Ah, thanks, I get it now.
My point wasn't to punish the player / character.
My point was to retain some fun/exciting point of "potential divergence".
In my mind, the problem with "reliable talent" is exactly that: you're deprived of the excitement of rolling the d20.
Not rolling and taking 10 is certainly an option. But since the outcome is (by the standard rules) all but a given, this is also sometimes beige and boring.
(Only at DC 20, which is very uncommon in official supplements regardless of level - not to mention DC 25 which is outright rare - does "take 10" stand a chance of failure - and thereby forcing you to make the actual roll - and only in your "bad" skills. Making nine out of ten rolls just to find out whether the tenth is success or failure is sooo dull IMO)
So I thought: how can I add some spice here, without merely nerfing or removing the ability?
My solution was to present the player with a choice:
Rolling 17 or 19 is sure to give you glory, right? But rolling a 10 is possibly not enough to reach the lofty heights of bragging rights, agreed? (In some cases it easily is. But the point is: it might not be)
So here's the deal: you can either "take 10" and be sure of not failing, at the expense of possibly not be allowed to brag about a stratospheric result. Or, you can roll, in which case a "1" means outright failure.
In essence, I'm baiting the player's vanity and hunger for the casino-like excitement of making die rolls
, in the hopes he or she will choose to roll, and thereby introducing a 5% risk of failure, restoring the "game" part of "roleplaying game"!
In the cases where the player doesn't see any particular upside about rolling great, and/or sees a definite downside of failure, the player simply chooses to take 10.
So, "punitive", not at all.
"Complicated", well... maybe. Not
very complicated, mind you. I hope you agree - since all my suggestion boils down to is: "do you want to roll, 1 = fail; or do you take 10".
I mainly hope you will find my suggestion
more fun than the beige reality of always succeeding, never failing. (Whether you actually roll or merely "take 10").
Regards