Knowledge skills-Possibility of a Mechanical Benefit


Skills and Feats


Right now, there's a lot of complaining going on about the usefulness of some skills versus others. Stealth, perception, and acrobatics versus knowledge (history). My concern with this is that people want to revert to a system that, frankly, sucked.

So, rather than gimp skills that shouldn't be gimped, why don't we come up with a way to give mechanical benefits to skills that don't have them? I'm personally a big fan of the Archivist for precisely this reason: Knowledge is power. So, why not something similar to the dark knowledge ability, but simpler and less powerful. A +2 to hit for knowledge (history) versus undead or something sounds fun, and gives wizards something to do when they're out of spells besides blast.

Thoughts?

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

The knowledge skills DO have a mechanical benefit. They allow you to identify monsters and determine their special abilities and weaknesses. I think knowing that you face a demon and that you need to use good silver weapons is invaluable. Same goes for the fact that it might have a death gaze and therefore using a death ward spell might be a good idea.


Knowledge: Religion already gives bonuses vs. undead (admittedly only in regards to turning). As stated, they also provide you with handy monster lore.

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