Taking 20

[Conaill]

Taking 20 requires some possibility for the character to judge how good his skill check was. This is not possible for Disguise, Forgery, etc.

Sorry, but I would have to disagree with you there. Why couldn't a forger just keep trying to improve his work until he's satisfied with it? Not having any artistic talent myself, I'm sure I could do a far better job at evaluating a forgery than making one myself.

Sure, if I needed to fake a signature on the spot, with witnesses watching, I wouldn't be able to take 20. But if I could practice all I want at home, I could easily take 20 times longer and produce the best fake signature I could possibly make. If I screw up on a single try, no penalty... I just throw that one out.

Of course, this all assumes I'm doing something where a failure doesn't mean some precious resource is being wasted. If I had to change a signature on a single existing document, one screw-up would be fatal (but I would have a good chance to realize I messed up, before I showed it to someone). However, if I were to forge a simple handwritten note (with some examples of the handwriting), the cost of failure on a single try is negligible.

 

[Umbran]

Sorry, but I would have to disagree with you there. Why couldn't a forger just keep trying to improve his work until he's satisfied with it?

My suggestion was that he can - so long as he has an example of an original. If he's trying to forge a document on the fly, without an example to go on, he has no way to know what is satisfactory.

Example: Try forging a signature that you've seen, but never practiced writing and don't have on hand at the moment with which to compare.

 

[bensei]

Originally posted by Conaill
Sorry, but I would have to disagree with you there. Why couldn't a forger just keep trying to improve his work until he's satisfied with it? Not having any artistic talent myself, I'm sure I could do a far better job at evaluating a forgery than making one myself.

Of course there may be cases, where taking 20 on a Forgery check would make sense. As I posted:

Taking 20 requires some possibility for the character to judge how good his skill check was.

But you are right: This may certainly be the case in lots of situations for Forgery or also Disguise.

The point is that Forgery and Disguise are not the typical skills to take 20. It is more the opposite case, for the above reason.