I'm a bit confused about this. I'm not when and on what skills check I can take 10-20.
Lets say I'm climbing, why could I take 10 if I could fall or why couldn't I take 20 and just dont bother with it?
Letric wrote: I'm a bit confused about this. I'm not when and on what skills check I can take 10-20.
Lets say I'm climbing, why could I take 10 if I could fall or why couldn't I take 20 and just dont bother with it?
You can Take 10 anytime you aren't in battle or otherwise distracted. Doesn't matter if there is penalty for failure or not. All it does is assure an average check result. Use this when you are sure you would succeed on an average check. Take 10 can be used on all skills except Use Magic Device.
Take 20 is similar, except you can't do do if there is a penalty for failure (like falling during climbing or ruining materials with Craft). You also need time - Take 20 takes 20 times as long as normal. So anytime you have an extra bit of time to do something and there is no drawback if failed, you can Take 20. There are fewer skills you can use Take 20 with.
The ability to Take 10 or Take 20 on a skill check is dependent on the situation;
Take 10 or 20 = Climb a training wall while wearing a ring of feather falling
Take 10, not 20 = Climb a wall to sneak in to a compound
Cannot take 10 or 20 = Climb a cliff while being shot at with arrows
Basically, you cannot take 20 if there are any consequences for failing (e.g. falling and hurting yourself) and you cannot take 10 OR 20 if there are any distractions/threats.
Unfortunately, some GMs hold 'you could stub your toe on a protruding rock' as a possible threat while others rule 'nah that rampaging ancient dragon is not too scary, you are fine'.
Try searching, this topic comes up on a regular basis and there should be plenty of threads to read. As to climb, no on take 20(there is a penalty for failure). Assuming you are not in immediate danger or distracted (expect table variation on what this means) you can take 10.
So there's two important differences between take 10 and take 20. Take 10 only takes a single action (however long it would normally take), take 20 takes 20 times as long. Take 20 cannot be done if there are consequences for failure, take 10 does not have that restriction. They represent two entirely different things. Take 10 is "an average attempt". Take 20 is "do it over and over until you get it perfect". Quite literally, roll the dice 20 times and assume it comes up 1, 2, 3...20.
The only time you will use take 20 over take 10 on climbing a wall is if the wall only requires a single check to climb. Since you only move at 1/4 speed (1/2 with a -5 to the check) that's a 15 foot wall at most? Once you're on the wall there is a consequence for failure (falling) and you can't take 20 anymore.
So 10 is an average roll that I can always take unless im in combat or heavily distracted.
20 I can only take if there's no chance of failing?
So I couldn't take 20 for Disable Device or Traps, but I could for searching.
Letric wrote: So 10 is an average roll that I can always take unless im in combat or heavily distracted.
20 I can only take if there's no chance of failing?
So I couldn't take 20 for Disable Device or Traps, but I could for searching.
Assume a Take 20 is rolling 1,2,3,4,5,6,...20.
Anything real bad happen if you roll a 2 (for example)? Then no Take 20.
Letric wrote: So 10 is an average roll that I can always take unless im in combat or heavily distracted.
20 I can only take if there's no chance of failing?
So I couldn't take 20 for Disable Device or Traps, but I could for searching.
You can take 20 if there is a chance of failure. You can't take 20 if there is a penalty for failure (like setting off the trap you are trying to disarm, falling off the cliff you are trying to climb, or ruining raw materials when crafting).
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I'll splat the actual rules just so there's no miscommunication but otherwise yes, you're generally right. Taking 10 and 20 wrote: A skill check represents an attempt to accomplish some goal, usually while under some sort of time pressure or distraction. Sometimes, though, a character can use a skill under more favorable conditions, increasing the odds of success.
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.
Taking 20: When you have plenty of time, you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words, if you roll a d20 enough times, eventually you will get a 20. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled a 20.
Taking 20 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes 20 times as long as making a single check would take (usually 2 minutes for a skill that takes 1 round or less to perform).
Since taking 20 assumes that your character will fail many times before succeeding, your character would automatically incur any penalties for failure before he or she could complete the task (hence why it is generally not allowed with skills that carry such penalties). Common "take 20" skills include Disable Device (when used to open locks), Escape Artist, and Perception (when attempting to find traps).
Ability Checks and Caster Level Checks: The normal take 10 and take 20 rules apply for ability checks. Neither rule applies to concentration checks or caster level checks.
The limit on taking 10 is "immediate danger or distracted", combat is just the most frequent immediate danger. Technically you can take 20 for Disable Device for traps if you cannot roll 5 or more below the DC (only time there is a consequence for failure). As others have said, there needs to be a penalty for failure. Just failing is not itself a penalty. Of course, that means you only need to roll a 5 to succeed, so you could just take 10.
The only reason not to take 20 (if it's an option) is the time. It takes 20 times as long. Searching is one of the most common uses. Escape Artist is the only other one I can think of, actually.
Letric wrote: So 10 is an average roll that I can always take unless im in combat or heavily distracted.
20 I can only take if there's no chance of failing?
So I couldn't take 20 for Disable Device or Traps, but I could for searching.
You should know that there is a small army of GMs who hate Take 10/20 and will invent reasons you can't use it, even in PFS.
If something in the situation can count as a "distraction" then the GM can legally deny you the opportunity to Take 10/20. Awhile back, one of the PFS developers said, unofficially, that the task itself should not count as a distraction/immediate danger.
The Pathfinder Development Team was asked to give specifics on whether one could Take 10 on things like climbing a cliff over a lava pit. In response, the PDT did not change the Take 10 rules or change any of the original wording. What they did provide was a non-answer which I took as advising GMs that allowing or disallowing Take 10s is a tool for controlling the tension in the game. But that didn't answer the question people wanted answered:
Can a GM legally deny me a Take 10 for climbing over a pit where a fall could kill me because the fear of falling is a distraction?
Regarding Take 20, As a GM, it's important to understand that unlike Take 10, Take 20 is really an OOC mechanic. The Take 20 rule was added to speed up the real time cost in situations where nothing stops a PC from repeated attempts at the task until the player rolls a 20. So as others have pointed out, if the PC can complete twenty attempts at the task within the allowed time, just allow the player to Take 20 and get on with the game. If failure adds negative modifiers or results in something interrupting the PCs efforts, then you can't Take 20.
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