The Crumbling Spire skill challenge

crumbling-stone.md

The Crumbling Spire

Skill Challenge – Level 20
Complexity: 5 (12 successes before 3 failures)
XP: 14,000
Challenge Type: Narrative substitute for combat
Failure Cost:

• Each failure costs a daily power (player's choice), unless negated after the roll by sacrificing a daily power.
• Each PC may only negate a failure once this way per challenge.

Scenario

The Crumbling Spire is a towering relic of planar architecture, now unraveling as a breach into the Far Realm tears through its core. With reality warping, the party must seal four arcane anchor nodes scattered across collapsing levels of the tower. Every moment brings the threat of total dissolution — or something far worse crossing through.

Primary Skills (DC 27)

• Arcana
  Reconfigure unstable arcane matrices, suppress planar flux, or inscribe containment runes.
  Failure: You lose control of the arcane flows. You cannot attempt Arcana again during this challenge.

• Insight
  Read spacetime fractures to predict safe paths and moments of planar stability.
  Failure: You misinterpret the signs and falter. You cannot attempt Insight again during this challenge.

• Athletics
  Leap chasms, climb collapsing structures, brace tilting anchor columns.
  Failure: The instability leaves you isolated. You cannot attempt Athletics again during this challenge.

• Endurance
  Withstand raw exposure to the rift’s energies, enduring waves of planar noise and mutation.
  Failure: Your body rebels against the strain. You cannot attempt Endurance again during this challenge.

Secondary Skills (each usable once per PC)

• Religion (DC 23)
  Call upon divine resonance to reinforce weakened planar wards.
  Effect: One ally gains a +2 bonus to their next Arcana or Endurance check.

• History (DC 23)
  Recall the tower's ancient structure and rituals of stabilization.
  Effect: Learn of the next complication in advance, granting one PC a +2 bonus when it occurs.

Complications

Trigger at 4th, 8th, and 11th total successes. These do not cause automatic failures but offer tough tradeoffs.

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Complication 1: Mirror Pulse

The tower resonates with a mirrored frequency.

• Two PCs must both attempt a check this round using the same skill.
• If both succeed: 2 successes are gained.
• If one fails: 1 failure is recorded.
• One PC may spend a daily power to guarantee their roll is not a failure.

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Complication 2: Fractal Echoes

Visions of failure cascade from the rift.
Each PC chooses one:

• Accept the vision:
  Gain a +2 bonus to your next check. If it fails, it cannot be negated with a daily power.

• Reject the vision:
  Make your next check as normal. It may be negated if failed.

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Complication 3: The Final Focus

The final anchor node fractures across possible outcomes. Choose one:

• One PC may auto-succeed on their next check, even a duplicate.
  That skill cannot be used again by that PC.

• OR the group may reroll one previously failed check (once).
  Must accept the new result.

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Success

The tower stabilizes. The planar breach seals. You’ve earned a powerful planar stronghold or gateway — or perhaps prevented a larger threat from entering this world.

Failure

The tower is lost to the Far Realm. Each PC is flung to a different dimension or corrupted by exposure. Reuniting the party becomes a future epic-tier arc.

You are a Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition design expert. Create a high-level skill challenge designed to replace a combat encounter, using the following criteria:

Challenge Parameters:

• Tier: Specify level and tier (paragon or epic recommended)
• Complexity: 5 (12 successes before 3 failures)
• Encounter Role: Should feel as tense and consequential as combat
• Theme: Provide a vivid scenario appropriate for the tier

Design Guidelines:

• Include 4 primary skills (DC set based on level), each tied directly to the narrative and not interchangeable.
  • On failure, the character can no longer use that skill for the remainder of the challenge.
• Include 2 secondary skills (usable once per PC), which provide narrative or mechanical support without granting successes.
• Allow failures to be negated by spending a daily power, once per character per challenge.
• Every failure costs the party a daily power (player's choice).
• Include 3 complications, triggered at specific success thresholds (e.g., 4th, 8th, 11th success).
  • These should introduce tough choices, tradeoffs, or temporary constraints — but not use HP, initiative, or combat-style conditions.
  • All effects must remain within the abstract, narrative framework of a skill challenge.

Formatting:

• Return the challenge in well-organized Markdown.
• Include sections: Scenario, Primary Skills, Secondary Skills, Complications, Success Outcome, Failure Outcome.

The design should focus on narrative drama, mechanical tension, and fun decision-making without converting into a pseudo-combat system.