Restrictions on "taking a 10/20"?

[CrashTestGenius]

Are there certain skills that do not allow you to take a 10 or a 20? I know there are situations that make it impossible (combat, stampede of pigs through the living room, etc.), but whenever a character is "not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10."

I ask for this specific situation: if you are playing a wizard and are trying to scribe a new spell from a scroll or another spellbook, and if you have a high Spellcraft modifier, would it not be easier to take a 10 to guarantee that you understand that spell instead of possibly failing and having to wait to level up to try again?

Is that allowed?

[Greenish]

I ask for this specific situation: if you are playing a wizard and are trying to scribe a new spell from a scroll or another spellbook, and if you have a high Spellcraft modifier, would it not be easier to take a 10 to guarantee that you understand that spell instead of possibly failing and having to wait to level up to try again?Yes.


Is that allowed?Yes.

[Edit]: As for the more general question, yes, there are skills that never allow taking 10 (outside of specific class features), such as UMD. I can't recall offhand whether there are any others.

Also, you can't "Take 20" on the spellcraft in the example above, since taking 20 represents trying until you succeed, and thus you need to be able to try again.

[CrashTestGenius]

Thanks for your help.

/thread