Lore mystery gives Brain Drain as the first revelation spell and Access Lore as the second.
Brain Drain does 1d8 per level in mental damage and if they fail the save, you get to make a recall knowledge check, but have to use the enemy's skill modifier for it.
Access Lore lets you get proficiency in any lore skill you want for one minute.
So I am a bit lost on these two. Brain Drain does decent damage. Is that its primary use? Maybe the recall knowledge check is just a fringe benefit - not something that you try to rely on. The spell doesn't say that you gain access to their thoughts like Mind Reading, so you couldn't use it to extract plot knowledge (the location of the bandit's secret base, or the like).
Lore skills are usually used for downtime activities like earning a living - but you can't use temporary bonuses for those. So what is Access Lore used for?
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Specific lore skills can give lower DCs to recall knowledge, and the knowledge domain power you can also have allows a double roll. The combo makes you very good at answering plot research questions out of combat before you refocus.
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While not explicit listed in any stat block, I'd assume any intelligent creature is at least trained in the Lore for its own creature type, knowing its own strengths and weaknesses quite well.
So as a GM I'd totally let you use Brain Drain to roll a recall knowledge check about the creature you just Bran Drained.
As a GM, I'd also let Brain Drain be used for stuff like "the person knows the password to get into a place, now you know it too." It is, however, a painful and invasive way to get this sort of information.
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The deal is indeed that specific Lores have lower DCs than the broad knowledge skills.
If you infiltrate a cult of Lamashtu and encounter a lower priest, being able to make a check with trained Lamashtu Lore will provide helpful information about Lamashtu since it should have a 5 or 10 lower DC than your Religion check.
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Access Lore is a more powerful than it looks at first glance.
Once the Lore Oracle reaches their moderate curse, they start making free knowledge checks every round with Assurance. The problem with this is that when using Assurance with knowledge skills, the result is usually not enough to succeed on a check against an on-level foe.
However, the DC for success for Lores is much lower. And Access Lore grants you whatever lore you need.
You enter the fight against... say a Vampire. Normally, you'd roll Religion for the knowledge check, but with Assurance it won't meet the DC.
If you suddenly gain Vampire Lore, that has a lower DC, and Assurance will thus guarantee success.
I just put together a Lore Oracle and they can be way better than I originally gave them credit for.
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Access Lore is extremely good, like practically on-demand "I see the matrix" level good in terms of being able to just straight-up demand information from your GM on ... well, literally any topic under the sun while ALSO letting you choose the best Lore with the lowest DC for a given check.
It's very VERY good.
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Access Lore is a more powerful than it looks at first glance.
Once the Lore Oracle reaches their moderate curse, they start making free knowledge checks every round with Assurance. The problem with this is that when using Assurance with knowledge skills, the result is usually not enough to succeed on a check against an on-level foe.
However, the DC for success for Lores is much lower. And Access Lore grants you whatever lore you need.
You enter the fight against... say a Vampire. Normally, you'd roll Religion for the knowledge check, but with Assurance it won't meet the DC.
If you suddenly gain Vampire Lore, that has a lower DC, and Assurance will thus guarantee success.
I just put together a Lore Oracle and they can be way better than I originally gave them credit for.
If you can’t recall knowledge about the creature without the specific lore for the creature, how do you know which lore to pick up to use to recall knowledge about the creature? Serious question. In 1E you couldn’t identify the creature without making the knowledge check. Vampire might be an easier one to guess than others.
If you can’t recall knowledge about the creature without the specific lore for the creature, how do you know which lore to pick up to use to recall knowledge about the creature? Serious question. In 1E you couldn’t identify the creature without making the knowledge check. Vampire might be an easier one to guess than others.
Yeah, this is the same problem, but worse, for a rune witch using discern secrets to boost a party member with a higher bonus in a relevant knowledge skill. At least in that situation you might plausibly guess the general category based on appearance without making a recall knowledge first, although that still feels like metagaming, but picking a specific lore for a creature you haven't identified yet doesn't seem feasible.
It's still great out of combat when used with the knowledge domain spell, though.
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If you can’t recall knowledge about the creature without the specific lore for the creature, how do you know which lore to pick up to use to recall knowledge about the creature? Serious question.
Known knowns, unknown knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns and all I figure the fact that the Mystery taps into the cosmic meta intelligence of the universe and all I think this is probably not the big of a deal since Lore Skills aren't exactly pre-defined.
You can theoretically take a "Notable humans over the age of 75 years Lore" if you really wanted to given that it's entirely up to GM fiat and the intent of this ability is to give you the option to choose the very best among all options available regardless.
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The way I read Brain Drain, is that you get to pick from the recall knowledge skills that the target has. So you kind of know what it knows (in the meta sense) befor you roll.
I don't think you need to succeed at a check to understand that the bones moving by themselves is probably undead. That being said, you are tapping into an otherworldly force to give you this Lore skill. In an in character sense, you aren't saying "I need vampire lore" you are casting a spell and reaching out into the ether to gain the knowledge you need and the universe gives it to you.
OK, cool.
I was forgetting that lore skills can be used for recall knowledge checks too - though only for very limited topics. But since you can have any of them on demand, that does make it more useful.
Brain Drain is still a bit sketchy. Relies on GM discretion in order to have the recall knowledge part be useful or not so much. But it is also only a 1st level spell and class ability given automatically. And it also does reasonable damage. Which is probably its main purpose.
Picking a too specific Lore is a two-edged sword. You have a very low DC on the topic... but ONLY on that topic.
If you fight a blue dragon and pick "Blue Dragon Lore", it won't be of use if its friend the green dragon joins in round 2.
Also if the enemy knows you are a Nerd Oracle a disguise could foil your specific lore choice. Ha, that blue dragon reveals itself to be Gnorfax the gnome wizard, just polymorphed!
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Brain Drain does decent damage. Is that its primary use? Maybe the recall knowledge check is just a fringe benefit - not something that you try to rely on. The spell doesn't say that you gain access to their thoughts like Mind Reading, so you couldn't use it to extract plot knowledge (the location of the bandit's secret base, or the like).
I’m not so sure that you can’t gain plot knowledge with Brain Drain. PFS scenarios pretty commonly give plot knowledge as a result of Recall Knowledge checks. The location of the bandits’ secret base could be justified as a Nature check if it’s out in the woods or a Society check if it’s in town. As a GM I might set the DC crazy high for a PC to Recall Knowledge for such a thing, but if a PC used Brain Drain on an NPC who has reason to know that, I’d set a MUCH lower DC, and failure wouldn’t mean the NPC doesn’t know, but that the PC didn’t fish out the right knowledge.
Lore skills are usually used for downtime activities like earning a living - but you can't use temporary bonuses for those. So what is Access Lore used for?
Keep in mind that Lore is specifically listed a skill you can use to Recall Knowledge, and in published scenarios when a specific Lore is called out as an alternative to one of the general knowledge skills like Nature or Society, the Lore option often has a lower DC. That’s also worth keeping in mind when using or adjudicating Brain Drain. Bandit Lore might be the skill to use when your bandit enemy fails his Will save.