Aid Another
You can help someone achieve success on a skill check by making the same kind of skill check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character you're helping gets a +2 bonus on his or her check. (You can't take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In many cases, a character's help won't be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.
In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certain results, such as trying to open a lock using Disable Device, you can't aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn't achieve alone. The GM might impose further restrictions to aiding another on a case-by-case basis as well.
Emphasis added.
Is there any resource breaking down how/if any specific application of aid another should be allowed (PF or 3.5)?
How do you believe it should be handled?
I've mainly had issues with it being used in social interactions and this is what I currently do.
Diplomacy: I have been allowing an aid other action from the secondary speaker in any given NPC encounter. I still haven't broken my players out of the habit of everyone yelling at the NPC at the same time and interrupting eachother, but I do allow the person who talks the most to have a diplomacy check and the second most vocal person to assist.
Bluff: I have never allowed an aid another on bluff (that I remember), but I could see it in a coordinated planned lie (not just, hey, yeah, believe this guy).
Where else do you see aid another being problematic?
I allow anyone present at a diplomacy check to roll to aid if they wish. I have a houserule that affects this, but I'll get to that later. Here is why I allow it:
Rolling to aid means you are taking action, actively participating in the conversation. You are drawing attention to yourself, being noted by whomever you are speaking to. People respond to numbers, unified fronts, and pressure: one guy telling you something while three others stand behind him might be good, but when all four people speak, supporting each other and making it clear they all beleive in what they are saying, it becomes more effective. The shift of speakers makes it harder for the person you are speaking to to interrupt you (unless they go Royal Decree of Shut Up, in which case you've likely already failed).
It says diplomacy takes at least a minute of "continuous interaction". That means full round actions, with at best a bit of slow movement for the classic scene of "Come, walk with me that we might speak a bit." Full round actions means no spare actions for spells (unless quickened), active perception checks, and active sense motive checks (and others, but those strike me as most important).
So people attempting to aid are giving up other potentially valuable actions.
I personally houserule that failing the Aid Check by 5 or more results in a -2 circumstance penalty. This prevents ridiculous things like armies yelling at the enemy kingdom to diplomacy them into submission. Since you can't take 10 on the roll, untrained non-charismatic individuals may not help much. We've all seen the guy who tries to get a helpful word in edgewise only to be not so helpful. I also generally only allow about 5-6 people to be involved in a diplomacy check, unless odd circumstances apply (bringing in dozens of character witnesses in a trial, or such).
Beyond diplomacy, I can't think of any skills where I wouldn't allow an aid another in the proper circumstance. Obviously, since its an active action, I don't allow them with other characters reactive skills. Example: Finding a secret door with perception: active, so yes, others can aid. Spotting the hidden rogue before he tries to steal your kidney: reactive, no aid, every kidney for themselves. Using a library to study a monster: yes. Recalling what horrible things the boogey-man who just popped out can do to you: no.
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Bluff: I have never allowed an aid another on bluff (that I remember), but I could see it in a coordinated planned lie (not just, hey, yeah, believe this guy).
Aid another absolutely works for a coordinated planned lie, or even a coordinated unplanned lie if the bluffers are particularly good at it. One character gives another one an alibi, or pretends to be the manservant of the guy pretending to be a noble, or one character says "That wasn't a scream, it was a shriek-bird's call" and another one says "Yes, they've returned from their winter migration early this year."
I let player use aid other all the time as GM. But I have made some rules changes. I have table size of 5-10 players. It DC 10 for the first aid other helper. They I add plus 2 to each check after the first. Also you make the roll in order around the table start to right. If you fail aid other check by 10 then you give -2 instead of +2.
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I don't think we'll ever find a list of specific uses of Aid Another, simply because no such list could be exhaustive and any such list could be viewed as such. What's the point of making a list at all of you know it's not complete?
The key guideline I use is the line "you can't aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn't achieve alone." So if you could not possibly roll high enough to succeed at the level of Diplomacy you are looking for, you can't Aid Another to do it. Same goes for every skill. I reserve the "further restrictions" to rare cases which tend to be unique.
The only other time I wouldn't allow it is in cases where it's relatively obvious help wouldn't actually help, but since such cases are relatively obvious (can't Aid a Diplomacy check if you can't talk) my players generally won't even ask.
Bluff: I have never allowed an aid another on bluff (that I remember), but I could see it in a coordinated planned lie (not just, hey, yeah, believe this guy).Aid another absolutely works for a coordinated planned lie, or even a coordinated unplanned lie if the bluffers are particularly good at it. One character gives another one an alibi, or pretends to be the manservant of the guy pretending to be a noble, or one character says "That wasn't a scream, it was a shriek-bird's call" and another one says "Yes, they've returned from their winter migration early this year."
Yup, that would be an example of a planned lie.
I just wouldn't allow it for...
Tom: "Er, yeah, uh, we are here to inspect the prisoner for lice."
Jennifer: "Er, yeah, what he said."
I let player use aid other all the time as GM. But I have made some rules changes. I have table size of 5-10 players. It DC 10 for the first aid other helper. They I add plus 2 to each check after the first. Also you make the roll in order around the table start to right. If you fail aid other check by 10 then you give -2 instead of +2.
Yeah, some kind of a failure rule is really needed (as well as an increasing DC for the aid other action, I think). At higher levels the aid another ends up being practically automatic which I certainly do not like.
I don't think we'll ever find a list of specific uses of Aid Another, simply because no such list could be exhaustive and any such list could be viewed as such. What's the point of making a list at all of you know it's not complete?
The key guideline I use is the line "you can't aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn't achieve alone." So if you could not possibly roll high enough to succeed at the level of Diplomacy you are looking for, you can't Aid Another to do it. Same goes for every skill. I reserve the "further restrictions" to rare cases which tend to be unique.
The only other time I wouldn't allow it is in cases where it's relatively obvious help wouldn't actually help, but since such cases are relatively obvious (can't Aid a Diplomacy check if you can't talk) my players generally won't even ask.
I agree that an exhaustive list is impossible, but I could see guidelines in each skill entry.
Acrobatics: In general, it is impossible to aid another on an acrobatics check unless you are physically interacting with them (e.g. controlling a rope they are using for balance.)
Knowledge: Only 3 additional characters may make aid another checks when making knowledge checks, too many people attempting to contribute information tends to create confusion.
...and so on (just examples, I am not advocating those specific restrictions).
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Aiding checks for lying with Bluff:
Imagine you suddenly get the idea to lie your way past a guard, but don't have the time or ability to overtly inform your friend about it. Your friend know you pretty well and knows you try stuff like this all the time. I'd give your friend a Sense Motive check to realize what your gambit is when you start talking (DC 10, or maybe 15 if this isn't something you guys do all the time). If successful, the friend may use Bluff to Aid when attempting to lend believability to the lie.
Aiding Knowledge checks:
I've always been iffy with these specifically, due to the nature of a knowledge check representing what a character knows, and you can't exactly help a character know something he doesn't actually know. I prefer to look at Knowledge checks as remembering something you know, rather than knowing and having eidetic memory. There are many cases when someone who knows stuff to might talk out a problem with other people who know stuff, ultimately jogging someone's memory. As for interacting with Aid Another unless I'm convinced otherwise, I'm okay with an unlimited number of additional assists, but can't be used in combat due to an inability to actively discuss as a free action.