wraithstrike |
11 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
It seems there is some confusion about the ability to take or not be able to take 10. Your friendly rules guy, and evil overlord will be nice today and clear this up.
First we will look at the general rule for taking 10.
Taking 10: When your character is not in immediate danger or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure—you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn't help.
So we know that generally speaking any skill can use take 10 unless there is a distraction or threat.
Skill Mastery: The rogue becomes so confident in the use of certain skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions.Upon gaining this ability, she selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, she may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so. A rogue may gain this special ability multiple times, selecting additional skills for skill mastery to apply to each time.
Now with skill mastery the rogue is a such a boss(expert) at these skills that distraction and stress don't even matter.
PC: There are fireballs exploding around us, how are you so calm at picking that lock?
Rogue: This is my area. I am worried about nothing. You just keep those golems off my back while I get this door open. <while picking the lock one handed the rogue is thinking of a bar wench back in town he wants to bed>
Special: You cannot take 10 with this skill. You can't aid another on Use Magic Device checks. Only the user of the item may attempt such a check.
If you have the Magical Aptitude feat, you gain a bonus on Use Magic Device checks (see Feats).
Now here we come with UMD which says there is no taking 10 as a special rule. It does not say anything about stress or distractions being the reason why, or that the skill is so dangerous to use that you are always feeling stressful about it. It says you can not pass go. There is no taking 10.
Since skill master basically only makes you calm under pressure, and not taking 10 on UMD has nothing to do with stress or distractions then skill mastery does not apply. It does not say you can take 10 any time you want to. It gives specific conditions. There is no language to support skill mastery being able to trump specific rules, only the general rules which it referenced.
Thanks for reading this and have a nice day.
Jiggy RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
Claxon |
I'm not sure what possessed you to make this thread wraithstrike, but I do agree with you 100%.
Skill Mastery lets you take 10 when you couldn't due to stress or distractions. UMD doesn't let you take 10, and has nothing to do with the aforementioned. Ergo, Skill Mastery doesn't allow for take 10 on UMD.
Mojorat |
Mojorat wrote:Whats the point of the first half of the bard ability lore master to take 10 on all knowledge skills they have ranks in.. when you can already do that.To do so in all circumstances, including combat.
I would agree except the wording of the ability does not make any exceptions to the normal limitations.