In the process of converting my long running cleric (17th level) I started looking at the knowledge skills. There does not appear to be any mechanical advantage to putting more than 1 rank in each skill and looking at the campaign setting and Gods and Magic any campaign based reason. In 3.5 a cleric would get a synergy bonus to turn undead and in the campaign setting Kingdom of Kalamar a character needed ranks in knowledge religion to advance in their clergy. Am I missing something or is there no reason for a cleric to put more than 1 rank in a knowledge skill?
Doug
The mechanical bonus is that you can use it so your character knows the strengths and weaknesses of enemies. Unless you metagame heavily, you'll need to roll Knowledge (Religion) to know that vampires turn to mist when slain or that the touch of a ghoul is paralyzing. You need knowledge (nature) or (local) - not sure which - to know that trolls regenerate unless you use fire or acid.
Thanks I was not thinking of the check to remember the strenghts and weakness of monsters.
Doug
In the process of converting my long running cleric (17th level) I started looking at the knowledge skills. There does not appear to be any mechanical advantage to putting more than 1 rank in each skill and looking at the campaign setting and Gods and Magic any campaign based reason. In 3.5 a cleric would get a synergy bonus to turn undead and in the campaign setting Kingdom of Kalamar a character needed ranks in knowledge religion to advance in their clergy. Am I missing something or is there no reason for a cleric to put more than 1 rank in a knowledge skill?
Apart from the fact that if you think your cleric ought to be knowledgeable in certain areas, they ought to have a few ranks in appropriate knowledges...
- To beat high Knowledge DCs
- In line with the first item, to be able to recognize certain monsters and know how to deal with them. While your average acolyte with a single rank in Knowledge: Religion is going to know that holy water hurts undead, it is be much, much less likely they know what a Devourer is and how it fuels its spell-like abilities with the souls contained within it--and moreover, which spells free those souls from said devourer. Someone with one rank in Knowledge: Religion is extremely unlikely to successfully make that skill check, and it could cost him or a companion his life in a rather permanent way.
Or to use another example, to be sure that "large horned devil" isn't actually a pit fiend.
- All the skills have their uses likewise in various campaigns. And if it's a planar campaign, best be getting that Knowledge: Planes up.
- On the more boring side, to possibly qualify for certain PrCs.
Now, different GMs use Knowledge skills more than others. Me, I have my players make knowledge checks all the time--or at least bear in mind their level of knowledge in things when I'm giving them information about the world they're in.
If you're playing some kind of thing where you're just hacking through a featureless dungeon that has no history to it, and all the monsters and lore and items you find are standard knowledge, I suppose you wouldn't need any ranks in a knowledge skill, let alone 1. (Because doubtless, few checks would be above DC 10 anyway, if there were any at all.)
(Ninja'd)