Taking 10 on Spellcraft rolls

[Graeme]

As the Spellcraft skill description says nothing for or against taking 10, I had assumed that a character could take 10 on spellcraft rolls out of combat, such as for identifying the properties of a magic item or deciphering a scroll.

But then I read the description for the Magic Lore class ability for the Archivist archetype of Bards

PRD wrote:

Magic Lore (Ex): At 2nd level, an archivist gains a bonus on Spellcraft checks to identify magic items or decipher scrolls equal to half his bard level and may take 10 on such checks. An archivist can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps as per a rogue's trapfinding ability and gains a +4 bonus on saves against magical traps, language-dependent effects, and symbols, glyphs, and magical writings of any kind. This ability replaces well-versed.

If it's a class ability for an Archivist to take 10 on Spellcraft rolls for identifying magic items and deciphering scrolls, does that mean that normally a character cannot take 10 on those rolls?

[blackbloodtroll]

Archivist can take 10 on those rolls, at any time.

That, is something, normally, you cannot do.

[Graeme]

Okay, got it. So an archivist can decipher a scroll or identify a magic item while on combat using a take 10. Overall, not something that will crop up very often.

[blackbloodtroll]

Combat, or windstorm, or other distracting circumstance.

Knowing what magic items your enemies are using can be useful.