Passive Ability Scores

The rules for Passive Skills are rather unclear. My interpretation is to simply use the old "Take 10" rule from 3rd edition.

When your character is not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distracting situations - such as combat - make it impossible for a character to take 10. You can always still choose to roll in hopes of achieving a higher number, i.e. representing the character "pushing" himself.

This also helps alleviate the wide swing of probabilities on a d20, giving you some consistent idea of your character's skill level.

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