Costs of a Failed Skill Check
Game Master Tip: Failed skill checks must affect and/or advance something. Otherwise, itās just meaningless, time-wasting, and pace-breaking padding.
Have you ever had a tabletop experience akin to the following exaggerated strawman example?
PC: āI want to look for tracks.ā
GM: āRoll for Survival/Nature/whatever.ā
PC: *Fails to meet the DC*
GM: āYou donāt find anything.ā
Party: āAlrighty. We go home, then.
QUEST FAILED, everybody goes to sleep in the game world and IRL
My own personal rule of thumb is: a failed skill check doesnāt always outright fail a quest. Instead, these unfortunate events costs the party in-game resources. Resources include, but are not limited to, money, time, hit points, supplies, etc. Essentially, a failure streak results in depleted resourcesĀ over time, as opposed to abrupt anticlimactic mission failure. If there is no mechanical effect for a mandated skill check other thanĀ āfor the rollz,ā just get on with itĀ and move the players to where/who they need to be/meet.
Please keep in mind that Iām not stating that parties should be allowed to proceed if they keep failing. Iāll leave it up to individual GM preference, but after enough consecutive failures you gotta drop the axe or move on.
Here is an example of each of the three main aforementioned costs, to get the think-tank bubbling. I usually come up with at least two for all applicable skills, perhaps more if the check is likely be invoked multiple times in a game (Perception, Nature, and Survival come to mind the most).
Money
The usually silver-tongued bard failed to charm a guard (Diplomacy) into letting the party into a quarantined part of the city. The watchman instead offers to grant you passage and his silence in exchange for double his current rate.
Time
[To clarify, I am talking about in-game time, not IRL time. You and your players have places to be, after all.]
The ranger follows the wrong set of tracks (Survival) for several hours, and the party is forced to double back in order to find the enemy encampment. When they finally arrive, the orcs had taken the extra time to fortify their defenses and place scouts along the perimeter. The sky has also become noticeably darker, which would give the enemyās inherent darkvision a keen advantage in the fight to come.
Health
The druid, in an attempt to regain her bearings, focuses too much on the surrounding foliage and fails to notice (Perception) the wandering mother bear escorting her two cubs. True to its matriarchal and overprotective nature, the bear charges forward, teeth and claws bared.
[Optionally, Iād force a hard DC follow-up check for the entire group to avoid taking damage, just to be fair. Details about who gets hurt and how badly, how the conflict is resolved, etc. is entirely up to GMās discretion and playerās actions. The point of this is to be a quick hazard, not a prolonged encounter. Quickly resolve it and move on with the quest.]