Imagine, for a moment, that there's an ancient race of beings (which we'll call Atlantians for simplicities sake) that suddenly takes an interest in the 'overworld'- the world of land walkers.
So, these 'Atlantians' send an emissary to scope things out; make some friends, maybe do a bit of adventuring, you get the idea.
How would you handle certain skills in this situation? You can see where this comes into play- How is an Atlantian supposed to know anything about the history, geography, nature and so forth of the surface world which is so strange and alien to him?
And the problem only gets crazier if he's a Ranger. Favored Terrain and Enemies? I doubt he knows anything about surface terrains and the many creatures that inhabit them.
So... Any ideas?
Ancient "books" and manuscripts that discuss the land.
Ancient "books" and manuscripts that discuss the land.
That could work, up to a certain point in history. The idea is that these underwater denizens had succeeded from the surface world. I'm sure that with major events, such as the World Wound opening up, the Geography may have changed over the past couple thousand years.
But anything in recent memory (for the elves) might be news to an Atlantian.
My best suggestion would be that prior to this the 'Atlantians' probably talked with sailors and the occasional adventurer. Something made them want to reopen relations with the surface world and, besides simple curiosity, it could be inspired by tales they gathered from folks that have traveled through their territory. It's unlikely they're going to simply send emissaries without getting some information prior to doing so.
It's not crazy for the classes to reflect the fact that they were underwater prior to this. They can certainly learn new things on land, but they should start out with something that reflects the fact they were underwater.