Knowledge check

[Li Shenron]

It makes perfect sense. If you have +10 to your Nature skill, as an intelligent and trained expert you should be able to identify just about any beastie out there and know quite a bit about the more common ones. That's what taking 10 gets you.

If you want to be risky, you can roll it and see what you get -- you might be an expert or you might know nothing.

From the point of view of a player who doesn't know the DC, it's choosing between leaving the chance to the die or taking 10 with the hope that the DC is low enough. If you don't know the DC, it could work, although a little bit on the metagaming side for my taste.

What doesn't make sense is when the Take 10 rule is associated with "not being in a rush": you are attacked by a beast, and by the rules you can't take 10 to recognize it. But really a Knowledge check (as in the PHB) is not an action of any sort, not even a reaction, it's just a retroactive chance of knowing something, and what doesn't make sense here is that such a non-action works differently depending on the situation...

If you allow the Take 10 on Knowledge even under stress, then I accept the idea (even if I still prefer to disallow it outright).

 

[nittanytbone]

If you allow the Take 10 on Knowledge even under stress, then I accept the idea (even if I still prefer to disallow it outright).

Merlin the Wizard is quite knowledgeable about many things. On a typical adventure he's able to identify most oddities and dredge up a fact or two without much effort (he takes 10). One day, the party was charged by a ferocious red dragon (roll knowledge check, got a 1). Under the stress of the moment, Merlin froze up and couldn't recall anything useful. After the difficult encounter, the wizard sheepishly explained that he'd skipped the class on chromatic dragons at the Mage Academy. The next day, when the party came acrosss a mummy, Merlin easily identified the creature and outlined its dangers and weaknesses (rolled a 20). "I wrote a thesis on the undead once for the King of Furyondy," he explained.

 

[Meatpuppet]

But really a Knowledge check (as in the PHB) is not an action of any sort, not even a reaction, it's just a retroactive chance of knowing something, and what doesn't make sense here is that such a non-action works differently depending on the situation...

I agree; either your PC knows the info or he doesn't and, IMHO, only a die roll can determine that. I'm not at ease with the idea that simply by taking 10 (in a non stressful situation of course) a PC with a Knowlegde score of 10 can answer absolutely every question in his field of study with a DC of 20 (really tough questions that is).

Sure there is a very good chance he'll know the answer but still it's a very good chance, not a sure thing.

I'm also seriously thinking of disallowing taking 10 on knowledge checks.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm not at ease with the idea that simply by taking 10 (in a non stressful situation of course) a PC with a Knowlegde score of 10 can answer absolutely every question in his field of study with a DC of 20 (really tough questions that is).

Me neither. And you usually have +10 in Knowledge(Arcana) already somewhere between level 3 and 5.

For me it's already enough that you automatically know everything with DC 11 at that point.