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<blockquote data-quote="Vegepygmy" data-source="post: 4837045" data-attributes="member: 40109">I often see statements like this, and they always irk me.&nbsp; The phrase &quot;stressful situation&quot; doesn't appear anywhere in the Take 10 rules.&nbsp; That is not the litmus test; it's &quot;being threatened or distracted.&quot;&nbsp;Why does the misstatement irk me?&nbsp; Because it leads to erroneous rulings on when Taking 10 is appropriate/permissible.&nbsp; For example, we know you can Take 10 on Climb checks, but climbing a sheer rock wall where a mistake could cause you to plunge to your death is &quot;always pretty much a 'stressful situation,'&quot; so you can't Take 10, right?&nbsp;Likewise, interpreting &quot;threatened&quot; to mean something other than &quot;in combat&quot; (as many people do) leads to the same error.&nbsp; If the possibility of a trap going off in your face means you're &quot;being threatened,&quot; then the possibility of falling to your death means the same thing...and it's clear from the example in the PHB that this is not what the authors intended.&nbsp;In short, I allow characters to take 10 on Disable Device checks to disarm traps (under normal circumstances), and I think any DM who doesn't do the same doesn't really understand the Take 10 rules.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Vegepygmy, post: 4837045, member: 40109"] I often see statements like this, and they always irk me. The phrase "stressful situation" doesn't appear anywhere in the Take 10 rules. [B]That[/B] is not the litmus test; it's "being threatened or distracted." Why does the misstatement irk me? Because it leads to erroneous rulings on when Taking 10 is appropriate/permissible. For example, we know you can Take 10 on Climb checks, but climbing a sheer rock wall where a mistake could cause you to plunge to your death is "always pretty much a 'stressful situation,'" so you can't Take 10, right? Likewise, interpreting "threatened" to mean something other than "in combat" (as many people do) leads to the same error. If the possibility of a trap going off in your face means you're "being threatened," then the possibility of falling to your death means the same thing...and it's clear from the example in the PHB that this is [I]not[/I] what the authors intended. In short, I allow characters to take 10 on Disable Device checks to disarm traps (under normal circumstances), and I think any DM who doesn't do the same doesn't really understand the Take 10 rules. [/QUOTE]

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