dcc rpg skill stuff

Jack: Is having + and -4's, and letting the scores go up to 20, a bad idea?
me: doesn't bug me
Jack: Sure, I'm just wondering about ability checks and such
Jack: if you have 20 strength you just automatically win any strength check
Jack: no player is going to complain about that, but I know I got frustrated with your agility checks
me: well, call anything over 18 18 for the purposes of roll-under-score
me: remember that a 1 is always a fail, so having roll-under-18 is only slightly better
me: it means you fail 10% of the time
me: but if you have a score over 18 you can burn it down to 18 and suffer no ill effects, it's a buffer
Jack: hmmm, maybe. It's an awkward edge case rule though
Jack: I'll just use DC's.
Jack: easy, hard, very hard, impossible isn't too tricky
me: i like dcs in dcc
me: 5 is silly, 10 requires skill, 20 is ridiculous - except for thieves, who train in ridiculous skills
me: 5 is for things you usually wouldn't check, but in this case the consequence is dire if you fail, like walking across a bridge over a chasm
Jack: do you only roll d10 for anything a thief can train in?
me: if you're a thief?
Jack: if you're not a thief, obv
me: yeah, d10
Jack: well, normal guys should check dc5's for untrained skills
Jack: I mean, should you roll it for other skills you're not trained in, like haberdashery?
me: oh, everybody rolls a d20 for anything any human being could reasonably know how to do
me: if something is specific to haberdashery, make it dc10, roll d10, and the habadesher rolls d20. the haberdasher knows it 55%. someone who knows not haberdashery gets it 10%
Jack: makes sense.
me: if your profession is related to haberdashery but you wouldn't always know it, you get +2, so 30%
Jack: you'd think DCC would just use one of it's weird dice
Jack: why not roll a d12?
me: a d10 and a d5?
Jack: You can't get 15 with d10+2
me: anydice time
me: http://anydice.com/program/136b
me: i guess you're right
Jack: yeah, obviously you don't want that curve
me: yeah. d12 is good
Jack: DCC knows you have one, so it's weird they would change it
me: although it gives you 25% instead of 30%
Jack: d14
me: 28.56%
me: negligible
me: i guess do that
me: easy to remember
me: fuck it, just whatever dice between 10 and 20 you think the player should use that time
me: i guess that creates arguments
Jack: no, you don't want to make it more complicated
Jack: is the player: Shitty, ok, or good
Jack: is the task: easy, hard, very hard
me: yeah. anybody-level, craftsman-level, spy-level