Unchained Skill Unlock Knowledge

[SNO_75]

The knowledge Skill Unlock at 10 ranks states:
10 Ranks: When you successfully identify a creature, you gain a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls, opposed ability checks, skill checks, and caster level checks against creatures of that kind (e.g., glabrezu demons, but not other demons or evil outsiders) for 1 minute. This bonus increases by 1 for every 5 ranks beyond 10 you possess in that Knowledge skill.

In addition, the PRD states that knowledge checks are only made once:
Try Again: 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.

The question I have is:
As you can only make knowledge checks once per creature type, does that mean that the first time you see a creature in battle, if you succeed in identifying it, you get the one minute of bonuses and that's it for the rest of your existence?

If not, what is the limit? Can I 'identify' the same creature again in a fight (Yup, it's still a goblin) or would it be one creature type per battle limit? And if that's the limit, what if the creature were to escape and I ended up fighting it again the next day?

[mplindustries]

You can only identify a given creature once. But if you identify Goblin A, you can still identify Goblin B 1 minute later.

[rainzax]

This is a good question

[Imbicatus]

mplindustries wrote:

You can only identify a given creature once. But if you identify Goblin A, you can still identify Goblin B 1 minute later.

This. And because the bonus applies to all creatures with the goblin type, you get it against goblin a if it is still alive then.

[SNO_75]

mplindustries wrote:

You can only identify a given creature once. But if you identify Goblin A, you can still identify Goblin B 1 minute later.

If that is the case, wouldn't that mean you could use your knowledge checks to learn all about a particular creature instantly? A knowledge check doesn't take an actual action (unless it's untrained and you are using a library), and if you beat the DC you get one piece of knowledge (special abilities, DR, hit die, AC, etc) plus one for every 5 by which you beat the DC. So if there are 4 of the same creature, you could do 4 knowledge checks. Let's say you always beat the DC by 6, that's 8 pieces of information you could learn.

For ease, I have included the Knowledge PRD page here.

Knowledge Page:

Knowledge
(Int; Trained Only)

You are educated in a field of study and can answer both simple and complex questions. Like the Craft, Perform, and Profession skills, Knowledge actually encompasses a number of different specialties. Below are listed typical fields of study.

Arcana (ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, constructs, dragons, magical beasts)
Dungeoneering (aberrations, caverns, oozes, spelunking)
Engineering (buildings, aqueducts, bridges, fortifications)
Geography (lands, terrain, climate, people)
History (wars, colonies, migrations, founding of cities)
Local (legends, personalities, inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, humanoids)
Nature (animals, fey, monstrous humanoids, plants, seasons and cycles, weather, vermin)
Nobility (lineages, heraldry, personalities, royalty)
Planes (the Inner Planes, the Outer Planes, the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, outsiders, planar magic)
Religion (gods and goddesses, mythic history, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, undead)

Check: Answering a question within your field of study has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for basic questions), or 20 to 30 (for really tough questions).

You can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster's CR. For common monsters, such as goblins, the DC of this check equals 5 + the monster's CR. For particularly rare monsters, such as the tarrasque, the DC of this check equals 15 + the monster's CR, or more. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster. For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information. Many of the Knowledge skills have specific uses as noted on Table: Knowledge Skill DCs.

Action: Usually none. In most cases, a Knowledge check doesn't take an action (but see “Untrained,” below).

Try Again: 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.

Untrained: You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10. If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours. Particularly complete libraries might even grant a bonus on Knowledge checks in the fields that they cover.

And as a secondary question, what if you identify a creature in one fight and it flee's and then you see it again in another fight another day?

[mplindustries]

You only identify the abilities of, for example, a goblin, once. But you can identify each individual goblin as being a goblin once.

[rainzax]

You guys are dancing around the OP's question.

For example, can a PC, Knowledge extraordinaire, simply think of a new question to ask every time he wants to score a +1 against a goblin? Or only once per individual goblin? Or only the first time he encounters goblins ever? Can he retry upon gaining a new rank?...

It's a legitimate question.

[kestral287]

There's no "new question".

The question that grants the bonus is "do I know what that is?"

It's specifically triggering on the check to identify.

Strictly speaking, you should identify each creature you come across, so mlp hit it: you can't reidentify Goblin A, but you can identify Goblin B.

That said, if Goblin A escapes and later returns and doesn't have any distinguishing characteristics that you can spot (you racist you, not all Goblins look the same!), then it makes perfect sense to have to reidentify it and thus retrigger the bonus.

[rainzax]

What do you mean by "escapes and later returns"?

[thorin001]

rainzax wrote:

What do you mean by "escapes and later returns"?

Meaning it ran away first and left its underlings to die in thoroughly distracting manners.

[kestral287]

It left the battle and the PC's notice, to the point that they no longer had any realistic way of noting that it's the same goblin the next time they encounter it.