A skill challenge is a protracted test of the party’s abilities. When players jointly commit themselves to a risky and protracted course of action, or find that danger is thrust upon them, a GM may call for a skill challenge. When a skill challenge is called for the GM is their prerogative. Generally skill challenges should be used to zoom in on a dramatic and tense moment in the narrative - when the players face an obstacle where the consequences for failure and/or rewards for success are big and meaningful. 

When the GM calls for a skill challenge, they set a DC for the challenge like they would a skill check, they describe the situation in terms of the problems and obstacles the players are facing. For example, if the players are fighting a dragon, the skill challenge might begin when the dragon breathes fire a the players, and the GM might describe the problems as dragon’s terrible fiery breath, its ability to escape danger by flying, and their sharp teeth and claws. 

• COMBAT - In whirlwind, skill challenges that are combat should begin with a monster taking aggressive towards the players in a way that makes the threat they pose obvious (a dragon’s fiery breath, a wizard conjuring an ice storm, a bear charging at them its teeth and claws). If a players wants to ambush a monster, let one or more of them make skill checks and on success, lower the DC of the skill challenge to account for the injuries they deal to the monster.

Each player then decides what they will do to help the party overcome the challenge. Each player then makes a skill check. If a majority of the players succeed on their skill checks (meeting or exceeding the DC for the skill challenge) then the party succeeds and overcomes the challenge. If a majority fail, then the party faces consequences (see below). If there is an equal number of successes and failures, one player must volunteer to make a second skill check that will build on the efforts made by the rest of the party.

A player can decide to do nothing to help - ordinarily this counts as an automatic failure, but in some situations (for example, duels) it might simply exempt them from the challenge such that it proceeds as though they were not present. 

MINIONS AND SKILL CHALLENGES

Some classes have talents that allow them to command minions, such as the Druid’s Awaken Plants talent. The talents that create minions specify what their attributes are - a druid’s awakened plant has 2 fitness, and 0 in all other attributes. When the players engage in a skill challenge, a minion does not count as ‘player’ and so does not have to make a skill check. However, the player that controls the minion may choose to have the minion act in their place. Such a player doesn’t act except to command their minion, and the success or failure of the minion’s skill check substitutes for the skill check its controlling player otherwise would have made.

WEAKPOINTS AND HARDPOINTS

Skill challenges have weak points and hardpoints: ways of overcoming them that are particularly easy or difficult. If the player describes their action in a way that targets a weak point of the skill challenge (for example, offering a bribe to a corrupt court official that is obstructing the party) they roll with advantage. If the player describes their action in a way that targets a hard point of the skill challenge (for example, offering a bribe to a dutiful court official) then they roll with disadvantage. 

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

Success means that the players have substantially and positively changed the situation that brought them into the skill challenge, but success may not be final. If the players are in a skill challenge to defeat a dragon in the field and succeed, it might retreat to its lair, where the players might have to succeed at several more skill challenges before their final confrontation with the dragon. 

Failure means consequences. Oftentimes, this consequences will follow from what failure means in the story. In a skill challenge to argue their way out of being arrested by the town guard, the town guard will hear no more argument and will attempt to arrest them. But like success, failure is not final either - at this point it would be open to the party to accept being arrested or fight the town guards. Consequences might mean that an important opportunity is lost to the players or path is closed to them, or that they must make a concession of some kind in order to continue. 

In a violent confrontation or other sorts of risky situations, failure might mean facing mortal peril.