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This has also been discussed before on the Alpha threads, but I'm still advocating for slight "tweaks" in the Knowledge skill:
1) 'Knowledge (Tactics)' or 'Knowledge (Strategy)' to be added as a new "subskill" covering (military) tactics and strategies, plus games of skill.
2) Astrology should, in my opinion, either be a new category ('Knowledge (Astrology)'), *or* be included in either 'Knowledge (Arcana)' or 'Knowledge (The Planes)'.
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1) 'Knowledge (Tactics)' or 'Knowledge (Strategy)' to be added as a new "subskill" covering (military) tactics and strategies, plus games of skill.Knowledge (warfare) - could include tactics, ranks and emblems, plus the siege warfare stuff from Knowledge (engineering)
I'd still prefer Knowledge (Tactics), because it could also cover games of skill (i.e. strategy/board games). Knowledge (Warfare) sounds a bit too... aggressive/military-centric and "Amber-ish" (Warfare being one of the four stats in Amber DRPG).
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i agree i would like to see that knowledge and that it is a fighter's class skill
my cleric already took Knowledge: Warfare to prepare the town for a sigue expecting a goblin attack while they go and assassin their leathers
tactics sounds good but both of them should be helpful to remember old battles, plan strategies and play boardgames
Knowledge: War/Strategy/Tactics etc. would be a useful skill for fighting types. It could stand in for Birthright's Warcraft and Rokugan's Battle & Knowledge: War and it could certainly cover the siege aspects of Knowledge: Engineering, yes.
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Okay, so these are the current official categories:
• Arcana (ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, cryptic phrases, constructs, dragons, magical beasts)
• Dungeoneering (aberrations, caverns, oozes, spelunking)
• Engineering (buildings, aqueducts, bridges, fortifications)
• Geography (lands, terrain, climate, people)
• History (wars, colonies, migrations, founding of cities)
• Local (legends, personalities, inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, humanoids)
• Nature (animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, seasons and cycles, weather, vermin)
• Nobility (lineages, heraldry, family trees, mottoes, personalities, royalty)
• Planes (the Inner Planes, the Outer Planes, the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, outsiders, elementals, magic
related to the planes)
• Religion (gods and goddesses, mythic history, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, undead)
In my mind, knowledge skills should fall into a couple of categories:
Knowledge for adventuring classes
• Arcana = for arcane casters, would include Spellcraft and Knowledge (inner planes) and some astrology.
• Religion = for divine casters, would include Spellcraft and Knowledge (outer planes) and some astrology.
• Warfare = for fighters, would include strategy and tactics, recognizing ranks and insignias, siege warfare from Knowledge (engineering).
• Nature = for druids, rangers, barbarians, pretty much as is, could include Survival but I'm not sure you need Knowledge (nature) just to be a good camper, but maybe those are just really low DC uses that anyone with a few ranks can do and the deeply in-tune with nature stuff has a higher DCs that would require more ranks.
• Streetwise = for rogues, replaces Knowledge (local), more knowing where to find information in any town or city than actually knowing the information yourself, would make a good urban equivalent to Survival.
• Dungeoneering = the underground equivalent to Knowledge (nature) and Knowledge (streetwise), good for anybody who spends time underground, would have some engineering and mining aspects, but mostly just to notice unsound construction and unstable walls, hewn vs, natural rock, unusual features, maybe secret doors.
By having a Knowledge area for each class and rolling other "must have" skills like Spellcraft and Survival into those Knowledge skills, you create one skill that represents everything a PC has to know about his or her class, almost an adventurer's equivalent of Profession.
Useful knowledge
Here I see broad, somewhat esoteric knowledges, that a player could use anywhere in the world (within reason) ...
• History - an understanding of history, trends and patterns, major events in lots of regions and countries.
• Geography - the study of geography and landforms, major geographic features on most continents.
• Cultures - the study of culture, anthropology, major trends, institutions and customs in most regions
• Politics and Nobility - knowledge of royal and noble families, but also the functions of government and maror factions in most countries
• Economics - an understanding of economic forces, knowledge of trade routes and currencies, principal imports and exports of all areas.
... and deep knowledges of specific regions.
• Knowledge (regional) - for example Knowledge (Riddleport) or Knowledge (Varisia), would include all of the above (history, geography, culture, politics and nobility, economics) but only about that specific region. An adventure would list the DCs as Knowledge (history) or Knowledge (politics and nobility), but a character with Knowledge (Varisia) would be allowed to use her Knowledge (Varisia) ranks to make those checks while in Varisia. Very useful while you are in your region, almost useless when you leave. Seems fair.
Note that almost any body of academic knowledge would fit in the first half of this section - botany, zoology, meteorology, "natural history" aka: science, etc. And regional knowledge would give you crack at those things in your region.
Professional knowledges
These are bodies of knowledge that somebody in the world has but probably wouldn't be that useful to adventures. As such, they would be better handled through the Profession skill.
• Engineering
• Brewing
• Mining
• Basketweaving
A character certainly could want these knowledges, especially to round out a character, but they offer very little mechanically and 95% of the time would just be for "the rest of the world."
So there's my list:
• Arcana
• Cultures
• Dungeoneering
• Economics
• Geography
• History
• Nature
• Politics and Nobility
• Religion
• Streetwise
• Warfare
• [specific regions]