This comes up a lot when I'm playing. In a world where magic is commonplace, would a level 1 fighter have basic knowledge of certain spell names and functions?
Does a character have to be a wizard or a sorcerer to know what Magic Missile does? Do they have to be clerics to know about Restoration?
Frequently, I recognize the effects of a spell (And I don't even live in a world surrounded by magic, unfortunately), but I'm not sure if my character would recognize it.
That makes sense, thanks for the response.
What about when a non-magical character gets into higher levels and experiences many spells firsthand and even has some magical gear?
Even without ranks in Spellcraft, would his experience allow him to have a better grasp on spells and magical items in general?
Example: The party rogue tried to pick Asmodeus's pocket and was incinerated. Can Mr. Fightypants say, "Hey, let's go get this guy Raised," or does he just fall to his knees and yell dramatically toward the sky?
It all depends on setting, but my take would be that magic isn't that common. Sure, it exists, and everyone knows that mages can do powerfull stuff. Clerics can heal, and wizards can alter reality to their hearts delight. But that's all a 1st level fighter, or any commoner, would know.
So a 1st level fighter would know that a cleric could proparbly heal his wounds, raise the dead, cure his diseases and remove that nasty curse he's suffering from. He would proparbly also assume that healing a minor cut is pretty easy magic, and the rest is harder. But he wouldn't know that Restoration has a material cost, or that the local cleric is able to heal ability damage but not ability drain ("But you just healed me yesterday, when I couldn't move my leg. Why can't you heal me today, when I can't move my leg?")
I'd assume that it takes either knowledge arcane, spellcraft, or travelling with a wizard, to know about special schools, and perhaps even to know that what one wizard can do, another perhaps can't. ("Come on, last year I encountered one of your kind, and he could summon monsters out of thin air. So go ahead and summon a horse, I know you can do it! It's not like I'm asking for demons.").
Off course, if your 1st level fighter previously served in the city watch, where part of his duty was to subdue drunken mage apprentices, he could recognize a few spells. But in general, I'd assume it takes direct experience with a spell, and more than one encounter even (unless the fighter has high WIS), to recognize it.
That's my take, but it's heavily dependant on setting and gaming group, so there's really no right answer here.
I see. I think that will help a bit with roleplaying. I always kinda assumed that magic was a bit more commonplace, but I guess higher level casters would be rather rare due to being made of glass at low levels.
Thanks for the assistance!
So if a fighter put one rank into Knowledge Arcana, Religion and Spellcraft, would they be trained enough to know about every spell, just not well enough to recognize them as they're being cast (unless they roll well of course)?
Class spell lists aren't terribly long, so I'd imagine it wouldn't take a ton of training to learn all of the known spells and functions. Casting the spells is another story of course.
Roughly equivalent to how much you'd expect a trained soldier to know about guns.
common adventurer
Kind of a contradiction in terms, innit?
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Roughly equivalent to how much you'd expect a trained soldier to know about guns.
Not in the slightest.
A trained soldier(assuming your standard combat arms/infantry soldier) studies guns, trains with guns and uses guns. A trained soldier might work alongside aircraft, but they are not his area of expertise and he would only have marginal knowledge of those he is around often (mostly cargo planes) and generally limited knowledge at best of those he is not (such as fighter jets and the like).
A fighter would be the same. They would be knowledgeable about simple and martial weapons, being trained in them. They might have a casual understanding of magic based on who they are around often, but that would generally be limited to noticeable things they see... light, fire, pits and walls... but he wouldn't know details unless he learned about them, and that is what ranks in Spellcraft and Knowledge: Arcane cover.
Especially considering how secretive arcane casters often are about their craft and how divine casters have their magic couched in whatever religious rites and trappings or beliefs, all serve to make one caster seem very different from another without training. Thus why you need to make a spellcraft check to identify a spell being cast at a DC of 15+spell level, it is not that easy, considering it is a "trained only" use skill.
This comes up a lot when I'm playing. In a world where magic is commonplace, would a level 1 fighter have basic knowledge of certain spell names and functions?
Does a character have to be a wizard or a sorcerer to know what Magic Missile does? Do they have to be clerics to know about Restoration?
Frequently, I recognize the effects of a spell (And I don't even live in a world surrounded by magic, unfortunately), but I'm not sure if my character would recognize it.
I go with the reasoning that most game worlds are thousands of years old so some knowledge of the most commonly used magics would have trickeld down into common parlance to an extent. Even Joe Shmoe commoner on the street probably knows about Magic Missle, Fireball and Stinking Cloud. They certainly would not know how to cast them, how to recognize the casting OF them or have any concept of the 'level' structure or schools of spells but they probably know the effects related to the spell names and could possibly even recognize the spell if they saw it happen.
Magic Missles, Fireballs, the more common healing magics and bless spells would probably be well known to even fighters. They have been in common use for so many thousands of years that they would have worked their way into most basic combat training.
Those like fighters who have the best combat training of all would probably also get trained in knowledge of the best equipment to use and the best magical enhancements for that equipment, just like a soldier in a modern day military would be taught combined arms tactics, how to defend themselves or react to an artillery barrage or grenades and what weapons work.
For example gun collector or aficionado's in the real world will spend lots of money on the best weapons, made with the best materials and parts using the best ammo they can afford. There is no reason that fantasy fighters would not do the same to keep themselves safe and alive in their dangerous adventuring trade and that knowledge would be passed on from generation to generation. I bet even a level 1 fighter knows that Mithril Armor is super mobile and Adamantine armor and weapons never break and that getting your weapons and armor 'enhanced' with magic is a great investment. They probably even have some knowledge of how many grades of enhancement exist and how that balances with the more commonly used weapon boosts like elemental effects, haste and holy/unholy.
Now in a world where magic is rare or secretive this would all be different but in a setting like Golarion with literally multiple thousands of years of, basically, stagnant technological advancement and commonly used magics, the basics would be known in a general sense.
Now the higher level spells, since there are less practitioner of such power, would be lesser know or have errors in the 'facts' of them, and the highest powers such as wish or miracle or other powers of 9th level would be famous/infamous for the scope of their obscene power (to the masses at least) but would be the most wildly speculated in knowledge. They would definitely be known about but more than likely they would be little to no correct information of them other than 'they can do anything'.
What this means is that a level 1 fighter would proabably know about the commonly used level one to three combat oriented magics that they might have to defend against and that have a very obvious visible effect on the battelfield so they would recognise their visible effects when they see them, but they would never be able to tell what spell someone is casting without the proper spellcraft training and would have sketchy information at best on the exact powers of the spells. They may know that Magic Missles just don't miss and that Fireballs have an archers range and can burn several wagon lengths of are, never bunch together if you think a mage may have it, etc.
But if they see a small sphere of fire shoot out of a casters palm and then explode, they would probably know that is a Fireball spell, for example.
Plus there if nothing stop them from spending some points on Spellcraft or Knowledge Arcana to get a more advanced knowledge of spells and magic to better defend themselves.
I would guess that most of the spells from the core book levels 1-3 that produce highly visible combat effects could be commonly known by a first level fighters. The utility magics would probably not be as known and while spells such as sleep and hold person would be know, the fighter would have a much harder time reasoning them out as opposed to say Color Spray.
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If you have 10 Int and put 1 rank into Spellcraft, you can identify up through 6th level spells as they are being cast. Even if you have a 7 int, you can identify all the properties of the most obscure 3rd level by the time that Summoner finished muttering.So anyone with a rank of Spellcraft knows what at least the first 6 levels of spells do: It's that simple. That's what the mechanics of the game say. You might not be able to recognize the spell as it's being cast in combat, but you know what all the spells do. Doesn't matter if you're an academy graduate from Katapesh or an illiterate Goblin barbarian, you know the names, effects and mechanics of every spell in the game of 6th level or lower if you have a 1 in spellcraft.
Um, not quite.
The DC to identify a level 1 spell is 16, so you have a 30% chance of figuring out what a 1st level spell is... if you are trained in spellcraft. The average person without any ranks in spellcraft has no chance of identifying what a spell is because they can't make a roll. It's not quite that simple. That's what the mechanics of the game say.