How Skill Conduit Contests Work

Article and Art by James Holloway

“The dwarf reaches upwards willing his hands to close on rock after rock as he scales
the barren cliff side. He reaches up and without thinking begins to pull himself up.
Suddenly scree and rocks tumble down and he loses a handhold on one of the rocks. With
willpower alone he reaches upward and grasps the edge of a tree root pulling him to safety.”

Skill challenges are best used when the outcome is along a single line, or when a DM
wants to fast forward through what could be an arduous storytelling experience. The reason
they are not good to use in all situations is that they almost completely randomize what can
be a very dynamic and interesting storytelling mechanic.
Here is how to use a skill conduit contest to make the process seem more dynamic
while still giving the characters options and choices and plenty of roleplaying opportunities.
First decide on the goals. Usually it is best to have at least three different outcomes.
For example for climbing a treacherous cliff in the baking heat of the sun would have as
outcomes:
 Fall down and have to start over
 Climb up the cliff fast
 Climb up the cliff slow
Once we have determined our outcomes we then decide on appropriate skills. Usually
you want skills that everyone can excel at or you want to set the DC low enough that an
untrained character with a low ability score of that level has at least a 50% chance of
succeeding for level 1 this would be a -1 bonus so 50% chance would be a DC of 9. You can
increase or decrease this to simulate an easy or difficult challenge. Let the players choose
which skills to use each round of the skill conduit contest. For our level 1 example we will
use the following skills:

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  Athletics DC 15
 Acrobatics DC 16
 Endurance DC 11
Now we must come up with several situational modifiers, you want at least one or two of
these:
 Due to the sun splashing down each player that can’t cool themselves gets a -2 to
any check they make.
 Small size characters or characters particularly adapted to climbing get a +2 to any
check they make (this includes power usage to assist)
 Characters with ropes or other climbing gear get a +3 to any checks.
Next you come up with some situations that will happen to one or more characters
either based on a requirement, or by choosing randomly between the characters:
 One random character grabs for a handhold and the rock or root pulls free and
tumbles down. That character must make an immediate acrobatics check at DC 13 or
lose a handhold. If more than one handhold is lost the character falls. All characters
climbing below get a -1 to their next check because of the falling debris.
 The first character that fails a passive perception check grabs for a tree
root only to realize that it is a snake. The snake makes an
attack at +3 vs. Reflex. If it is a hit the character must
make an immediate saving throw or they lose their handhold.
If a character loses more than one handhold they fall. On a hit the
character takes 4 points of poison damage.

After this we allow the players to have a few options based on which path they choose to
take. This can be different for other contests but usually equates to a higher DC path that
takes less checks, or a path that takes more checks but has a lower DC:

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  Shorter cliff with less handholds – Increase the DC of checks by +4. Checks: 6
 Taller cliff with many rocky protrusions and roots – Decrease the DC of checks
by -3. Checks: 8
Finally we set win conditions. These can be anything that you want, but usually they are
something along the lines of no more than X failed checks in a row:
 Success no more than 3 failed checks in a row.
 Failure more than 3 failed checks in a row.
And that’s how you create a skill conduit contest. For ease of use the complete challenge
will follow:

Climbing a Cliff
“The cliff stretches up before you. There is a section of cliff that is shorter than the
others, but seems much more difficult to climb and another area that seems much easier to
climb but is much taller. The sun beats down on you beading sweat on your brow.”
Level: 1 500xp
Skills: Athletics DC 15, Acrobatics DC 16, Endurance DC 11

Situations
Cool Down – Due to the sun splashing down, each player that can’t cool down gets a -2
penalty to any check they make.
Adaptable Climbers - Small size characters or characters particularly adapted to climbing
get a +2 to any check they make (this includes power usage to assist)
Prepared Climbers - Characters with ropes or other climbing gear get a +3 to any checks.

Circumstances
Loose Debris - One random character grabs for a handhold and the rock or root pulls free
and tumbles down. That character must make an immediate acrobatics check at

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 DC 13 or lose a handhold. If more than one handhold is lost the character falls. All
characters climbing below get a -1 to their next check because of the falling debris.
Once Bitten - The first character that fails a passive perception check grabs for a tree root
only to realize that it is a snake. The snake makes an attack at +3 vs. Reflex. If it is
a hit the character must make an immediate saving throw or they lose their
handhold. If a character loses more than one handhold they fall. On a hit the
character takes 4 points of poison damage.

Conduits
Shorter cliff with less handholds – Increase the DC of checks by +4. Checks: 6
Taller cliff with many rocky protrusions and roots – Decrease the DC of checks by -3.
Checks: 8

Victory Condition
No more than 3 failed checks in a row. If a character fails more than 3 checks in a row they
tumble to the bottom and lose 1 healing surge.

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