That's the whole point. Taking 10 is supposed to represent playing it safe or taking it easy which makes sense in many real-life situations, like swimming or jumping. If I'm casually swimming in a pool, I don't start to spontaneously drown 5% of the time, for instance, but I might if I was being chased by a shark.CCarter wrote: However...as noted I don't really like Take-10 (I haven't actually houseruled it, it just irks me in play sometimes). Unlike take-20, a take-10 does actually change the odds of passing a check...sometimes a check that I think is "significant" (jumping chasms or whatnot). And, I'm not sure Take-10 isn't just punishing players who like to roll dice (here, have a 5% to 45% chance of failure for not knowing you should be Taking 10 on this check).
Take 10/20 hate
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5% spontaneous drownings don't occur if you have a big enough bonus (or a lower DC), as skills don't fail automatically on a natural 1, unlike attacks and saves.
Swim is really rough though - any fail by 5 means you sink, and the DC for calm water is 10. Possibly they made the DC so high because they assumed a character would Take-10 when they wrote the DCs.
As is, with Take-10, a character put in calm water who has a -1 penalty will probably drown (25% chance of failing by 5/sinking, 30% chance they can't move; repeat every round until dead or they hit land), but a character with a +0 modifier is totally safe. I'm not sure sure if that's reasonable.
I were trying to completely fix the system, I'd go with perhaps a DC 5 for calm water (so you can't fail by 5 and go underwater without having a penalty), and give characters the option of "speed swimming" at -5 (something they'd probably do if chased by sharks).
Also in general: I thought some more over my take-10 objections and I just think Take-10 is too big a bonus. A character rolling their d20 has a minimum roll of 1, while a take-10 gives you a 10. Which is the same as saying "if you're not stressed or distracted, have a +9 bonus to the check". Which seems like alot.
Swim is really rough though - any fail by 5 means you sink, and the DC for calm water is 10. Possibly they made the DC so high because they assumed a character would Take-10 when they wrote the DCs.
As is, with Take-10, a character put in calm water who has a -1 penalty will probably drown (25% chance of failing by 5/sinking, 30% chance they can't move; repeat every round until dead or they hit land), but a character with a +0 modifier is totally safe. I'm not sure sure if that's reasonable.
I were trying to completely fix the system, I'd go with perhaps a DC 5 for calm water (so you can't fail by 5 and go underwater without having a penalty), and give characters the option of "speed swimming" at -5 (something they'd probably do if chased by sharks).
Also in general: I thought some more over my take-10 objections and I just think Take-10 is too big a bonus. A character rolling their d20 has a minimum roll of 1, while a take-10 gives you a 10. Which is the same as saying "if you're not stressed or distracted, have a +9 bonus to the check". Which seems like alot.