Lore and Pathfinder Society

[Iberison]

So, I'm a newb. I have to ask - what actual use is Lore in a Pathfinder Society context?
I mean, my character with Expert Survival skill, Experienced Tracker, and Terrain Expertise - what does being Trained in Hunting Lore bring to my character?
Or, my character with Legendary Diplomacy and Master Society - what would having Expert Legal Lore add?

[roll4initiative]

Earn Income is the first thing that comes to mind.

I guess it's also used for specific Recall Knowledge checks related to the Lore.

[Iberison]

Well, Earn Income and Recall Knowledge literally are the only two actions derived from Lore.
So, to put my question a different way - why should my Field Commissioned character take Lore Legal over Lore Mercantile? None of the bonus Lore categories seem to have much bearing on a session of PFS.
Like I said, I'm a newb. Do things like Legal Lore, Scouting Lore, or Scribing Lore ever even come up in a session?

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

Do they ever!

I have seen Cooking lore, Legal Lore, Mercantile Lore, Sailing Lore and Scouting Lore come up lots. You can use the lore to do things related to the lore, and it usually has a lower DC than other skills.

[Pip Hip Hooray]

Since there are often criminals, bad guys and illegal activity happening in scenarios, my defense lawyer, Pip, has either had opportunities to use her lore or straight up found opportunities to use her Legal Lore. There have been trials where I got to use Legal Lore in making arguments, or in asking for leniency for an ally who got caught or framed. I believe that I have found a use for Legal Lore in over half the scenarios Pip has been involved with.

[Zendel of Oprak]

Meanwhile, my merchant, Zendel, has managed to talk shop with all sorts of traders, store owners and other shop folk.

[Teki Stronggut]

Pro Tip: If you *really* want to be good at something, take the Lore with Additional Lore so that it can auto-scale for Expert, Master and Legendary.

My Bard is a Master Tour Guide for Absalom -- I have only gotten to use Absalom Lore a few times though. Regional lores do not come up that often.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

In general, the most used lore for Influence and Recall Knowledge in society scenarios is Lore Pathfinder Society. But if you want to make the most of a profession, go for it. The lores can be fun, and you can find places to use them.

Hmm

[Gurmire]

The scenarios often have something saying “or applicable Lore skill” in them. Most GMs are rather lenient with this, especially when the Lore is unusual.

I’ve found some surprising uses for my main lore.

So far no scenario has specifically listed Lore Arson, but there was one where a fire was being investigated. I have also used it to burn some things and to talk shop with others. It really comes down to thinking about the lore and if it might be related in some way to the current situation.

My character is an Arson Investigator from Magnimar.

[Iberison]

That's awesome, all. Thank you for the wealth of answers.
My wizard will definitely be taking advantage of his free Legal Lore.
I'm less sure of what my Gunslinger will be taking, but I will ponder at length.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

My biggest advice lore-wise is to lean into it and roleplay it. I've seen people use Alcohol Lore in lots of social situations to talk favorite beers. I watched Gurmire chat with local law enforcement because he was an arson investigator and be taken seriously by the NPCs because he roleplayed it to the hilt all the way through the adventure. If you have fun roleplaying it and bring that fun to the table, I think that GMs will go with the flow because you're that lawyer, or the bartender, or whatever.

I've found these professions to be a great way to ground a character, and really get a feel for who they are.

[Gary Bush]

When checks include lore the dc will be lower.

[Hulking Hurler]

At the dawn of the second edition I found myself playing Amiri at Skalcon with a table of experienced and creative players. The scenario involved a research component and it came to light that Amiri had tanning lore, which didn't seem to apply. Through the course of the adventure the gentlemen playing Ezren began an escalating barrage of fatherly barbs about me wasting my life at the beach and how I should apply myself to something more important...

Sun-tanning.

How did it take me so long to catch on?

After I realized, we embraced it and Amiri even adopted gnarly surfer speak. He was the wise teacher with encyclopedic knowledge and lifetime of understanding to share and she was the free spirit that only wanted to experience what was offered by Golarions beaches and waves.

Until combat broke out and it was time for Amiri to do what she does best.The only problem was a massive orrey and a distance too far to close between her and the bad guys. It turns out that wasn't a problem for someone who had spent her days paying careful attention to the position of the sun. Knowledge that I hoped to use repurposing the orrery as a sort of celestial trebuchet to fling Amiri across the library into melee range. The GM met my proposal with a skeptical "Roll it".

20. A natural 20, in one of the greatest the dice have spoken moments ever Amiri had used her knowledge of suntanning to improbably hurl herself across the repository of facts and figures, to rise above mere book learning, flying so high Icarus himself would have plummeted back to the earth, and descending as a valkyrie from Valhalla to triumph over the forces of darkness.

In that moment Amiri understood the responsibility Ezren sought to teach her and he realized that combat was no day at the beach. Or was it?

[Tomppa]

Iberison wrote:

So, I'm a newb. I have to ask - what actual use is Lore in a Pathfinder Society context?

I mean, my character with Expert Survival skill, Experienced Tracker, and Terrain Expertise - what does being Trained in Hunting Lore bring to my character?
Or, my character with Legendary Diplomacy and Master Society - what would having Expert Legal Lore add?

Well - it's usually not worth the effort to pick/raise lore skills with your regular skill increases, because the lore skills are so much narrower than regular skills. In your example, there's plenty of overlap: Whatever you could use hunting lore for, you can probably also do with survival. However, if your character lacked nature as a skill, you might be able to use hunting lore to identify common animals that you hunt. Similarly in the other example, your clearly higher diplomacy and society are probably better than a trained or expert legal lore and have lots of overlap.

But, consider a character that does not plan to pick up Religion as a skill. Picking up Lastwall Survivor or Once Bitten would give you undead lore, which you could use to identify undead creatures, despite not having religion. Forest lore, for a character who doesn't have nature, could help in one of the most common wilderness areas: Forests, and a GM might allow you to use it to identify forest creatures/animals.

Also, the DC for lore skills is usually 2-5 lower than the DC for regular skills, so if you hadn't raised your diplomacy/society and they both were just trained and a situation arose where legal lore was relevant, the check would probably be easier with legal lore than it would be with diplomacy or society.

So - I think lores are best used to flesh out a character. To highlight a particularly deep connection/knowledge of a certain subset of subjects under a particular skill, or picking out a niche part of a skill you otherwise would not necessarily have. Like clockwork researcher giving you engineering lore. If you were already planning on maximising crafting, engineering lore is probably redundant. But if your character isn't a crafter but rather just a researcher on clockwork stuff, it let's you highlight that the character isn't good with all crafty stuff, just some specific things.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

Yes, don't spend a skill increase on it, but if can be sometimes worth spending the Additional Lore skill feat to have it auto-level throughout your career.

[Iberison]

@Hulking Hurler - that is ... freakin' awesome.

Thank you all. So much meat to chew.

[BretI]

Lore Meat Packing?

:)