Knowledge: Local / humanoids


Rules Questions


I can't quite grasp the reasoning behind making Knowledge: Local the skill you need to decide what your character does or doesn't know about humaniods? All of the other knowledge checks for creatures seem appropriate but can someone explain why I use knowledge local to find out about orcs or kobolds or am I reading it wrong. I understand it may help with determining what your character knows about local humanoids but the same could be said for say a hill giant tribe.


My game is set out of a particular city, so I base which are known and what is known about them from that point of reference. Granted, this makes me have to do a bit of work, but I know that Kobolds and Goblins make up the gutter level of town, Lizardmen are a nearby threat that can be traded with and Dwarves represent a substantial minority in the more urban areas.


It makes sense if you think of it as covering regions and those humanoids living in them. Humanoids tend to associate with other humanoids and establish civilizations. Even if those civilizations are little more than constantly moving tribes they are a form of a civilization when you compare them to most of the other creatures in the multiverse.

Additionally, the "Local" name is really part of the problem. People have always associated it with specific regions even going so far as some GMs or subsets of 3.X rules stating that you have to take Knowledge Local multiple times to cover multiple regions.

The system is too abstract for that and if you just look past the "local" moniker it works fine.


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Local really should be something like, "knowledge people and places". Because that's what this knowledge covers. You know humanoids (people) and can locate popular places(places).


Hmmmm...

How about Knowledge: Local (city of X)? (country of Y)?

Grand Lodge

Then you have to parse every knowledge, with a subset of knowledge.

Instead of Knowledge(Planes), you have Knowledge(Planes: Demons), or something like that.

You keep splitting the skills, then you have to deal with skill points per level.

Then, you have to decide how many subcategories, of each skill, you want.

Suddenly, you have a second character sheet, dedicated to all the categories, and subcategories of skills you have.


Bwang, as I stated, that is how some subsets of 3.X decided to do things and it was a bad idea. It requires people waste skill points.

The problem is people keep trying to equate the knowledge skills (local especially) to the experience the character has had in his career. Simple fact: there is no correlation. Characters advance in skills without ever being required to experience which skills they are advancing.

Skills are very abstract.

Grand Lodge

If you look at KN local as knowledge of cultures, it makes sense.

Most humanoids do not have many weaknesses or special abilities for combat. So a KN check gives you any abilities they have, and the proper customs and rites and laws of a given culture.

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