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My GM is saying we can't figure out the abilities of summoned entropic dire tigers because they just look like normal dire tigers. Is this a thing? I thought knowledge checks just worked.
Also he says we can't tell they're using smite law, we just know we're taking horrible amounts of damage.
We're level 10 tier 4 with huge knowledge bonuses to everything. I feel like we wouldn't be that dumb.
Are there any rules anywhere one way or the other on this?
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When you get right down to it, in this game, a monster is just a pile of mechanical features. For the game's purpose, each thing that requires an entry in the monster's stat block is probably a feature, but actual numbers are not likely a feature. For example, a tiger has the Pounce ability listed as a special quality so Pounce is a feature. Likewise with Rake. But the fact that it has a 23 STR and a 14 AC are not features, they're just statistics.
Knowledge checks have a DC based on the rarity of the monster and on it's CR. Hitting that exact DC tells you what the monster is. This should incorporate a few obvious basics. For example, the fact that it's a tiger also means it has claws and teeth and eats meat - this kind of stuff is baseline knowledge inclusive in knowing it's a tiger.
If you exceed the DC on your check, you learn one extra feature per 5 points you beat it by. If you beat the DC by 20, then you learn 4 features.
Which features?
There is no specific rule for this, but here is what makes sense to me:
First of all, I believe EVERY template has telltale signs. There must be something that sets it apart. Some GMs may disagree, of course, but I think that if there is a template that alters a creatures core statistics then it should have some indicator in the creature's appearance. For me, Dire is easy - it's bigger and more muscled and usually has bony horns and ridges sticking out of its skin all over the place. Entropic might be harder - I think an entopic tiger would have weirdly chaotic strips, all different, with no patterns. Maybe even some polka dots and checker patterns too.
A GM should list all the non-baseline features in top down order, starting with what would probably be the most common knowledge and ending with the least common knowledge.
For Tiger, I would list scent, pounce, and rake. After that I would consider the Dire template, but this has no features - dire creatures are just bigger, faster, and deadlier. But I would consider the fact that it has this template to be a feature, so put it next on the list. Lastly I would consider the Entropic template. This basically adds DR, energy resistance, spell resistance, and smite law, so I would add these to the list.
I would say that tigers are common, dire tigers are uncommon, entropic dire tigers are rare. It's CR is now 7. So 15+7 = DC 22 to identify it. Based on it being entropic, I might require Knowledge(planes) instead of Knowledge(nature).
So here's the feature list including the DC to figure it out:
22 Tiger
27 Scent
32 Pounce
37 Rake
42 Dire
47 Entropic - DR
52 Spell Resistance
57 Energy Resistance
62 Smite Law
Now let the player roll his check and see what he can figure out.
(that's a lot of work. I usually just spitball this off-the-cuff at the moment the player rolls his check and hand-pick the most obvious features to reveal)