Matt, I know this isn't quite what you are looking for, but one could also create a simple UI Page that would redirect to the correct item based on the number, with a simpler link. Example:
https://demo.service-now.com/item.do?item=KB0010044
You could also probably use Content management for this.
For anything task based, the "number" field should be unique (except for the instance that Stacey mentioned), so you can use this:
https://demo.service-now.com/nav_to.do?uri=task.do?sysparm_query=number=_________
Matt, I know this isn't quite what you are looking for, but one could also create a simple UI Page that would redirect to the correct item based on the number, with a simpler link. Example:
https://demo.service-now.com/item.do?item=KB0010044
You could also probably use Content management for this.