Originally Posted by Orbax

As a general rule, skill checks should influence how much information you get and how much information (true or not) you provide right now. They should rarely directly influence the outcomes of events; outcomes are determined by the successes and failures of activity and the choices you make. You make decisions based off of information. Decisions bear fruit far enough down the road to where a save would most likely be irrelevant.

This is very good point. Also my rule of thumb when playing tabletop DnD is rolling d20 whenever characters are in time pressure or when they are in completely new situation. For routine tasks I allow just take 10 or even 20 when failure doesn't matter.

That kid and snake dialog is horrible for many reasons. I still can't comprehend I can save a goblin in cage by standing between her and loaded crossbow but can't save the child. So I really get the frustration here. Rolling a die is not a culprit here, the whole desing of situation is. In tabletop I could still had some options even after the bite. Using medicine, or antivenom, or even revive scroll.

By the way the best dialogue system with success/failure outcomes has Disco Elysium. Failures were enjoyable and you had a interesting built-in mechanic to re-roll some checks.