Oh, wow, for once I know something about D&D! Well, I did a quick search to remind myself of the finer points. I think it may have been introduced in Dungeons & Dragons 3e, or at least, that is where I first heard of it and I vaguely recall it beingyou can elect to "Take 10" on some tasks to guarantee you get the results you would get if you had rolled a 10. "Take 20" is the same, but you get the results you'd have gotten for rolling 20! Why the emphasis on rolled/rolling? Because you still apply the appropriate bonuses and/or penalties to the 10 or 20, respectively. Now, the main catch is that these are only allowed when the character (or characters) making the roll are not being threatened or distracted. The secondary catch is that to use these means your character is taking extra time. I am not 100% on exactly how much longer it takes; I remember something like 10x and 20x (again, respectively), but I only found a reference to a 5 second action taking 2 whole minutes so... yeah.
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