Combat Reading vs Recall Knowledge

[Burntgerb]

I'm reading the Bard's 4th level feat Combat Reading in the APG, and I'm trying to wrap my head around it - what are it's (non-obvious) differences from Recall Knowledge and if that makes it a better choice or a trap - and should it replace recall knowledge if you can afford to?

Looking at the stats at a random sampling of lvl 8-10 creatures, they've got recall knowledge dcs of 26 - 29 and stealth and deception scores from 18-22. More than once in the Age of Ashes my party is playing, Recall Knowledge has been a wasted action.

My 9th lvl bard has an Occultism of 17 - so it's about a 50/50 shot at that point to get a crit success for two pieces of vital info on the baddie your party is fighting and close to 85+% for a success. In my experience, we don't get creature level or any other ancillary info on a recall knowledge check - basically the info we as a player already know and one of the above. It's sometimes stressful on play for the GM to stop, read the stat block and determine everything known by a knowledge check - it'll derail combat frequently.

So am I right in understanding that Combat Reading - for the cost of a precious Class Feat - can likely replace needing to use recall knowledge in combat with a drastically lower DC, a lighter burden on the GM and a far smaller skill investment? I feel like I'm missing something here as 2e still has a lot of nuance that isn't immediately evident.

[thenobledrake]

At level 8 a creature's recall knowledge DC can be as low as 24 for common monsters, and the higher of a creature's Stealth or Deception DCs could be just as high or even higher.

Let's use a succubus as an example: it's level a 7 common monster, so the Recall Knowledge DC is 23, while it has a Stealth DC of 24 and a Deception DC of 28.

So sometimes Combat Reading is an easier check, but sometimes Recall Knowledge is.

Then, the knowledge gained has slightly different qualifications. Combat Reading has a specific list of traits you can learn, but is up to the GM to choose which one and has no language saying it's got to be useful - and Recall Knowledge has less specificity about what it'll tell you but does have language that tells the GM to say something useful. So in that right too there are times where one may be preferable to the other.

Overall, Combat Reading is likely to be better, but that's as it should be since Recall Knowledge doesn't cost a feat to get.

[Tarpeius]

It also looks comparable to Master Monster Hunter but is available at level 4 instead of 10 and uses Occultism instead of Nature. An enigma bard could use Automatic Knowledge (Bardic Lore) and then Combat Assessment, using no more than a single action. Delicious.