them as a template for an entirely different encounter.

Two conditions drive difficulty, complexity and difficulty class (DC) set by the DM. The DC of each skill challenge gives a recommendation, but allows the DM to set the difficulty to whichever level they believe appropriate for their encounter. In addition, a complexity system is used to determine the number of success that are needed before a number of failures to succeed in the task. It’s worth noting, in some challenges, monsters are referenced, but the DM can easily toss in different monsters appropriate to the party’s level. Task Level Difficulty

DC

Very Easy

5

Easy

10

Moderate

15

Hard

20

Very Hard

25

Nearly Impossible

30

Complexity

Successes

Failures

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4

3

2

6

3

3

8

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Skills

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When it comes to running skill challenges, there are some skills that are naturally better suited to specific challenges. For example, Persuasion and Deception are great tools for getting the support of a high noble to lend you his support while in his council chambers, while Athletics in the same situation is less likely to be useful. In the skill challenges these better suited skills are known as Primary Skills. While we don’t rule out the use of other skills (we all know players can get pretty creative), we use these as an outline for the challenges. You as the DM know what the characters are good at, so when using skill challenges, make sure to include a mix of challenges that use interaction skills, knowledge skills and physical

skills. Most characters will have at least one skill they are exemplary at; do your best to make sure each character gets to shine. Though, you don’t have to allow them all to shine in the same encounter.

Success and Failure In each challenge, a number of skill checks successes is needed before a certain number of failures(three) determined by its complexity. Below is an overview for Total Success, Success, and Failure conditions. In some cases, specific checks will call out additional effects on a success or failure, such as granting advantage to another skill check. Total Success: Total Success is when the characters complete the skill challenge without a single failure. Often this means avoiding any detrimental effects, and allowing them to proceed without expending any resources. Success: Success is when the characters complete the skill challenge by gaining the number of successes needed per the challenge complexity, but failed some checks in the process. While they overcome the challenge, there is often some sort of minor detrimental effect or loss of resources in the process Failure: Failure is when the characters fail the challenge, this happens when they fail three skill checks before gaining the requisite number of success needed per the challenges complexity. This leads to an inconvenience to the characters which could take the form of lost time, extra encounters, enemy reinforcements, getting lost, loss of Hit Die or even levels of exhaustion. Consider the success details and use them to explain the failure. If a success of acrobatics describe the character vaulting over an obstacle, a failure may mean that characters foot got caught and they trip and fall to the ground. Prepare for failure! Failure should never stop the characters from proceeding, but instead create a new branch in the story. Failure is inevitable, use this as a tool to drive the story forward, but at a cost.

Hazards Some skill challenges involve hazards that occur on initiative 20 each round, and force each character involved in the skill challenge to make a saving throw to avoid their effects. Hazards include things like poisonous gas, freezing temperatures, or even volleys of arrows. If characters fail the saving throw, they suffer the detrimental effects of the hazard. If characters succeed, they avoid the effects entirely. Success or failure on these saving throws does not count toward the total number of successes or failures of the skill challenge.

Why Hit Dice? While hit points represent a character’s resilience in battle, their Hit Dice represent their vitality and ability to recover from loss of hit points. Unlike taking damage, which directly affects how long a character can survive in single combat, removing Hit Dice affects the characters ability to recover from those combat encounters and begins to impact them much more as the adventuring day continues. By removing Hit Dice, it prevents characters from recovering as well during a Short Rest. This makes it a wonderful resource to drain during skill challenges. Since characters can only recover half their Hit Dice during a Long Rest, it brings a more noticeable consequence when they get lost in the wilderness than tossing extra encounters at them. If they don’t have Hit Dice to lose when they fail a skill challenge, they begin to suffer levels of exhaustion instead.

Running a Skill Challenge Beginning a skill challenge is no different to any other encounter. It’s structured in a way that once you learn it, you can easily break it up over several sessions with other encounters in between. An example would be a long negotiation with a local noble to gain their trust and support while fending off the orc attack on her city. The nature of skill challenges is thus that you can use the actions of the characters to directly influence the encounters. In the previous example, maybe the local noble is impressed by the characters actions to defend off the orcs and protect the city. This could lead

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to the DCs of the challenge being lowered during the next negotiation or gaining advantage on the checks. Getting started is just like any other encounter; the DM describes the scene and environment and lets the players choose the skills they wish to use, then narrates the results. You can choose to use initiative rolls if you want help tracking rounds, or to make it easier to know who has already taken their turn in the challenge. The skill challenges provide you with a setup that gives a simple goal, as well as some narration options for the skills that have the largest impact on the skill challenge called Primary Skills. No matter how you do it, as long as you keep track of the successes and failures, it will move forward fluidly. In more extreme instances, the challenge may be set in multiple stages or steps. When running skill challenges, it is important to ensure that every character gets a chance to engage. You should aim to give each character time in the spotlight. While it makes sense for the character trained in Persuasion to do most of the talking in a discussion with the Empress, it’s far more fun when all the characters are involved. We can include everyone by ensuring there is variety of skills involved. Give everyone a chance to shine, group checks in challenges are great for this. In some of the challenges the whole party is tested. When this occurs, each character rolls for a single check and if at least half succeed, it counts as a single success for that particular skill. For example, marching through a blizzard may call for a group Constitution saving throw; although individuals may fail, and suffer the consequences, the group as a whole earns a success if more than half the party succeeds. Group checks are also great when you find it difficult to include all skills in a challenge. If you find too few of the characters can participate in a particular skill challenge, consider calling for a group check..

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Skill Challenges in Combat A skill challenge is a great way to enhance a combat encounter. Consider a room containing zombies and a poison gas trap that’s filling the room. Some of the party can focus on keeping the zombies and bay, while others focus on disabling the gas trap before they are all poisoned or suffocated. This adds a level of complexity to an otherwise standard zombie slaying encounter. Since the zombies don’t breathe, the trap isn’t of concern to them at all, and becomes a powerful tool for them during the encounter.

Skill Challenges Defenders in Need The Priestess turns her head to the pews. Gesturing with her holy symbol, as she bids you to sit. “Why is it you seek the aid of my templars?” Setup: The characters are attempting to gain the assistance of an NPC. The challenge’s timespan can vary from a short conversation to a stretch of days of negotiations. It’s possible the characters will be assigned tasks to complete to earn the NPC’s favor. The characters need the NPC to provide assistance to help overcome their challenge. Complexity: 2 (6 successes before 3 failures). Primary Skills: Deception, Persuasion, Insight. zz Deception (Hard DC): The character attempts to encourage the NPC to aid your quest using false information, a promise of support on another issue, some sort of information on a rival, or perhaps pretend to know someone of importance to them. zz History (Easy DC): The character makes a remark about a significant event from the NPC’s past. ¶¶ This skill can only be used once. zz Insight (Moderate DC): The character is able to empathize with the Priestess and use that knowledge to encourage the aid needed. ¶¶ Success: The character learns that any Intimidation check will fail.

zz Intimidation (Automatic Failure): The Priestess refuses to be intimidated by the characters. She stands firm and informs them they will be removed if they continue to threaten or intimidate her in anyway. ¶¶ Automatic failure regardless of the characters roll. zz Persuasion (Moderate DC): The character entreats the Priestess for aid in their quest, describing how failure could affect her and her interests, indicating the dangers to the locals if you aren’t successful. ¶¶ Success: The next History check made during this skill challenge has advantage. Total Success: The NPC agrees to provide aid that is within reason to the characters. Success: The NPC agrees to provide aid, but has a special request of them. Failure: The characters are forced to act without aid from the NPC. The encounter’s difficulty is increased, either by more enemies, an additional trap or some other circumstance.

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Assassin Urban Chase An assassin shoves their way through the town square, villagers and merchants scream in fear and rage. You’re unsure who the young noble was or why she was assassinated, but if you don’t catch up to the assassin quickly, they may escape. Setup: The characters are hot on the heels of an assassin who is responsible for a young noble’s death. They do not know the reason for the assassination, and this may be their only chance to understand the who is behind it, and what their motivations may be. To catch up to the assassin, the characters have to navigate the cityscape faster and smarter than the assassin. Complexity: 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Perception, History

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zz Acrobatics (Moderate DC): The character vaults over obstacles, dodges around crowds, or crosses narrow passages to attempt to close the distance between themselves and the assassin. A failed check means that they slip and fall crossing a passage, trip while vaulting over an obstacle, or take a spill running into a person in the crowd. ¶¶ Failure: The character loses one Hit Die. zz Athletics (Moderate DC): The character attempts to move as quickly as they can, jumping fences, climbing walls or jumping between rooftops, anything to close the distance between themselves and the assassin. zz History (Hard DC): The character is familiar enough with the area to use the layout to their advantage. ¶¶ Success: The next Acrobatics check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Investigation (Moderate DC): The character can read the assassin’s movements and notice opportunities to hamper them, such as knocking over a cart full of fruit, dropping an overhead canvas canopy on them, or trying to catch them inside of a clothes line full of laundry.

zz Perception (Easy DC): The character spots a less crowded route, notices an alleyway shortcut, spots a blocked path to avoid, or notices some other way to aide their cause. ¶¶ Success: The DC for this skill increases by one level. Total Success: The characters are able to catch up with the assassin. This could lead into a combat encounter, or the characters could attempt some sort of diplomacy. Success: The characters catch up to the assassin, leading directly into a combat encounter with no room for diplomacy. Failure: The characters lose sight of the assassin during the chase and must seek out the assassin at a later time. This could make it much more difficult to find them and increase the difficulty of the encounter later. The assassin can be found hiding out, waiting to confirm whether the characters have lost the trail. During the wait, the assassin sets traps and plans an ambush for the characters.

Blizzard After several hours on your journey, you feel the temperature sharply drop. The wind picks up and snow begins to fall in buckets. You catch sight on the horizon of what appears to be a stark white wall that reaches up to the sky. A blanket of snow, the area beyond no longer visible. Each moment that passes brings the blizzard closer. Setup: The characters are caught in the middle of a blizzard and must use their knowledge and skills to survive the harsh conditions while they seek either a place to seek shelter, or their final destination. Each round represents a minute, hour, or day, at the DM’s discretion. No characters can gain the benefits of a Short or Long Rest while within the storm and without shelter. Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Hazard: Constitution (Moderate DC): The characters must stave off the debilitating effects of the freezing temperature, falling hailstones, and vicious winds. Failure: The character loses 1 Hit Die. Primary Skills: Athletics, Constitution, Nature, Survival zz Athletics (Moderate DC): The character helps create a path using their brute strength, leading the way through snow drifts, moving or jumping over fallen trees or rocky outcroppings. ¶¶ Failure: The character loses 1 Hit Die. zz Medicine (Easy DC): The character helps another character deal with the extreme conditions, bandaging wounds from hailstones, or sprained ankles from stumbling through the snow.

¶¶ Success: The targeted character gains advantage on their next Constitution saving throw. The DC for this skill increases by one level. zz Nature (Hard DC): The character studies the terrain they can see and use their knowledge of the wilderness to help lead the party to shelter. ¶¶ Success: Each character has advantage on their next Hazard saving throw. zz Survival (Moderate DC): The character navigates a path and helps the party traverse hazards such as slick patches of ice, steep snowy dunes, and wind tunnels. Total Success: The party finds their way out of the storm into shelter, either their destination, a nearby hamlet, a cave, or some other sort of natural formation that provides protection from the blizzard. Success: The party finds their way out of the storm into some sort of shelter, either their destination, a nearby hamlet, a cave, or some other sort of natural formation that provides protection from the blizzard. All characters lose 1 Hit Die. Failure: The party finds their way out of the storm into some sort of shelter, suffering one level of exhaustion. The beating from the blizzard has worn on the party and caused them to stumble into a monster’s lair.

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Discovering Secret Lore You are unable to recall any lore, history or information on the topic which you seek. It’s time to hit the books and do some thorough investigative research to help solve the mystery before you. Setup: The characters must try to gather clues and information they need to advance the story. This involves the research in libraries, seeking out old sages or scholars, and consulting with loremasters. Their goal might be to learn a foe’s greatest weakness, a secret path into an enemy stronghold, or the location of a lost temple. This skill challenge may take minutes, hours, days, or weeks depending on the nature of the information they seek. Complexity: 3 (requires 7 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Investigation, Persuasion, Religion zz History (Very Hard DC): The character stumbles upon a piece of information that sparks a memory, either of studies in the past, information shared by a mentor, or something they heard in passing. zz Investigation (Moderate DC): The character visits a library and begins sifting through stacks of scrolls, tomes and other documents in search of clues. ¶¶ Failure: This location does not contain any useful information, and cannot be used again.

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zz Persuasion (Easy DC): The character visits and old sage or scholar to learn information that brings them closer to the answers they seek. This approach requires a payment for services. The cost should be high enough to inconvenience the characters, but not so much as to bankrupt them. ¶¶ Failure: This NPC has no information for the characters, and cannot be consulted again. zz Religion (Moderate DC): The character seeks out a temple or monastery to delve into religious lore or seek omens and the counsel of temple leaders. ¶¶ Failure: This location does not contain any useful information, and cannot be used again. Total Success: The characters gain the information they seek in a timely manner. Success: The characters gain the information that they seek, but they have lost a lot of time, this could be days, weeks or even months to gain the knowledge they needed. Failure: The characters gain the information that they seek, but much of the information they have gathered is inaccurate and increases the challenge, or leads them into an unfavorable situation in some way.

Emergency Surgery A member of the party or important NPC has been struck by an assassin’s poisoned arrow which is magical in nature and is stuck inside the victim. The arrow is dangerously close to vital organs and cannot simply be pulled out. Any time magic is used in the vicinity of the arrow it reacts violently, harming the victim even more. Setup: The group has to act quickly. An NPC or character is on the verge of death and normal magical means of curing are not possible, or are unavailable. Complexity: 1 (requires 4 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Investigation, Medicine, Sleight of Hand zz Medicine (Easy DC): The character draws on their knowledge of first aid to keep the victim stable, buying them precious seconds. They observe the body’s physical reaction to what appears to be some sort of poison. ¶¶ Success: The next Nature check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Sleight of Hand (Moderate DC): The characters attempts to remove the arrow slowly while not causing too much pain lest the victim flinch. ¶¶ Success: The next Investigation or Perception check made during the skill challenge has advantage. zz Investigation (Moderate DC): The character examines the arrow to determine its properties and how to remove it. ¶¶ Success: The next Medicine check made during this skill challenge has advantage.

zz Perception (Moderate DC): The character attempts to find a way of removing the arrow without causing further harm. zz Nature (Hard DC): The character attempts to recall the substance the poison is derived from and think of an antidote. Total Success: The characters are able to identify the poison that is affecting the victim and quickly administer aid and gather a cure. Success: The characters are able to identify the poison that is affecting the victim and are able to administer aid or gather a cure. Unfortunately the slow actions of the party leave the victim disfigured for life. Failure: The characters do their best to administer aid and seek out a cure for the poison but alas, they are either too slow, or misidentified the poison and applied the wrong cure. In either case, the victim dies.

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Flooding Chamber Entering the octagonal chamber you see a collection of corpses lying on the ground and what appears to be two large stone doors with fish-head carvings exiting the chamber. You hear the clanking of gears followed by a crashing boom as a large stone door falls into place, blocking the entrance behind you. Suddenly water begins gushing into the room through the fish-heads, and the corpses rise and stalk toward you. Setup: The characters trigger a pressure plate that seals off the chamber and begins to fill the area with water. In addition, the room contains three zombies. The party must fight off the zombies while trying to disable the trap before they drown. The zombies focus on grappling and slowing the characters. The room fills at initiative 20 every round. Regardless of the size of the room, the area is completely filled in 5 rounds unless the characters take action. The zombies in the room hold the keys that can stop the flow of water. Once all keys are used, the doors exiting the room open. Complexity: 1 (requires 4 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Investigation, Athletics, Sleight of Hand zz Athletics (Very Hard DC): The character attempts to pry open one of the doors. ¶¶ Success: The time it takes for the room to fill by 2 rounds. ¶¶ Failure: The DC for this skill increases by one level. zz Investigation (Moderate DC): The character notices that the fish-face carved into

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the stone doors appears to have a hinged jaw. A character who is battling a zombie with a passive perception of 14 spots a key inside its mouth. zz Perception (Moderate DC): Upon closer inspection of the stone door heads, a small keyhole can be seen inside of the carving’s gill. zz Sleight of Hand (Moderate DC): The character attempts to prop the hinged jaws in the closed position with a dagger or the like. ¶¶ Success: The time it takes for the room to fill by 2 rounds. Total Success: The characters are quickly able to close off the flow of water and open the doors with little or no trouble. Success: The characters close off the flow of water, struggling to gather the keys and wading through the water, tired and exhausted from the struggle. Each character loses one Hit Die and one small item; washed away in the flood. Failure: The party is pushed to nearly the point of drowning, the entire chamber is filled with water. Characters who can’t breathe underwater are suffocating (Dungeon Master’s Guide p183). They have a number of rounds to kill the remaining zombies (if not already dead). The characters find the keys and their mating keyholes and are able to drain the water. The characters all suffer a level of exhaustion.

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Interrogation The filthy captive snarls and spits at you, showing nothing but deep-seated anger in their murderous eyes. Setup: Information must be extracted from the captive. The duration of the interrogation can be as short or as long as you like. Perhaps it takes only a few minutes, or maybe the captive is stubborn and the characters need to adventure out on their own with little information only to return later with new threats and leverage. They can convince the NPC to give them the information that they seek, either by breaking the captive’s will to resist, threatening them, bribing, or even striking a bargain. Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, Investigation

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zz Deception (Moderate DC): The character convinces the captive to reveal a vital piece of information by claiming to be in cahoots with their allies, trick them into thinking they’re there to help, or some other false pretense. ¶¶ Failure: This skill cannot be used again. The DC for all other skills increases by one level. zz Intimidation (Hard DC): The character threatens the captive with suggestions of violence; cutting off fingers, breaking bones, slipping them an agonizing poison, suffering of their loved ones, or some other physical danger. ¶¶ Failure: This skill cannot be used again. The DC for all other skills increases by one level. zz Persuasion (Moderate DC): The character attempts to come to an agreement with the captive, bargaining with them in good faith, offering them a bribe, or providing other incentives to share what information they have. After the challenge, if the characters do not honor their end of the bargain, word spreads of their deceit and they have disadvantage on Persuasion checks to make offers in good faith while in the region.

zz Investigation (Hard DC): The character is able to identify something of note on the captive person; a symbol, identifying tattoo, piece of jewelry, or some other feature that reveals important information about the captive that gives their allies leverage. ¶¶ Success: The next Deception or Persuasion check made during this skill challenge has advantage. Total Success: The characters are able to obtain valuable information from the captive. If bribed the captive may even become a willing spy for the characters. In either case, the information they seek helps them on their quest. Success: The characters are able to obtain valuable information from the captive. Failure: The captive refuses to give any useful information to the characters, going so far as to give them incorrect information such as a false password that leads the characters into a trap or ambush.

Into the Goblin Camp As you approach the large alcove in the rocks, you notice the wretched stench of body odor and foul meat. You’re able to spot several goblins guarding the main entrance and several patrols in the area. After a while the goblins lose interest in their guard duty and start playing a game of dice. Setup: When the characters arrive at the hidden camp they easily spot the guards blocking the entrance. The characters have multiple paths they can take to get into the goblin camp: Wade through a river against the current, climb up the back and over into the alcove, or enter through the main entrance. Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion, zz Athletics (Hard DC): The character attempts to scale the treacherous rocky area around the alcove, use a rope to rappel into the alcove from above, or attempt to swim up the harsh current of the river. zz Deception (Hard DC): The character attempts to mislead the goblins, suggesting they were hired to assist the camp in some way, that they won’t harm them if they allow them in, or claiming friendship with the camp leader. ¶¶ Failure: This skill cannot be used again. All Persuasion checks made during this skill challenge have disadvantage.

zz History (Moderate DC): The character knows that goblins are often greedy, selfish, easily flattered and extremely cowardly. ¶¶ Success: The next Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Intimidation (Easy DC): The character attempts to scare the goblins with their physical presence and threats of violence. zz Persuasion (Moderate DC): The character attempts to flatter the goblins, remarking on their wonderful physique and combat prowess. They might offer a bribe, or promise them an easy escape should they open the gate. Total Success: The goblins stand down and allow the characters entrance to the camp freely. Success: The goblins stand down and allow the characters entrance, but secretly put a spy to stalk, watch and listen for any indication of trouble from the characters and let the boss know. Failure: The path remain closed. In goblin, one of them says “Go and warn the boss and crew, we have intruders.” They continue to hold conversation to allow goblins with ranged weapons take point up high up on the rocky area surrounding the camp leading to a combat encounter.

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Legions Pass Hiking through the rocky and desolate mountain trails, you come upon a collection of banners surrounding a barricade of toppled carts. Beyond this a small contingent of goblinoids with weapons drawn stare you down You’ve arrived at Legions Pass, now you must find a way to traverse it without drawing your blades against an entire army of hobgoblins. Setup: Legions pass is the most direct route to the characters destination, but is swarming with hobgoblins. This is a great encounter for time based events, as it forces characters to choose between a dangerous but quick path, or a safe but long one. Their path crosses with a female hobgoblin warlord named Hofmorge. She is both a political leader and a predatory creature. She often allows safe passage, when it suits her interests. This skill challenge works best if it takes place over an extended time period, with multiple events in between as they characters make their way through the warlord’s domain. Complexity: 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Constitution, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, Stealth

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zz Constitution (Moderate DC): The party attempts to avoid the legion by trekking through the rocky mountain area with no clear worn path with poor footing. ¶¶ Failure: The character gains a level of exhaustion. zz Medicine (Moderate DC): The character spots several goblinoids who are severely injured, undoubtedly from a recent raid. They attempt to bandage their wounds and give advice on subsequent care. ¶¶ Success: The next Persuasion check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Persuasion Step 1 - (Moderate DC): While everyone fears the warlord’s cruel intentions, the area is populated with regular farmers and merchants who can be taxed. Speaking with the citizens allows the characters to find locals who have a direct connection with the warlord. This opens up the next step in the Persuasion.

¶¶ Persuasion Step 2 - (Moderate DC): The characters are able to gain an audience with the warlord. The characters must attempt to convince her that their success in their quest(whatever it may be) is of a greater benefit to the legion than a few coins and weapons scavenged off their corpses. zz Stealth (Moderate DC): The group attempts to evade the warlords patrols as they make their way through the rocky region. ¶¶ Failure: Leads to interception (see below). zz Survival (Moderate DC): The character studies the tracks in the area and can identify sparsely populated routes where its likely roaming patrols are least likely to intercept them. Interception Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion (Moderate DC) Setup: Caught by the patrols and their vastly superior numbers, the characters must convincingly bluff, cajole, or threaten until the leader gives in and lets them go. On a failure, If the party hasn’t yet met with the warlord, they are taken to her. If they have, there are too many to fight and the party must escape the legion of troops. Total Success: The party gains permission to travel through the territory unhindered by the patrols. Success: The party gains permission to travel through the territory unhindered by the patrols. A high bribe, toll, other service is needed by the warlord for compensation. Failure: The party is forced into an encounter with overwhelming odds of defeat as they cannot hope to defeat a legion of trained hobgoblins. The characters must flee to their starting point and take a lengthy detour around legions pass, losing precious time and gaining a level of exhaustion.

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Lost in the Forest After hours of wandering through the wilderness, the foliage is thick and the terrain is unfamiliar. It slowly occurs to you...you have no idea where you are. Setup: The characters must survive the unfamiliar forest until they can find their way back to some sort of settlement. Each round of this challenge can take place over hours or days at the DM’s discretion. Characters must survive the wilderness with their survival skills and knowledge until they can find a settlement. Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Hazard: Constitution (Easy DC): The characters must resist the debilitating effects of hiking through the heavy elements such as high winds and a rainstorm or lack of food and water. This DC increases by one level for every round. Failure: The character loses 1 Hit Die. Primary Skills: Constitution, Nature, Survival zz Nature (Moderate DC): Every round at least one character in the party must make a Nature check each turn to help the party avoid natural hazards, identifying poisonous plants, dangerous terrain, recalling information on the terrain or weather patterns of the area.

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¶¶ Failure: The character loses one Hit Die. zz Survival ( Moderate DC): You help identify signs of dangerous creatures in the area, follow potentially safe tracks of less dangerous creatures, forage for sufficient wild game and water. ¶¶ Success: Each character has advantage on their next Hazard saving throw. ¶¶ Failure: Each character loses one Hit Die. Total Success: The characters emerge from the wilderness to a familiar location and out of immediate danger. Success: The characters emerge from the wilderness to a familiar location and out of immediate danger. Every character suffers one level of exhaustion from the trek through the forest. Failure: The characters suffer one level of exhaustion and stumble into a monster’s lair. Afterwards the party must complete another “Lost in the Forest” skill challenge, significantly extending their journey and consuming precious resources.

Magically Sealed Door Twists and turns down winding passages has lead you deep into the belly of the dungeon. The stench of mildew fills the air and moisture coats the walls. You arrive at a large pair of wooden doors with iron supports and a beautiful carving of a roaring lion. Setup: This magical door is sealed with two spells, arcane lock and glyph of warding with an explosive rune. The characters must bypass the magically sealed door. Any attempts to open the door triggers the glyph of warding explosion rune. Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Arcana, Investigation, Perception, Strength zz Arcana (Moderate DC): Studying the magical wards around the door, The character gains insight into the potential power of the spells and learn that it likely cannot be opened with mundane means. They begin to use their knowledge of the weave to dismantle the threads of the complex ward, pulling and twisting the weaves threads in a mix of lights and floating arcane sigils. ¶¶ Failure: Failure incurs an arcane backlash (see below). For the purposes of dispel magic, treat the effect as a 4th level spell. Dispel magic can only remove one of the spell effects at a time. The use of the Knock spell will suppress the arcane lock spell for 10 minutes. zz Investigation (Hard DC): The character identifies the nearly invisible arcane glyphs hidden on the door. This grants advantage on the next Arcana check, identifying the glyphs as the spell glyph of warding. This can only be used to gain a single success.

zz Perception (Moderate DC): You’re able to spot the arcane runes and sigils present on the door. This does not grant a success on the challenge but grants advantage on the next Arcana check, identifying the runes as the spell arcane lock. zz Athletics (Very Hard DC): You try and bull rush the door, attempting to use brute force to open it. A burst of orange and red fire light rushes from the door in a fireball as the barriers and door crack and shatter, releasing the magical power sealed within. ¶¶ This can only be attempted once, but counts as an auto success for the challenge. This immediately triggers the glyph of warding.

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zz Arcane Backlash: The pulling and shaping of the magical weave is not without its dangers. During the challenge a failure on an Arcana check causes an unstable backlash of magical power through the caster causing them 13(2d8) thunder, lightning, fire, cold damage of your choice. Total Success: The characters succeed in altering the weave around the magical effects bringing down the barriers. Success: The characters succeed in altering the weave around the magical effects bringing down the barriers. Any character who attempted an Arcana check during the challenge has had their body taxed by the strain on their body when manipulating the weave. They lose a number of hit points equal to the number of failures in this challenge. Failure: The glyph of warding is released on the characters. Any character who attempted an Arcana check during the challenge has had their body taxed by the strain on their body when manipulating the weave. They lose a number of hit points equal to the number of failures in this challenge. The characters must find another path into the next section of the dungeon, or seek out an enemy who may have the information to bypass the magical barrier. (Consider using the Interrogation skill challenge)

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Misunderstanding A beautiful and majestic white stallion with a single glimmering spiral horn springs from its forehead. The creature levels a menacing gaze toward you. A thunderous and angry female voice booms within your head. The words are in elvish. “Leave this domain you foul-hearted creatures! You are not welcome here!”. Setup: The creature is Aerowen, a majestic unicorn who has no love for mortals that trespass and raid the sacred ruins. As guardian of this sacred place she has been fighting bandits and raiders for centuries. The party is here to retrieve an item of importance. Aerowen assumes the party is just another group of bandits attempting to raid the sacred ruins of a long forgotten temple. The characters must convince Aerowen to allow them to pass or be forced into a difficult fight with a divine guardian. Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Deception, Persuasion, Insight zz Arcana (Moderate DC): The character understands that unicorns are placed onto the material plane to ward away evil and preserve and protect sacred areas or sometimes artifacts of power. ¶¶ Success: The next Persuasion check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Deception (Hard DC): The character attempts to trick the unicorn in some way, perhaps spinning a tale that the item in question is why the bandits continually raid the ruins, suggesting that if they don’t get the item an innocent may perish as a result, or maybe the group will be slain if they don’t succeed as they are being forced to tread on the sacred land. zz Intimidation (Hard DC): The character attempts to threaten the unicorn, if they don’t get the item, others will come searching for it, some who may not be willing to discuss it. ¶¶ Success: This skill cannot be used again. zz Insight (Moderate DC): The characters can sense the unicorn’s resentment toward the raiders who continue to arrive at the ruins.

They can perceive the unicorn’s desire to have the bandits and raiders removed from the area. ¶¶ Success: The next Persuasion check made during the skill challenge has advantage. zz Persuasion (Moderate DC): You try to come to an arrangement where both parties benefit; showing respect to the unicorn, giving a small gift, or offering to deal with the bandits and raiders to better understand why they are attacking the ruins.

Total Success: The characters convince Aerowen of their good intentions and she allows them to continue to the ruins to gather the item they seek, in addition to granting them a small magical boon. Success: The characters convince Aerowen of their good intentions and allows them to continue to the ruins to gather the item they seek, but they must first seek out the bandits and deal with them. Failure: Aerowen tires of the lies and deceit of the characters and attacks them, aided by other fey creatures she summons.

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Murder in the Streets Screams ring out from the center of town, as you round the corner of the building you spot a crowd gathered around something. As you approach you see the crumbled frame of a young, blue-skinned, tiefling man with a single broken horn. Setup: While the characters are visiting a town they are interrupted by a murder nearby. They must learn the cause of death, find the murderer, and uncover motivations behind it. The catch is, house Livingstrong is being framed by the waring house Thornward. Thornward discovered the tiefling was a spy working in secret for house Livingstrong. Thornward wanted to not only send a message to Livingstrong, but also attempt to place their house at odds with the law. Complexity: 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures)

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Stage 1: Investigating the Body Primary Skills: Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Persuasion zz Investigation (Moderate DC): The character finds a purple residue in and around the wound, maybe a poison. ¶¶ Success: The next Nature check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Medicine (Moderate DC): The character identifies the wound as shallow; it shouldn’t have been deadly. ¶¶ Success: This skill cannot be used again. zz Perception (Easy DC): The character is able to see a thin yet deep stab wound near the right kidney. ¶¶ Success: This skill can only be used to gain one success.

zz Nature (Hard DC): The character is able to identify the poison as that from a purple wurm, which are not native to the area. Stage 2: Interviewing Witnesses Primary Skills: Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Persuasion, zz Persuasion (Moderate DC): The character speaks with witnesses to learn that the tiefling was arguing with a human man wearing a black cloak, underneath was a blue and white tabard with coat of arms with a tree overlaid with a gauntlet. zz History (Hard DC): The character is able to identify the coat of arms worn by the attacker described as those of House Livingstrong. If the characters successfully identified the purple wurm poison, they also are able to recall that particular poison is a favorite of the noble house of Thornward. zz Intimidation (Hard DC): Using aggressive tactics the character demands answers from those who witnessed the attack. They sheepishly share that they noticed the assailant’s ring as they fled the scene; it bore an insignia of House Thornward. It didn’t appear to match their tabard. zz Survival (Easy DC): The character can easily track the footprints of the assailant that appear to be leading to House Livingstrong.

Total Success: The characters discover that the murderer fled to toward House Livingstrong, but subtle clues indicate that another house, Thornward, has attempted to frame Livingstrong for the murder. Success: The characters discover that the murderer fled to toward House Livingstrong, strong clues indicate a noble of House Livingstrong is responsible for the murder. Failure: The characters discover that the murderer fled toward house Livingstrong, strong clues indicate a noble of House Livingstrong is responsible for the murder. The characters’ inquiries have caught the attention of House Thornward. House Thornward makes an effort to add more false allegations during the characters investigation and plant additional evidence.

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Rift to the Abyss A large ritual circle with a black and purple dimensional rift at its center has been opened to the abyss by a powerful demon. So far only a few minor demons have clawed their way into the world, and they are attempting to keep the rift open. Setup: A portal has been opened to the abyss by a powerful demon. The characters must close it while enemies continue to flow through it every round. This skill challenge works best when combined with a combat encounter. Some of the party deals with the powerful demon and his minions flooding out of the rift, while others deal with closing it. Complexity: 1 (requires 4 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Arcana, Investigation, Religion

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zz Arcana (Hard DC): The character attempts to close the rift by a number of means, funneling the chaotic energy into their body and trying to disperse it, or sending a torrent of arcane energy into the rift in an attempt to diminish the rifts strength. For the purposes of dispel magic, treat the effect as a 9th-level spell. ¶¶ Failure: The character loses a Hit Die. zz Constitution (Moderate DC): The character assists closing the rift, helping distribute the energy being funneled into your allies body to lessen the trauma. ¶¶ The character making the check loses the Hit Die instead of the character making the primary arcana check. On a failure both characters lose a Hit Die.

zz History (Very Hard DC): The character recalls a tale of a legendary wizard who was attempting to close a rift to the elemental chaos but it was too powerful, the history indicates he used the spell shatter to weaken the rift enough to close it. ¶¶ If the spell shatter is used on the rift, grant advantage on all Arcana checks for the remainder of the skill challenge. zz Investigation (Easy DC): The character is able to identify the demonic glyphs, sigils and runes of the ritual circle that regulate its power and attempt to disrupt them by wiping some of them away, covering them, or altering them in some way. ¶¶ Success: Grant advantage on the next Arcana check. zz Religion (Moderate DC): The character uses the power of the divine to help purify the dark energy surrounding the rift by saying a holy blessing, shoving their holy symbol into the rift, or dousing it in holy water. Total Success: The rift collapses in an implosion of purple and black dark energy. Any demons within 10 feet of the rift must succeed on a (moderate DC) Strength saving throw or be pulled into the rift as it closes. Success: The rift collapses in an explosion purple and black dark energy. Sending an explosion of necrotic damage out from the rift. Use the fireball spell centered on the rift that deals necrotic damage instead of fire damage. Increase the level of the fireball to reflect the party level. Failure: The rift’s power is too great to control and demons continue to flood out. All characters suffer one level of exhaustion from the taxing nature of the extended fight and attempting to close the rift. The characters begin to quickly be outnumbered and will soon be overrun by demons, thus they must escape from the horde of demons.

River Rapids You arrive at a raging stream that merges into a larger river shortly downstream and stretches as far as you can see. The breeze carries a moist, earthy odor along with the sound of wildlife. There is plenty of timber nearby that could be used to fashion a raft to make the journey much swifter than mount or foot. This could be the perfect opportunity to get to your destination in a timely manner, and give you the opportunity to rest and gather your wits. Setup: The characters are traveling to or from a quest that is time sensitive. They have a long journey ahead of them, during which they stumble to a small river, or are guided to it by another character. Here they have the option to build a raft and ride the river to save a significant amount of time and allow them to recover from the weariness of battle. Unfortunately, there are parts of the river that are treacherous and difficult to navigate. Complexity: 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures) Hazard: Dexterity (Easy DC): The raft tosses and turns as it travels down the thundering river. Failure: The character falls into the river, and must spend their turn making an Athletics (Moderate DC) check to get back aboard. If a character ends their turn in the water, they lose one Hit Die. Primary Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Nature, Survival zz Athletics (Moderate DC): The character attempts to use their strength to direct the raft, or to stabilise it against the rolling waves. ¶¶ Success: Each character has advantage on their next Hazard saving throw. ¶¶ Failure: The character loses one Hit Die. If the check fails by 5 or more, they lose 2 Hit Die instead. zz Constitution (Hard DC): A character attempts to weather the dangerous rapids waiting for or an opportunity for a more calm part of the river to help others climb onto the raft. ¶¶ Success: The next Athletics check made during this skill challenge has 27 advantage.

zz History (Very Hard DC): The character recalls reviewing a map containing this area of the river. Alerting the the party to a less hazardous of small waterfalls and areas with jagged rocks. ¶¶ Success: The next Acrobatics check made during this skill challenge has advantage. zz Sleight of Hand (Moderate DC): The character attempts to repair the damage done to the raft while it thrashes about in the rapids, retying knots and pulling lose timber back into place. zz Survival Step 1 - (Moderate DC): The character guides the party as they gather timber, tie knots, and build a raft. This opens up the next step in Survival. ¶¶ Failure: The raft is still built, but is rickety and easily begins to fall apart during the travel. All sleight of hand checks have disadvantage. ¶¶ Survival Step 2 - (Moderate DC): The character assists in navigating the branching and twisting sections of the river.

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¶¶ Success: The next Acrobatics check made during this skill challenge has advantage. ¶¶ Failure: The next Acrobatics check made during this skill challenge has disadvantage. Total Success: The characters safely navigate the rapids with little trouble. They gain the benefit of a Short or Long Rest at the DM’s discretion. Success: The characters safely navigate the rapids with little trouble. The characters all lose a number of Hit Dice equal to the number of failures on the challenge and do not gain the benefits of rest while on the rapids. Failure: The raft shatters on rocks and debris during treacherous trek down the river rapids. The party is unable to arrive at their destination, only making it roughly halfway and must make the last of the trek on foot. In addition, the group all suffer a level of exhaustion.

Weathering the Storm The roaring tempest rages around the ship and dark thunderheads fill the sky. The captain’s orders are barely audible over the din of the raging winds. The sails are raised and full like the wings of a roc leaping from a cliff. Waves smash onto the bow, sending debris on the deck flying. The sailors faces are grim but full of determination. The cracking of thunder and crashing of waves tosses the ship as if it was nothing but a leaf in a rapid river. The icy touch of the water serves as an ill omen to the danger ahead. Setup: The characters are sailing the high seas, either as part of a temporary travel to a particular destination, or they own the vessel and are forced to travel when a storm is nigh. In either case, this skill challenge will test their mettle on piloting the ship during a storm unlike anything they’ve witnessed before. Manning the sails, navigating with limited visibility, and most importantly, staying on the vessel’s deck.

Complexity: 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures) Primary Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Investigation, Sleight of Hand zz Acrobatics (Hard DC): As the storm rocks the boat back and forth, the massive swells send gallons of water onto the deck creating slick surface causing the character to slide about, but they are quickly able to catch their balance to prevent themselves from going overboard. ¶¶ Failure: the character goes overboard (see below). zz Athletics (Moderate DC): The character pulls tight on the rigging and adjust the sail’s orientation so that they can ensure that the ship has enough speed to reach the crest of the incoming waves, while at the same time avoiding putting too much strain on the sails, masts and riggings. ¶¶ Failure: the character goes overboard (see below)

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zz Investigation (Moderate DC): While extremely difficult to read the map due to the weather, the character is able to discern their location and shout to the crew the necessary corrections. ¶¶ Failure: The next Acrobatics or Athletics check made during this skill challenge has disadvantage. zz Perception (Hard DC): The character spots an incoming swell about to smash into the hull of the vessel, and alerting the crew. ¶¶ Success: The next Acrobatics or Athletics check made during this skill challenge has advantage.. zz Sleight of Hand (Hard DC): With the high winds and sea battering the ropes, several riggings ropes snap. You’re quickly reminded of your experience setting roped traps and tents with intricate knots, You quickly decide the best knot for the job and tie the broken lines together in a cobbled fashion. zz Survival (Moderate DC): Your keen awareness indicates a shift in the winds. You shout out to the crew so they can make the necessary adjustments. ¶¶ Success: The next Investigation check made during this skill challenge has advantage. Overboard Setup: The character is tossed or slips and falls overboard. The waters are treacherous, and waves are difficult to overcome, and the continual pounding of water and wind makes it difficult for a creature to breath, swim or even see where they are going. Any reasonable attempts by the crew to rescue the character overboard grants advantage to the appropriate check.

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Athletics, Constitution, Perception (Moderate DC’s) On a failure, the character begins drowning (see Suffocating Player’s Handbook p183). While overboard, the creature must immediately make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw and again every minute they are overboard. On a failed save, the waves thrash them and they sink below the surface, air escaping their lungs in the fight and they lose one minute of air. If the creature has no more air, they are unconscious and must make death saves for every additional round they are in the water. Total Success: The characters successfully navigate the terrible storm, crew and vessel intact, and arrive at their destination with little problem. Success: The characters successfully navigate the terrible storm, crew safe, but severe damage to the vessel which barely manages to reach its destination. The crew suffer a level of exhaustion and the ship will need repairs before setting sail again. Failure: The characters are unsuccessful in navigating the tumultuous storm, the ship is knocked off course and runs ashore on a small undiscovered island with cannibal natives. The characters suffer two levels of exhaustion and must gather the resources necessary to make the ship sea worthy again. This is a huge set back, and causes a loss of days, or even weeks.

Fantastic Terrain and Traps The world of D&D is full of magic, monsters and divine power. These wondrous sources can cause fantastic terrain to form. Chaotic energies can suffuse the air where a powerful planar portal was opened, sending random bursts of uncontrolled magic in all directions. Powerful ritual circles can enhance the effect of dark magic of an evil wizard or a chamber flooded with water could dampen the effects of fire magic. Using the task scale difficulty above (page 6), you can adjust the difficulty of these fantastic terrains to easily fit any party level.

Choke Frost This deadly frost is most often found in icy caves upon the spine of the world or in the lair of powerful creatures who shroud themselves in the chill of winter’s breeze, such as yetis, ice devils, ice elementals or white dragons. This white mist hardens ice as hard as a crystal and saps the strength of creatures who stand upon its surface, slowly turning their flesh blue as it drains their warmth.

Each time a creature enters an area of choke frost, or ends its turn there, it must succeed on a (Moderate) DC Constitution saving throw or lose 1 Hit Die. A creature who has cold resistance has advantage on the check and creatures immune to cold ignore this effect.

Defiled Ground This is the site of a dark necromancers powerful ritual, or an area of ceremonial sacrifice. The stench of death fills the bloody area of any size, attracting spirits. A creature who standing on defiled ground and casts a necromancer spell of first level or higher, the effect is empowered as if the spell was cast one level higher than the spell slot used, up to 9th level and increasing the spell save DC by 1.

Ember Moss This moss is found in abundance in the Underdark. Ember moss is extremely flammable, making it a favored material for creating torches, as they burn almost indefinitely. Its nature to burn hot and bright can make it treacherous terrain.

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A creature who takes fire damage while standing in an area with ember moss takes and extra 1d10 fire damage and has disadvantage on saving throws against fire damage. The fire ignites the area of ember moss and flammable objects in the area that aren’t being worn or carried. A creature who enters or starts its turn in the ember moss flame takes 6 (1d10) fire damage.

Grab Grass Grab grass is thick and tough tendril like dark blue and green plants often found in the forests of the Feywild or areas that are heavily influenced by the Feywild’s magic bleeding into the material world. A creature that falls prone in an area filled with grab grass must succeed on a (Moderate) DC Strength check to stand up.

Loadstone This strange ivory colored stone drastically increases the weight of all objects within 20 feet. An area covered in loadstone counts as difficult terrain, this also applies to jumping. Any ranged attacks that have line of sight through the area have their normal and max 32range reduced by half and have disadvantage on

attack rolls.

Complex Traps Adventuring into a dungeon or a made mages tower is full of inherent risk. Not only from the dangerous monsters that reside inside, but also from the collections of dangerous traps put in place to keep unwanted visitors out. One wrong step in a dusty old tomb could trigger a series of thrusting spears or scything blades that can cleave a fully armored knight in twine. Monsters aren’t the only danger to our adventurers. Some traps can easily be dealt with, by a rogue with simple knowledge of their tools, but some are much more complex and require a series of steps in order to disarm. Below you will find several examples of complex traps that take more than a simple check to deal with. These traps work best when combined with another skill challenge or a combat encounter. Especially if the characters are ambushed, after they encounter the trap.

Spear Gauntlet Complex Trap (level 1-4, dangerous threat) The sound of a click barely precedes the upward

rush of spears thrusting out of several holes in the ground. Many of the cobblestones in this 30 foot stretch of hallway, bridge, or other narrow passage, or pressure plates. The area is full of holes that are difficult to spot. When a creature steps on a pressure plate, or starts its turn there, the trap is triggered causing spears to thrust upward from all the holes that fill the floor. Trigger The trap requires 20 pounds or more of weight on the plates to activate. Any creature in the area of the spear gauntlet trap must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. Wisdom (Perception): DC 15 The spear holes embedded into the grooves of the floor are difficult to see as they are obscured by dust and cleverly hidden. With a successful check, a character can see slight indentations through the dust and grooves in the floor. If the check succeeds by 5 or more, the creature notices that part of the wall seems false, and behind it is a control panel. Intelligence (Investigation): DC 18 A character can deduce the location of a pressure plate with a successful check from the variations in the mortar and stone used to create it, compared to the surrounding floor. Countermeasures zz A creature that can move at least 90 feet in a single turn can attempt to outrun the gauntlet, with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check. On a failed check, the creature is caught in the spear trap and their speed becomes 0 until the end of the turn. zz A creature standing adjacent to a trigger plate can attempt to disable it by wedging metal spikes beneath it. A successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools disables the plate. A failure triggers the trap. zz A creature adjacent to control panel can shut down the entire trap with a DC 20

Dexterity check using the thieves’ tools. A failure triggers the trap. zz A creature can ready an action to attack the spears when they appear. Their AC is 14 and they have 5 hit points. A success clears a 5 foot area of spears. zz A creature who attacks the control panel can disable the trap. The control panels AC is 16 and has 10 hit points. When destroyed all spears are triggered and stay in the upward released position, leaving no room to pass through.

White Dragon Breath Torrent Complex Trap (level 1-5 deadly threat) Two small intricately carved dragon statues gaze at you menacingly, maws wide open. You spot a flickering blue light deep in the back of their throats moments before a torrent of cold air bursts forth, covering you in frost. The dragon statues are often placed at the entrance to a main chamber or to defend a valuable treasure. Trigger The statues are triggered when a creature comes within 20 feet of them without speaking the command word. The statues each make an attack immediately as a reaction. Each creature in a 30-foot cone must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. The trap activates on initiative count 20 and initiative count 10 each round. Wisdom (Perception): DC 16 A creature can detect a faint magical rune on the inside of the dragon’s maw with a successful check. Intelligence (Investigation): DC 17 A creature can deduce that the statues are unable to move with a successful check, creating a safe spot behind them. Intelligence (Investigation): DC 17 A creature notices a collection of magical glyphs on the floor. With a successful check, they are 33

able to identify the glyphs as a command word protected glyph that is triggering the trap. Countermeasures zz A creature adjacent to the statue can attempt to deactivate the statue between bursts of the icy torrents. A successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools allows a character to jam a nozzle inside the statue’s mouth with of ball bearings or rocks, halting its function for 3 rounds, at which point it explodes dealing its damage in a 20-foot radius sphere. zz The powerful arcane magic can be removed on one of the statues by dispel magic. zz A creature can discover the command word from an enemy guard or force a hostage to speak it. zz A creature with spell casting can engage in a Intelligence (Arcana) skill challenge (DC 17) to re-write the magical glyphs to alter the command word to one of their choosing: 3 successes before 2 failures. ¶¶ Success: They change the command word to one of their choosing. ¶¶ Failure: the arcane energy tied to the glyph backlashes into the caster and they lose two Hit Dice.

Maddening Mural Complex Trap (5-10, Moderate) The mural carved onto the ceiling appears like a normal forest vista at first glance, but the more you look at it, the more strange the details become, the fanged mouths, hidden eyes, shadowing claws and the general scene begins to twist and turn into horrifying monstrosities that feel as if they are reaching out and trying to claw at your sanity. Trigger The odd mural painting has been imbued with evil magic that are designed to twist and assault the sanity of those who look upon it closely. The maddening effect only affects those who view it from within 30 feet away, farther away and the mural appears normal. Once a creature looks at the mural the magic stored inside releases

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a psychic attack attempting to envelope and devour the sanity of the creature. Upon looking at the mural within 30 feet, a creature must succeed on a DC 16 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, the creature takes 11 (2d10) psychic damage and must make a roll on the short-term madness table (Dungeon Master’s Guide p.259). If they failed by 5 or more they rolle on the long-term madness table instead. The trap acts on initiative count 20 each round. Countermeasures zz A creature adjacent to the mural can attempt to deactivate the enchantment. A successful DC 14 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools, they notice the murals enchanted power source is small gems, likely material components to maintain the effect, hidden throughout the mural. This begins a skill challenge requiring 3 successes, before 2 failures. Each success weakens the traps damage by 1d6. ¶¶ Success: The characters remove three black pearl gems that are the material components for the spell. ¶¶ Failure: A burst of psychic energy is released. The characters involved in the challenge must roll on the long-term madness table. zz The magical mural can be disabled with two successful castings of dispel magic (DC 16) targeting the mural. The first success weakens the murals damage by 1d10 and lowers the save DC to 10. zz A successful DC 18 Arcana (Intelligence) check reveals the mural for what it is, a trap of madness and the character knows that closing their eyes will negate its effect.

Crit Academy Unearthed Tips and Tricks: Volume I is a collection of tips and concepts from the Crit Academy podcast. A D&D discussion podcast designed to provide guidance and inspiration to both players and DMs. Many of the ideas and concepts are system agnostic and can benefit players and DMs in many other systems and settings. Included: Over 80 pages of Character Concepts, Monster Variants, Magic Items, Encounter Ideas, Dungeon Master Tips and Player Tips

The G.U.N. Mage is a sorcerous origin archetype for the 5th edition sorcerer class. While many sorcerers are able to naturally tap into the well of magic inside of them, some are not so lucky. Their search for a way to tap into this power has lead them into using an artificially enhanced arcane focus that pulls that latent power within their reach. These special devices are known as Genetic Unconventional Neo-focus, or G.U.N. for short.

Path of the Brawler: To enter the rush of combat is a love that almost all barbarians thirst for. Whether they’re crushing a goblin’s skull with a maul, splitting a kobold in twain with a greataxe, or piercing a mighty lion with a spear, they all have the drive and certainly the means to conquer their foes. However, here are many barbarian cultures who believe the best way to sate their thirst is to engage their foe with their bare hands. The feeling of a crushing skull under their knuckles or a broken rib under their feet nearly brings them to ecstasy. College of the War Chanter looks to the tales and legends of heroes of the past for inspiration. They use those tales to spur their companions in battle. As a war chanter, you embrace those tales and stories as a tool to guide your own life and blade. You lead your companions into battle with rhythmic chants that draw out the virtues of courage, endurance, and strength. The roar of battle, the clash of steel on steel, battle cries, the thunder of marching feet, these are all notes you weave into the symphony of war, which flows across the 35 field like a rolling thunder cloud.