Optimize This: Taking 10

[Dire Roc]

The Noble Scion(Peace) feat allows a character who takes 10 with a wisdom based skill to take 13 instead. The Magnum Opus feat is only for Craft and Perform but makes it 15. I think I've seen a trait somewhere that gives a bonus when taking 10 as well.

Creatures with a Swim or Climb speed can always take 10 on those skills, and there is an advanced rogue talent that allows taking 10 on some skills as well.

The challenge is this: make a character that does better when taking 10 than rolling, which means we want situational bonuses up to +10 when taking 10, ideally better. On top of that we'll want to make that apply to as many skills as possible, and be able to take 10 as often as possible. Bonus points for taking 10 in unusual cases like the Balanced Determination trait.

[RedDogMT]

I challenge you to answer your own challenge. Bonus points if you don't whine or complain about my reply.

[MrCharisma]

INVESTIGATOR.

1 level gets you Inspiration. 3 levels gets you access to any/all talents (via EXTRA INVESTIGATOR TALENT if you don't want to go further into this class).

[Paradozen]

Willing to wait until high level? And read a wall of text? Unchained Vexing Dodger Rogue with 16INT (start at 12-14, buy a headband) takes signature skill at level 10. Select Climb, Bluff, and Intimidate. For feats pick up Noble Scion (peace), TWF, Dirty Fighting, Two-Weapon Feint, Enforcer, Improved Two-Weapon Feint (through combat trick), and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting. Take blade of mercy or buy a merciful weapon (or sap). Assuming maxed ranks in bluff and intimidate you can reliably get the enemy shaken and grant a penalty to AC (and thus to CMD), in addition to making them vulnerable to sneak attack. Mix in the climbing and dirty trick just for more fun with debuffing (with a ring of climbing you should be able to take 13 and get climb up creatures with CMD's of 31+Str reliably, though its better if you can find some way to get Dex to climb). End result is getting the big baddie at Shaken, Sickened, without Dex v. Your attacks, and at a -2 AC (-6 v you). Maybe nauseated as well, though probably not. And between adding sneak dice to the combat maneuver check, and a -6 CMD after debilitating injury is established/maintained, you can possibly even manage to get combat maneuvers off v. ridiculous CMD's.

Now, take 13 is a small part of the equation, but between maxed ranks in intimidate/bluff, and a reliance on a very precise order of debuffs (need to feint to get sneak, need to sneak twice to get injury to last long enough to climb, need to climb to get dirty trick to a passable strategy), taking chance out of the equation helps. Its also a 3-round strategy, which means the party hopefully has someone taking advantage of the penalties you are laying down. Mix in Slight of Hand and Combat Swipe for even more combat maneuver tricks if you really want to. Or UMD and wands of spider climb or shield or whatnot.

For noncombat, keeping ranks maxed in useful low-stress skills (climb, swim if you can manage a swim speed, perception, disable device, survival, sometimes heal/survival, disguise, craft, and even stealth in some cases) will give you a lot of chances to take 10, taking Noble Scion and using creativity will then get you the ablity to be great at non-encounter skills. Bonus points if you reliably find uses for disguise that both are crucial to success and a hat of disguise or a few alter self/similar polymorph scrolls don't cover. Unfortunately, combat skills often won't be an option for taking ten barring shennanigans.

[Jader7777]

Bring the GM some great snacks and beers.

"Oh those cheesy soy snacks are great right? Also can I take 10 on this?"

[Avoron]

The Altar of Irori is perfect for this, providing an additional +3 bonus whenever you take 10.

It looks like the best way to take advantage of something like Magnum Opus is to apply your Perform bonus to as many skills as possible. So how about a level 6 street performer bard with versatile performance (act) and Pageant of the Peacock? They can pump up their Perform (act) bonus as high as possible, and with Magnum Opus and an altar of Irori taking 10 is equivalent to taking 18 before any other bonuses are added in. They can then use their Perform (act) result in place of their results for Bluff, Disguise, and one other skill. They can always take 10 on Bluff and Disguise checks, which becomes taking 18 with versatile performance - and with Pageant of the Peacock, that means taking 18 on any Int-based check in the game, even when distracted.

Taking this from an alternative angle, what if we optimized taking 10 to create an incredibly reliable scout? Start with any Wisdom-based class, put max ranks into Disable Device, Sense Motive, Perception, and Stealth, then dip a level in Pathfinder Delver. Take the feat Noble Scion of Peace and the traits Wisdom in the Flesh (Stealth) and Wiscrani Ear, and buy an altar of Irori. Now Stealth is a Wisdom-based skill for them, they can always take 16 on Stealth and Perception, can usually take 16 on Sense Motive, and can always take 13 on Disable Device - all before their actual bonuses are added in.