Maybe a mix of good ideas and good dice makes them look slick and cool, or maybe they run into some trouble and come out a bit worse for wear, but either way the adventure continues. Unless the party made a real mess of it and failed, the Narrator should reward them with experience. For every two obstacles of the challenge, give one-quarter the normal experience for an encounter with CR that matches their tier. If one of the consequences was a fight, don’t give separate experience for that fight.

Example 4: Complex Timing and Flashbacks

If a Narrator is comfortable with flexible use of narrative time, they don’t have to come up with all the obstacles in a challenge at once, nor to run the Assess the Challenge stage first. They can simply present the first obstacle, then let an adventurer try to overcome it, and if their roll isn’t good enough, the player can retroactively describe how they would have prepared for that. In this style, the presentation of obstacles, efforts, and flashbacks to preparations can continue until the party overcomes enough obstacles (one per adventurer) to earn them a win on the overall challenge.

Consider a possible perilous challenge for a 17th level party. One of the players, Ford, had his rogue petrified last session by a bounty hunter and her pet basilisk . His petrified form has been taken as a trophy for Filpot, a crime boss who hated him. The party wants to rescue their companion, but George the Narrator would rather avoid running a multi-session rescue mission while Ford twiddles his thumbs.

Without explicitly telling them that he’s running a perilous challenge, George asks how they’re going to get to Ford’s character without making the crime boss panic and destroy the petrified rogue. Billy asks what his savant knows about Filpot and George has him make a DC 18 Investigation check, which counts as his effort for the Assess the Challenge stage. He succeeds, so George quickly invents some broad strokes about defenses and Filpot’s penchant for wild parties and cruel executions.

Carrie’s marshal poses as a bounty hunter to try to sneak in with a scroll of stone to flesh. She makes a Deception check and fails. She asks if she could have retroactively purchased a necklace of fireballs to threaten to detonate, to get an expertise die , and George allows it. However, even with the bonus from the die, the result is still a failure. To represent the imperiled nature of the operation, George says Filpot lets her into his lair, but he still has his suspicions. She decides to still try to unpetrify Ford, this time with a Stealth check to sneak around after dark. However, she fails the second roll and is discovered. George says she did manage to get in and unpetrify Ford’s rogue, but they’re spotted. The rogue is thrown in a cell, and Carrie’s marshal is disarmed and forced to attend Filpot as a servant.

Peter suggests his berserker could be there too, having gone in as the bounty Carrie brought in. He makes an Athletics check to secretly break his bonds, so he’ll be ready to fight at full strength when the time comes. Meanwhile, Mark wants his herald to walk in and threaten Filpot to release everyone. George advises that this is a bad plan, since the guards at the gate will ensure he’s unarmed and the DC will be higher because of it. Mark is overconfident, and he rolls an Intimidation check against DC 20 and fails. Imperiled and facing DC of 25, he decides to attempt a Sleight of Hand check to steal a weapon from a guard, but fails again. George says a trap door dumps him into a dungeon where he has to fight a hill giant. The herald survives the encounter, but is taken prisoner.

Billy has only used his Assess the Challenge effort, so as his Face the Challenge effort he says that this whole time he’s been posing as one of Filpot’s guards, which has let him seed the whole organization with his allies. He wants to spring everyone now, but he fails his initial DC 18 Stealth check. George says that the escape will have to wait until all adventurers are gathered together for a public execution: being fed to a Gargantuan sand worm.

Since success hinges on Billy beating a DC 23 check, Mark says that in preparation before the mission, he could have sent a follower ahead undercover with his weapon, so he can be armed for the escape attempt. Peter suggests that he was put into a cell with Ford as a fellow prisoner and can make a Medicine check to get his friend strong enough to fight. The two expertise dice together give Billy enough of a bonus to succeed his second check.

George then details the resolution: the herald’s ally tosses him his magic sword, the berserker hurls a few guards in the monster’s mouth, the martial strangles Filpot, Ford’s rogue takes out the bounty hunter who initially captured him, and Billy’s savant pilots them all to safety on Filpot’s dirigible. The team is together again and ready to go save the world, all within a single session!

The Narrator and players collaboratively narrate how they approach the obstacles. For each obstacle, one character takes the lead in overcoming it. They describe what they’re doing, and if necessary they’ll roll a check. The party might each go after different obstacles, or one might handle multiple, such as if a single character goes in alone.

If the character fails their check, the situation becomes perilous! The Narrator should describe how danger is looming. The adventurer can then try again, or have another party member make an attempt, but either way the DC is increased by 5 unless they come up with a new approach that is well-suited for the moment. If they fail on their second check against a given obstacle, they suffer a consequence.

Example 3: Chase, Continued

At each location a player describes an effort of how they’ll try to outpace the gnolls at each location, then they roll. In the plains, one adventurer might use Survival to use the herd as cover to make it harder for the gnolls to track. At the bridge, another might use Engineering to sabotage it. In the woods, a Nature check might recall the right offering to appease the fey, and then an Athletics check could get the party up the cliffs to reach the fortress to warn them of the approaching army.

Perhaps while sabotaging the bridge, the adventurer fails their first check, imperiling them. The Narrator describes one of the lead gnolls coming into sight, rushing for the bridge. The adventurer could keep trying to drop the bridge, increasing the DC by 5, or might decide to use Deception to feign looking eager so the gnoll is tricked into thinking the bridge is already sabotaged and avoids it out of caution. Either way, if the second check is failed, the consequence could be a small fight with one over-eager gnoll.

Even reaching the fortress isn’t the end of the adventure. The party can take a short rest before the enemy army arrives, but don’t have enough time for a long rest. This way any consequences of failure along the way actually matter.

If the party knows about the challenge in advance, each adventurer can undertake one effort during this stage to either surveil or prepare. A failed check in this stage has no negative consequence; it just doesn’t grant any bonuses.

Surveil. Before preparations begin, an adventurer can seek for more information about the challenge as a whole. On a success, each other adventurer gets an expertise die on their checks they make to prepare during this stage. Depending on the approach and the result of the check, the Narrator can also choose to reveal one or more previously unknown obstacles.

Prepare. Once surveillance has concluded, an adventurer can devise a way to deal with a single known obstacle, usually by acquiring the right tools or setting up favorable conditions. On a successful check, their preparation provides an expertise die to whoever tries to overcome that obstacle during the Face the Challenge stage.

Example 2: Heist

Heists can certainly be complex enough to deserve one or more full sessions, but sometimes they’re just a stepping stone to the part of the story that’s more important. Does the party need a particular magic item for their main quest? Sure, the Narrator could just drop it as loot or sell it at a magic shop, but why not put it somewhere lightly defended and let the party steal it?

Say they need a few potions of water breathing , but the alchemist they want to buy from says his whole stock was stolen by the Last Ravens—a gang of wizard school dropouts who specialize in nicking magical items. The Narrator comes up with four obstacles, but the only one known to the party is that they first have to get into the gang’s lair.

They have time to prepare, so during the Assess the Challenge stage, one adventurer surveils, using a Persuasion check to befriend a member of the gang and get info. She succeeds and learns the nature of the four obstacles: the lair is accessed via a magic portal in a haunted forest, there are always a few wizards inside the lair, bound spirits of guard dogs watch the gang’s treasure room, and stealing from the treasure will trigger a curse.

Armed with this information, the remaining three party members detail their efforts and roll their checks with expertise: Religion to make charms to ward off forest ghosts, Investigation to get blackmail on a gang member so she’ll be easier to manipulate, and Animal Handling to train a cat to distract the spectral dogs.

The Narrator should come up with a number of obstacles—situations or creatures that stand between the party and their intended goal. In a given perilous challenge there should be at least two, but usually not more than the number of adventurers. Try to ensure each obstacle is best handled with a different skill, and ideally with a different ability score. For example, adventurers can’t sneak past the guards with a Stealth check and then sneakily steal a boat with another Stealth check, but they might make a water vehicle check to deftly maneuver the craft without being seen, or an Animal Handling check to spook the guards’ horses and distract them from the departing boat.

While no plan will cover every contingency, Narrators should decide ahead of time what happens if an adventurer fails a check. Advice on and examples of such consequences are detailed in Perils and Consequences below. After the Narrator has designed obstacles and consequences, they narrate what the adventurers know, which should include at least one obstacle, though others may be hidden for now.

Setting DC's

Use a baseline DC 10 + twice the party’s tier. So a 3rd level party (tier 1) would have a default DC of 12 on checks during perilous challenges. If the party’s approach is ill-suited to the obstacle, increase the DC by 2 or more, or even say the chosen method is impossible. If they’re being actively opposed by a specific foe, the DC might be 8 + that character’s skill bonus.

If the result of the first effort is a failure, increase the DC for the second check by 5. Especially for higher-level parties, don’t just increase numbers. Make sure to justify the higher DC with an appropriate narrative—a failed Deception check makes a mark suspicious, or a failed Engineering check damaged a piece of equipment. The math of perilous challenges is meant to see the party succeed while facing 1 or 2 complications. During the Face the Challenge stage, don’t require more than one success to overcome each obstacle.

The Narrator is encouraged to use critical failures and successes to add extra complications or lucky breaks to the challenge. See Ability Check Criticals  in Chapter 6: Ability Scores of Adventurer’s Guide for examples.

Obstacles and Effort

Perilous challenges don’t use normal initiative or rounds. Instead, each adventurer can attempt to prepare for or overcome one of the obstacles set by the Narrator by undertaking an effort. An adventurer can undertake one effort each in the Assess the Challenge and Face the Challenge stages. To do so, the player states what they’re doing, then makes a single skill check. Depending on circumstances, the Narrator may rule that an adventurer can expend a limited resource like a spell slot to get an expertise die , advantage , or even an automatic success.

Since perilous challenges are somewhat abstract in timing, adventurers can’t use the Help action, the guidance cantrip, or similar atwill actions to affect an effort the way they could in a combat encounter. However, limited-use abilities like Bardic Inspiration can still provide bonuses.

The time spent on each effort is whatever makes sense for the game’s narrative. One effort might be a minute sabotaging a rope bridge to stop pursuing gnolls, followed by an Engineering check. Another could be an adventurer performing high society dances for an hour to ingratiate themselves with noble they intend to rob, making a Culture check using Dexterity. A third could be dealing with a locked vault by simply casting knock .

Peril and Consequences

Importantly, in a perilous challenge, if an adventurer fails a check to overcome an obstacle, that doesn’t mean they lost, just that the operation is imperiled. This might manifest as a delay, such as being unable to make another attempt to steal a guard’s key until later, a partial success, or a case of “failing forward” where they succeed at their goal but encounter additional difficulties. A player can choose to try the check again at a higher DC, but a second failed check provokes a consequence. However, consequences are not dead ends.

Designing Consequences

When done right, consequences don’t stop the party from finishing the challenge; they’re just a cost for poor performance. These might drain resources from the adventurer or even the whole party. Examples include an easy fight, suffering a level of fatigue or strife , losing a lot of Supply, or damage appropriate to an exploration challenge obstacle of their tier. Potential consequences by tier are listed below. Other sorts of consequences are narrative. Perhaps the character leaves a clue that can direct enemies or investigators toward the party. Perhaps their behavior earns them a bad reputation. They might succeed in looting a treasure vault, but discover the loot is doused in stinking oil, making it hard to sell.

Sometimes the nature of a consequence will need to change based on how the adventurer attempted (and failed) to overcome the challenge. Make sure any mechanical penalty is justified by the narrative and story, and that it actually will be consequential. This is easiest if there is no time to rest after the perilous challenge before the next part of the adventure.

Complications to Success

Perilous challenges are often complicated situations and, well, perilous. Even if an adventurer succeeds in overcoming an obstacle and accomplishes their goal, unforeseen narrative complications may arise, especially if you are working with the Complex Timing rules below. In this case, it is important to stress the adventurer’s success and that such complications are not punishments, but instead meant to keep the story moving along. For example, a successful Stealth check to free a companion should result in the companion being freed—but doesn’t mean that there wasn’t an alarm spell set on the cell door. Such complications should be used sparingly, to avoid taking agency from the players.

Multiple Consequences

Since each challenge has multiple obstacles, adventurers risk facing multiple consequences. Ideally these consequences will take different forms—some could be damage or a fight, but others can be lost resources or more narrative effects.

Example 1: Chase

One of the simplest sorts of perilous challenge is when party is chasing or being chased. Each obstacle is a different location along the route, wherein one member of the party must describe what they’re doing to go faster than the other side.

Perhaps a pack of gnolls are chasing four adventurers cross-country, trying to stop them from warning a fortress of an approaching army. The four obstacles are: the open plains during a massive buffalo migration, followed by a rope bridge across a turbulent river, then woods where faeries harass travelers, and finally the cliffs beneath a fortress where the party can rest in a haven.

Possible consequences on the plains would be damage from getting trampled. At the bridge, perhaps one of the lead gnolls catches up with the party, provoking a small fight. In the fey woods, maybe a party member suffers a small curse. And at the cliffs, the effects of the prolonged chase could inflict a level of fatigue on the whole party.

A perilous challenge has four stages. The first and fourth are taken care of by the Narrator, while the players can take their own precautions and actions in the second and third stages.

1. Designing Obstacles . The Narrator comes up with a variety of obstacles, usually one per adventurer, as well as consequences for failure.

2. Assess the Challenge . If the party has a chance to act in advance, each adventurer undertakes one effort to learn about or prepare for the obstacles. When they don’t have foreknowledge of the challenge, skip this stage.

3. Face the Challenge . The party chooses who will face each obstacle and that character undertakes an effort to overcome it. Sometimes it makes sense for each adventurer to handle a different obstacle, or a single character might handle each in sequence if alone.

4. Resolution . After the party faces each obstacle—either by overcoming it or dealing with a negative consequence—they finish the perilous challenge and the Narrator details the outcome.

Telling a Story

Like exploration challenges, perilous challenges are best when they fit seamlessly into an adventure. The first time, it can be helpful for the Narrator to explain the concepts of obstacles, effort, peril, and consequences. Even that format is just a guideline, however, and not something to be adhered to strictly. Below are various examples of perilous challenges and how to mix narrative with mechanics.

This unscrupulous order of mages seek to expand their mastery of summoning magic, as well as their own power and influence. Like the creatures they summon they are insidious and opportunistic, more than happy to make a deal that somehow always ends up favoring them.

The Order of Binding and Summoning

Structure: Mage Order, Hierarchic, Elected Grandmaster

Symbol: A fiendish skull fastened to a chain

Base of Operations: Tower of Summoning (Grade 5 Laboratory ), numerous outposts (Grade 3 Guildhouse )

Beliefs: Magic is the foremost avenue of power. Power belongs to those who can seize it.

Goals: Advance magical research in the fields of conjuration, summoning and the planes. Amass power and influence.

The Order of Binding and Summoning is one of many mage orders found across the lands established for the purpose of bringing together like-minded spellcasters to push the boundaries of magic forward. The order seeks to bring together skilled conjurers and summoners, to unite their efforts into probing the outer planes in search of knowledge and power.

Their guildhouses can be found in major settlements wherever they are tolerated by the local authorities. The Order’s services are always available for hire, whether they be summoning creatures to act as guards or servants, facilitating travel to other planes, or brokering deals with extraplanar entities. By offering their services to governments, organizations and wealthy individuals, the Order seeks to expand their influence, by making themselves a prominent or even indispensable pillar of the local community. There are even rumors of the Order aiding employers’ enemies or orchestrating crises to effect reliance on their services.

While the Order fosters cooperation between its members, its discoveries are jealously guarded against outsiders. Should these mages have their way, they’d hold complete monopoly on the craft of summoning and its practitioners. There are plenty of warlocks and wizards however, who hold the Order and its method in high disdain, and while the spells here collected form a core part of the curriculum for the Order’s initiates, they are by no means the gatekeepers of such spells that they’d dream to be.