So, the knowledge skill entry says, under whether you can retry a knowledge check:
"No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place."
But what if the character had, for example, a Pathfinder Chronicle? He's fighting a monster, fails to identify it. After the combat is done, he pulls out his chronicle to look it up.
I would think it perfectly reasonable that he can make another knowledge check in that case; certainly the reason given for why a knowledge check cannot be re-tried does not hold up.
What are other people's thoughts on the RAW, RAI of this, and how would you run it?
EDIT: Another possible way to run it would be to allow them to apply the +2 after the combat to the result they rolled during combat, and see if that makes the difference in identifying the creature. This might be the best from a logical perspective, but it also requires bookkeeping.
We run it exactly like that, so yeah, no problemo. RAW does not say, but RAI seems to go with what you say, otherwise what use would it be?
I like y'all's conclusions.
In Danger - Knowledge Check
Plenty of Time - Take 20 - recall every book you've read on the subject
Discover a new book, Hear a new personal account, Discover a lost manuscript, Arrive in a new city library - New Knowledge Check
Outside of special abilities, such as the Bard's, you can't take 20, Owly, because that requires that you be able to repeat the check over and over, indefinitely, and the skill specifically says you can't repeat a check simply by trying to remember "harder".
The rest seems correct.
Hmm...this explains a lot about my real life "Knowledge Checks" then.
