In one of my IRL campaigns yesterday the topic of "which knowledge check will tell me about this monster?" came up for the 2937478239th time, prompting someone to suggest that in the Bestiaries it might be rad if either by each monster, or even just in a table in the back, there was some description of exactly what Knowledge check would be able to tell you about each specific monster, as opposed to just its type.
But surely this has to exist somewhere already, yes? I know that the Knowledge Skill description in the Core Rulebook has some pointers, but I'm not aware of a chart that really lays it out such that when my party's 9th level Inquisitor wants to use monster lore to learn about the horrid beastie that's about to attack us so he can give us at least a pointer or two in-game on its capabilities, we can quickly know what K skill he should be rolling.
Is this out there somewhere? What do y'all do in these situations?
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You have a list for that in the Core Rulebook, and it is exhaustive:
Arcana (ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, 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, monstrous humanoids, plants, seasons and cycles, weather, vermin)
Nobility (lineages, heraldry, personalities, royalty)
Planes (the Inner Planes, the Outer Planes, the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, outsiders, planar magic)
Religion (gods and goddesses, mythic history, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, undead)
All monster types covered, presto.
Here's your link Knowledge skill .
Look down at the bottom of the long chart -- it has everything right there for you.
Fair enough. Huh. I guess I don't remember it being that thorough, but this seems solid.
I'll just add those notes to the Bestiary myself, I guess. :-)
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In addition to just listing what creature types tell you what, I thought a list that says what the skill tells to the skilled person, given a certain DC check would be really interesting. This idea is in the Stone Giants article in AP#4 (I think) and was also done by fans for some but not all of the monsters at d20pfsrd.com.
e.g. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/aboleth
I thought it would be an excellent idea to make up a document that combined all of these into a single pdf and looked something like this:
Aasimar (Planes)
- DC 11 - This creature is an Aasimar, a good-aligned native outsider. Being outsiders, they have Darkvision and because their body and soul are one, cannot be resurrected but being a native outsider, Aasimar do need to eat, sleep and breathe.
- DC 16 - Aasimar can use Daylight once per day as a spell-like ability and can speak Common and Celestial.
Aboleth (Dungeoneering)
- DC 17 - This creature is an aboleth, an intelligent, aquatic aberration. Aberrations have darkvision.
- DC 22 - An aboleth's attacks can cause a terrible affliction where the victim's skin becomes a clear, slimy membrane that must remain moistened with cool, fresh water. They also surround themselves with a viscous cloud of mucus that can cause victims to temporarily lose the ability to breath air. Aboleths speak their own language, as well as Undercommon and Aquan.
- DC 27 - Aboleths have an array of powers that create illusions to help ensnare their victims. They can also enslave a victim through the domination of their mind.
Angel, Astral Deva (and so on)
That would be so awesome.
Make it so!
...
Chop Chop! Get a move on!
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I would edit/collate this as a collaborative project if there were enough participants.
The first step would be to define a set of rules for the different Knowledge results levels and then divide up the core book into sections among those doing the writing.
Something like: (e.g. for a Vampire = CR 2)
DC + 0 = Creature name, type and anything specific to type
(Abilities common to all Undead, senses, minimum one useful tidbit)
DC + 5 = Subtype abilities (Demon, Devil etc.) and iconic attacks/immunities/Weaknesses
(Blood Drain+create spawn, Dominate, Gaseous Form instead of destruction, garlic+holy symbols+sunlight, kill with wooden stake)
DC +10 = Subtle or Minor attacks/immunities, Spell-like abilities if not iconic, cultural traits (goblins hate dogs, work with worgs etc.)
(Can't pass over running water, can't enter a home unless invited, children of the night, energy drain, change shape, spider climb, DR vs. magic and silver)
DC +15 = Saving throw strengths and weaknesses, comparable strength, dex, etc., skills, feats, knowledge about the individual if different from a normal specimen, knowledge about leader abilities (shamans etc.)
(i.e. This particular Vampire was a wizard known to have these abilities and is named so and so, etc.)
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We use this. It's pretty good.
I misread. That is exactly the product I was referring to. The full product link is here:
http://paizo.com/store/downloads/4WindsFantasyGaming/v5748btpy8az3