Not every encounter has to end up in combat—sometimes, your skills can be mightier than your sword. When you need to solve a lot of small tasks to overcome one big problem, you're in a trial.
This chapter introduces Trials, how to create them, and advice on how to run them in your games.
In a trial, players seek to accomplish a goal by completing a series of smaller tasks. They do this by working together and making ability checks—the more successes they get, the more tasks they can complete. Too many failures, however, and penalities may occur—or the entire trial may be forfeit.
Trials can take any form—a chase through a bustling city, decrypting a necromancer's sinister spellbook, exploring a fetid dungeon, a parley with a formidable warlord, a war against an infernal army—so be creative.
Chansi, Valiant, and Clanda are trapped in the Storm Wilds, surrounded by a horde of animated shadows sent by the Twilight Crown.
In a clearing, Clanda discovers the broken ruins of an elven portal. Can the adventurers reactivate the portal in time to escape the attacking shadows...?
Fix the Storm Wild's fey portal to escape the Twilight Crown.
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: The party escape with a valuable prize—a captured, animated shadow. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: The party escape—just in time. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: The party escape—but suffer a significant loss. |
5 | Major Defeat: The portal is destroyed and the party are captured by the Twilight Crown. |
Restore the broken pillars of the portal circle.
Gather arcane fragments and spellpower.
(Requirements: A and B) Activate the fey portal.
Defend yourself from the attacking shadows.
Once you have a trial mapped out for your players, it's time to put it into play. Follow these steps when running trials in your game:
A trial can begin at any point—when a player tries to intimidate a formidable NPC, when a monster chases the party through a dark forest, when the rogue triggers a trap mid-combat, etc.
Once it looks like a trial is about to take place, announce it to the party.
Now, you must set the stage. It's important to let the players know the details of their trial—if your players aren't aware of their situation, they can't enagage with it in a fun or meaningful way.
Describe the rough outline of the trial—the goal, the tasks, the expected outcomes, and the effective difficulty (DC, successes required, pacing, deadlines, etc.).
You may decide that some information is—at first—obsured to players. Consider allowing them to discover this information with appropriate Intelligence checks—or other checks as appropriate.
Whenever a player describes an action they are taking to resolve a task, the GM can ask that player to make an ability check against the DC of the trial.
Once the player makes their roll, check the Trial Check Results table below to see what the outcome is.
Open Skills: When you decide which ability check to ask for, use attributes and skills in any combination as best matches the player's action.
Advantage & Disadvantage: Depending on the situation and the action taken, you may choose to grant either advantage or disadvantage to the player's roll.
Result | Outcome |
---|---|
+10 or more |
Critical Success: Choose one of the following:
|
+0 to +9 | Success: Gain one success. |
−1 to −9 | Failure: Gain one failure. |
−10 or lower | Critical Failure: Gain two failures. |
Your players may have access to special resources—tools, spells, gear, allies, etc. When a player opts to use one of these resources, consider one of the following:
Your players may naturally improvise tasks of their own based the trial's description. Try to be flexible with your trial outline—if the players have a good idea, incorporate it as best you can.
Depending on the trial and the action taken by the player, you can apply a consequence if an ability check results in a failure—taking damage, spending hit die, burning spell slots, losing gold, etc.
Clanda rolls a failure when trying to countermand the spell powering the arcane bomb. The GM decides to apply a consequence—arcane power lashes out and Clanda takes 2d12 points of force damage.
Your players may opt to make an attack as their action within a trial. To resolve these attacks, don't use attack rolls or saving throws—instead, resolve them as a simple ability check based on the attack action described by the player. For example:
If the player uses a relevant ability—such as a class feature, spell, or other resource—consider granting them advantage (or an automatic success) to the roll.
To hold back the horde, Valiant wants to attack the overwhelming shadows of the Twilight Crown with his mace. The GM asks for a Strength (Athletics) check.
Because Valiant has the Divine Strike passive ability—and the shadows are vulnerable to radiant—the GM grants advantage to the roll.
Trials are at their best when the narrative evolves with each ability check, expanding the story and encouraging a variety of abilities and skills. So if you find that players are relying on the same actions and abilities to solve a task, consider mixing things up with a challenge.
Describe a change in the narrative that puts one or more characters in a difficult—or perilous—situation. Use this opportunity to put the spotlight on a particular character, ability, or skillset.
Valiant could simply use Strength (Athletics) each time to hold back the horde with melee attacks. But to keep things interesting, the GM decides to introduce some challenges. For example:
Valiant must now describe a different action in reaction to the challenge which may require a different ability, skill, or feature.
No trial lasts forever. All things must end, and a trial typically concludes in one of four ways:
Victory: The players have rolled enough successes to complete the trial. Check the trial's list of outcomes to see what happens next—the fewer failures, the better the outcome.
After some tense rolls, Clanda rolls 5 successes in her trial to disarm the arcane bomb. The trial ended with 2 failures—a minor victory.
She disarms the bomb safely, but is unable to recover any information about who created it.
Once you have an idea for a trial, follow these six steps to start building it:
Your first step is to define the overall goal of your skill challenge—what is it the players are trying to accomplish?
You must then decide on the outcomes of the trial: what happens when the players succeed or fail in their efforts? There are four outcomes to any trial:
The goal of Krazak, Viridian, and Crackle is to explore a sunken crypt in the Umbral Deeps—rumored to be the lair of the necromancer Jander Skull.
Next, you must choose a baseline difficulty and complexity for your trial. The higher the difficulty, the harder it will be for your players to succeed in their efforts—and the higher the complexity, the more successes your players must achieve. Choose your options from the tables below:
Difficulty | DC |
---|---|
Very Easy | 5 |
Easy | 10 |
Medium | 15 |
Hard | 20 |
Very Hard | 25 |
Impossible | 30 |
Complexity | Successes |
---|---|
Simple | 5 |
Straightforward | 10 |
Involved | 15 |
Detailed | 20 |
Intricate | 25 |
Complicated | 30 |
Jander Skull is rumored to be a fledgling necromancer with a tretcherous, sunken lair. The GM decides to create a medium / involved trial—the party must make 15 × DC 15 successes to complete the trial.
Now it's time to break down the goal—and the required successes—down into smaller, narrative-focused tasks.
A task describes a specific objective that should (or must) be met by the players to accomplish the goal of the trial. Use these to create a variety of small, narrative challenges for the party to overcome during the trial.
After some consideration, the GM creates the following tasks for their 15 × DC 15 trial:
Enter the Crypt (2 successes)
Locate the secret entrance to the sunken crypt.
Explore the Sunken Chamber: (5 successes)
(Requirements: A) Navigate the twisting chambers of the sunken crypt.
Battle the Undead: (5 successes)
(Requirements: A) Defend yourself against the risen undead that roam the crypt.
Defeat Jander Skull: (3 successes)
(Requirements: A, B, and C) Battle the necromancer.
Some tasks may have requirements—sequencing, tools, skills, abilities, etc. Add requirements where necessary to a) create a variety of challenges for the party and b) strengthen the narrative theming of your trial—try to highlight multiple skillsets whenever possible.
As a rule of thumb, try to put the spotlight on at least two sets of primary skills within each trial—the more skills you support, the easier you make it for players to participate.
Use the task themes listed below as a starting point to help you allocate some skill spotlights:
Theme | Primary Skills |
---|---|
Academic | History, Investigation, Medicine |
Battle | Athletics, Stealth, Arcana, Religion, Nature, Perception |
Exploration | Investigation, Athletics, Acrobatics, Nature, Stealth, Perception, Survival |
Infiltration | Stealth, Deception, Perception |
Magical | Arcana |
Physical | Athletics, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth |
Primal | Animal Handling, Nature, Survival |
Social | Intimidation, Deception, Performance, Persuasion |
Spiritual | Religion, Insight |
Next, choose a pacing and a deadline for your trial. The faster the pace, the more checks the party can roll within a certain time—the longer the deadline, the more time the party has to act.
Pacing | Checks |
---|---|
Extra-fast | X per turn |
Fast | X per round |
Slow | X per hour |
Extra-slow | X per day |
Weekly | X per week |
Monthly | X per month |
Yearly | X per year |
Decadal | X per decade |
Type | Deadline |
---|---|
None | — |
Turns | X turns |
Rounds | X rounds |
Minutes | X minutes |
Hourly | X hours |
Daily | X days |
Weekly | X weeks |
Yearly | X years |
To round off their dungeon exploration trial, the GM chooses a pace and a deadline:
Finally, you may wish to apply an immediate consequence to your players when they roll a failure during your trial. Choose one (or more) of the following—or create your own unique consequences:
The GM decides to apply a consequence to failed checks—a player loses one unspent hit die or gains a level of exhaustion if they have no hit die remaining.
Your trial is now ready—see Running a Trial () to start putting it into play.
Explore a sunken crypt in the Umbral Deeps—the lair of the necromancer Jander Skull.
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: The party find a secret stash of treasure. They recover 1000 gp, a scroll of Raise Dead, and a Sword of Life Stealing. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: The party explore the crypt, recovering 100 gp and a scroll of Raise Dead. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: The party are overwhelmed, escaping with two levels of exhaustion. |
5 | Major Defeat: The party run afoul of Jander Skull. One random party member is killed. The others escape with four levels of exhaustion. |
Locate the secret entrance to the sunken crypt.
(Requirements: A) Navigate the twisting chambers of the sunken crypt.
(Requirements: A) Defend yourself against the risen undead that roam the crypt.
(Requirements: A, B, and C) Battle the necromancer.
When you create a trial, it's important to consider the party's chances of success—the higher you set the DC, the harder it will be for your players to pass the trial.
As a general rule of thumb, use the Average Ability Bonuses across the party as a starting point.
Level | Average Ability Bonus | ||
---|---|---|---|
Unskilled | Skilled | Expert | |
1-4 | +0 | +3/+5 | +5/+7 |
4-8 | +0 | +4/+7 | +7/+10 |
9-12 | +0 | +5/+9 | +9/+13 |
13-16 | +0 | +6/+10 | +11/+15 |
17-20 | +0 | +7/+11 | +13/+17 |
Bonus | Chance of Success (%) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DC 5 | DC 10 | DC 15 | DC 20 | DC 25 | DC 30 | |
-5 | 55 | 30 | 5 | — | — | — |
-4 | 60 | 35 | 10 | — | — | — |
-3 | 65 | 40 | 15 | — | — | — |
-2 | 70 | 45 | 20 | — | — | — |
-1 | 75 | 50 | 25 | — | — | — |
+0 | 80 | 55 | 30 | 5 | — | — |
+1 | 85 | 60 | 35 | 10 | — | — |
+2 | 90 | 65 | 40 | 15 | — | — |
+3 | 95 | 70 | 45 | 20 | — | — |
+4 | 100 | 75 | 50 | 25 | — | — |
+5 | 100 | 80 | 55 | 30 | 5 | — |
+6 | 100 | 85 | 60 | 35 | 10 | — |
+7 | 100 | 90 | 65 | 40 | 15 | — |
+8 | 100 | 95 | 70 | 45 | 20 | — |
+9 | 100 | 100 | 75 | 50 | 25 | — |
+10 | 100 | 100 | 80 | 55 | 30 | 5 |
+11 | 100 | 100 | 85 | 60 | 35 | 10 |
+12 | 100 | 100 | 90 | 65 | 40 | 15 |
+13 | 100 | 100 | 95 | 70 | 45 | 20 |
+14 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 75 | 50 | 25 |
+15 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 80 | 55 | 30 |
A low ability bonus isn't the end of the world—there's (almost) always a way to improve your odds and help out in a trial. To boost your chances, consider the following:
If you want to customize Trials for your game, consider the following variant dials.
Use Task DCs if you want to run a more granular trial with a variety of DC modifiers.
When you create a task for a trial that you think is notably easier or harder than normal, apply a relative DC modifier to it: easiest (-4), easier (-2), normal (+0), harder (+2), or hardest (+4).
The GM wants to use Task DCs with the Crypt of Jander Skull trial (DC 15). They apply the following modifiers:
If you want a more precise method for determining which spells can trigger automatic successes, use this Spellpower Successes variant.
To gain advantage or automatic successes on an ability check during a trial, a spell must be of a minimum level relative to the DC—as shown in the table below.
DC | Minimum Spell Level | ||
---|---|---|---|
Advantage | 1 Success | 2 Successes | |
0-4 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
5-9 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
10-14 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
15-19 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
20-24 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
25+ | 4 | 6 | 8 |
If a spell is a perfect match for a situation, act as if it is +2 spell levels higher to determine if it should grant advantage or a success.
To get you started with trials, here are some example templates you can use in your games. Use these templates as a starting point—adjust the difficulties, pacing, deadlines, and apply your own theming where appropriate.
In a chase, the party are in hot pursuit. A monster running through a dark forest, a thief fleeing across crowded city rooftops, a pirate ship escaping across a stormy sea—when the party need to need to catch up with an evasive opponent, use this template.
You are chasing after someone—or something—across some tricky terrain. Can you reach the target in time?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You catch up with your target and gain a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You catch up with your target. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You catch up with your target—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: You lose track of your target. |
Keep the target in your sights.
Overcome a hazard caused by the environment.
Close the distance between you and the target.
In a crafting trial, the party are being creative. Building a suit of armor, reforging the broken sword of kings, brewing a lethal poison—when the party are trying to create something, use this template.
You are trying to craft an item. Gather recipies, materials, and tools to put your creativity to the test.
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You craft the item perfectly, gaining a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You craft the item. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You craft the item—but it has a significant defect. |
5 | Major Defeat: You failed to craft the item and wasted the materials in the process. |
Process the materials you need for your crafting.
Turn the materials into your desired item.
(Requirements: A and B) Apply some finishing touches and flourishes to the item.
In a escape, the party are trying to lose a pursuer. Breaking free from an eldritch prison, running across desecrated ground patrolled by soul-devouring wraiths, hiding in the mountains from a raging red dragon—when the party need to keep their distance from a foe, use this template.
You are being pursed. Can you hide your tracks and open up enough distance to lose the hunter?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You escape your pursuers and gain a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You escape your pursuers. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You escape your pursuers—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: Your pursuers catch up. |
Cover your tracks as you make your escape.
Overcome a hazard caused by the environment.
Open up some distance between you and your pursuers.
In a heist, the party are trying to take something from a location in secret. Stealing a diamond from a bank vault, rescuing an emperor from draconic kidnappers, taking a phylactory from a lich's lair—when the party are trying to acquire something without detection, use this template.
You are trying to pull off a heist. Can you get in, grab the loot, and get out without raising the alarm?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You escape with the item and gain a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You escape with the item. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You escape with the item—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: You were discovered during the heist—bad things are about to happen. |
Put your team together, gather information, and acquire the tools/resources you need.
(Requirements: A) Infiltrate, locate, and acquire.
(Requirements: A and B) Get back out without raising the alarm.
In an investigation, the party are trying to learn something. Investigating a murder scene, uncovering the lair of a mythical beast, learning the secret handshake of an underground cult—when the party need to discover some information, use this template.
You are gathering information. Can you turn clues and rumors into a solid conclusion?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You gathered some information and a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You gathered information. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You gathered some information—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: You didn't gather any useful information—and something bad will happen. |
Search a location and gather clues.
Talk to people and collect information.
(Requirements: A and B) Assemble your scraps of information into a conclusion.
In a persuasion, the party are trying to get someone to do something. Turn against their master, release some prisoners, give up some vital information—when the party are trying to change an NPC's mind, use this template.
You are trying to change someone's mind. Can you do it without turning them against you?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You persuade the target and gain a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You persuade the target. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You persuade the target—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: You were unable to persuade the target—something bad is about to happen. |
Put forward your case and make arguments about why your position is right.
Counteract your opponents arguments and prove them wrong.
Manage the emotional state of your opponent through charm, intimidation, and insight.
In an quest, the party are trying to achieve something grand. Recovering a treasure from a sunken lair, hunting a dangerous necromancer, gathering the four elemental crystals—when the party need to undertake an adventure, use this template.
You are on a quest. Can you reach the end and complete your adventure before misfortune strikes?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You complete the quest and gain a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You complete the quest. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You complete the quest—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: You failed the quest, and something bad is about to happen. |
Travel to the location of the quest.
(Requirements: A) Explore the environment and solve any puzzles or obstacles that block your path.
(Requirements: A) Defeat those who would oppose you.
(Requirements: A and B) Defeat (or otherwise overcome) the big boss.
In a unlock trial, the party are trying to open or disarm something. Cracking open a secret vault in an artificer's workshop, opening a set of locked diamond doors, breaking through a sealed fey portal—when the party are trying to bypass something, use this template.
You are trying to unlock or disarm something. Can you bypass the restraints before something bad happens?
Failures | Outcome |
---|---|
0 | Major Victory: You unlock the target and gain a bonus. |
1-2 | Minor Victory: You unlock the target. |
3-4 | Minor Defeat: You unlock the target—but at a significant cost. |
5 | Major Defeat: You were unable to unlock the target—something bad is about to happen. |
Gather information about the locks.
Test the defences with some initial advances.
(Requirements: A and B) Attempt to unlock the target.