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Sometimes I have a hard time justifying that my Wizard "just happened to know" about the devil in the inn, or the mass of jelly blocking the dungeon entrance, or what in the nine hells that massive horned beast was. My players do too.
So, my thoughts are to house rule Knowledge as a "research" skill. Thus changing it from a passive knowledge to an active knowledge.
What concerns should I be aware of if I do this?
Has anyone else done this? How'd it work out?
Does anyone else have suggestions for me?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tACHyv9inRs
So the problem I see with that is while it is more realistic it means that the characters require a large amount of down time to use the skill which would make it less useful.
I generally don't run campaigns with a lot of down-time in which case it would not be a particularly useful skill.
You didn't 'just happen to know'. You studied it before, and now you remember it.
For researching things you don't know (aka failed the knowledge check), I'd let a PC do an appropriate knowledge check with a bonus based on how complete/up to date/quality his research materials are. A few old scrolls, maybe a +2. Giant library in magic college? +10.
The Wizard is basically a super nerd. They are incredibly likely to have read a demonic bestiary on their off night. That's what all of these skills are. Abstractions of stuff you've experienced or have studied.
Other knowledge skills, such as knowledge(nature) stem from experience or even learning how to identify certain things in nature. I'm sure that any ranger would take the time off to read a field guide so that they can learn about poisonous plants or dangerous animals at some point in his lifetime. Or maybe the ranger has had personal experience from his many outdoor days.
Also remember: you as the GM set the DCs. Is that devil common, or is he/she a rarity? Are they well disguised? Think of an iconic PF monster: the goblin. They're everywhere in this game and they have a very specific look. Now imagine if there was a goblin mutant with a normal sized head, wearing civilized gear and trying to blend into mortal society in the inn. He's not in disguise, but definitely an oddity. The DC might go to 10 instead of 5, or higher for that matter.
On the other hand anyone with a knowledge skill means they've studied. Maybe they listened to thousands of village stories about dragons, looked a drawings of magic and never read a single word, but if they've got Knowledge: Arcana with at least a single rank in it they've figured out SOME hard fact on the subject. When they come up against an ongoing spell, there's a chance, however slim, that they've heard of that in their lore and they can recall some helpful bit.
So your PCs have downtime in your game? As others have suggested - keeping their knowledge skills current is part of what they're doing with that time. Even if the fighter is using her downtime to make a new axe if she has Knowledge: Local you can also assume that while she's working she's humming local nursery rhymes about the goblins in your closet. This keeps her mind active about goblins, in turn reminding her of other humanoids in the area. Now I'm just spitballing, but you get the point.
So now that they've read, re-read and maybe studied new material in their downtime, or even just reviewed stuff they already knew, imagine that same PC comes up against something their knowledge skill covers. Suddenly some small bit of lore bubbles up: "Hey, that waiter over there has a tail that looks alarmingly like..." the wizard gasps audibly, "THAT'S NO BARMAID!"