Had a question come up in PFS a week or two ago. We were playing a scenario where, when we were given our mission, we were told we may encounter lycanthropes and fey. I was playing a pregen Yoon, had Know(Nature), and wanted to know if I could make a check to identify the general strengths and weaknesses of the types. The other players were saying I could only do that in combat, which makes sense for identifying that specific creature, but less so for generalities across creature type.
Wanted to get other people's take on what the appropriate rules would be for this situation. For the record, I didn't metagame, I just played Yoon as a little psycho who wanted to light everyone's pants up, and burn down the forest.
Nothing about knowledge checks necessitates that they be done in combat only.
Quote: You can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s CR. For common monsters, such as goblins, the DC of this check equals 5 + the monster’s CR. For particularly rare monsters, such as the tarrasque, the DC of this check equals 15 + the monster’s CR or more. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster. For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information. Quote: Usually none. In most cases, a Knowledge check doesn't take an action (but see “Untrained,” below). In fact, the skill actually has a specific inclusion for how it could be used outside of combat.
Quote: Equipment (Library) If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours. Particularly complete libraries might even grant a bonus on Knowledge checks in the fields that they cover.
Okay, I thought that, given enough clues about a monster or an eyewitness to tell you what it was, you could identify it without actually seeing it, but I wanted to be certain.
Well with some evidence, (Gather information, Survival to find tracks etc) you should be able to make a knowledge check to know what you're up against. Just make sure you have a basis for a reason to roll. Not just a "hey I want to roll based on nothing."
If someone describes a bear or you see its scat on the forest floor, you may know it's a bear and with extra success may know what kind (say a grizzly being advanced template as an example).
Either that or Witcher 3 lied to me. A lot.
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