Druid / cleric class skill: Knowledge(Arcana)

[increddibelly]

Hi all,

some friends are moving over from 3.5 to Pathfinder (yay! more believers!) and one of them is rolling up his first druid.
He asked me why Knowledge Arcana is a class skill for Clerics, but not for Druids...and I don't have an answer. apparently, neither does this board - I couldn't find any discussion about this topic.

I like that druids don't get arcane knowledge as a class skill - there's nothing natural about arcana. Druids have divine spellcasting. That's all fine.
But I'd say that the same goes for clerics as well, yet Clerics *do* have knowledge(arcana) as a class skill. That just doesn't make any sense to me.
I'd only agree with know(arc) being a class skill for a cleric if the cleric would happen to be a follower of Nethys, god of magic. Not for any other sort of cleric.

so, what's the logic behind this?

[McFetus]

There are no libraries in the forest!! :)

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

"cleric" covers a lot of belief systems. "druid" is really only one belief system.

Two characters can both be clerics and be diametrically opposed to one another. Cleric of life and cleric of death for example.

Druids all protect the natural world in whatever way they see fit.

Also, no libraries in the forest. :-)

[increddibelly]

awesome, McFetus :)

[Davick]

increddibelly wrote:

awesome, McFetus :)

A cleric of Nethys without Knowledge arcana would be doing a poor job.

[LazarX]

Take a look at what the classes are modeled after.

A cleric starts out by going to a seminary which short of a wizard's academy is probably the highest level of education available in the land. Druids on the other hand... the woods are the classroom. Thier skills are focused in different areas.