The whole concept seems really silly to me. Why not just a general "Lore: Theology" skill? Or, failing that, a "Lore: Inner Sea Gods'' skill and a separate skill for each other culture's pantheon (but not a separate skill for each of the 100+ gods in the setting.)
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You can have both those Lores.
Lore is a general category, and can be as broad or narrow as you wish. It's basically the same question as Lore Undeads vs Lore Vampires. You only use Lore Vampires when investigating Vampires, but it gets you more / easier information.
Same with deities, you can have Lore Inner Sea Gods to learn about the various deities, but if you had specifically Lore Pharasma you'd have an easier time learning of the origins of Sahkils.
There are an infinite number of lore skills. If you were to name anything at all, there is a corresponding lore skill for "you know about that thing." For example, Cooking Lore, Baking Lore, and Pastry Lore are all lore skills which nest within each other.
"Theology Lore" is for someone who studied theology in an academic setting, "Sarenrae Lore" is for someone who studied in a Sarenrite temple to perform Sarenrae's rites. Much like how Baking lore wouldn't necessarily imply that you know how to boil bones to make gelatin for aspics but Cooking Lore would, Sarenrae lore doesn't necessarily imply that you know about the rites of Asmodeus but Theology lore would.
Generally the value of a "more specific lore" is in choosing a lower DC for something that is right in the wheelhouse of the less general lore. Like "Vampire lore" being more useful for knowing the difference between a Moroi vampire and a Vetala vampire than Undead lore would be.
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Similarly, if you picked "Besmaran Appeasement Ritual Lore", you're going to be really really great at that one thing.
Does have the minor downside of being insanely specialized, but what can you do?
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Similarly, if you picked "Besmaran Appeasement Ritual Lore", you're going to be really really great at that one thing.
Does have the minor downside of being insanely specialized, but what can you do?
Appease Besmara.
Honestly, Appeasing Besmara should be EVERY PCs goal.
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Yqatuba,
I will assume you are asking as a player, and as such, the responses above are all good.
Lore can also be a tool for GMs to imbue their player's characters with knowledge about their Campaign World (Golarion or otherwise).
One thing you can do before starting a Campaign is to compile a list of useful Lore skills that will come up over the course of that Campagin, and suddenly you have Characters holding that institutional knowledge in a way that empowers them.
...
Or maybe your question is about Adjudication?
As a general rule, the Breadth and Depth of a Lore should be inversely related.
Meaning, the more "specific" a Lore skill is, the lower the DC should be for characters with encompassing Lores to recall that knowledge, or, the more "free knowledge" they should get just for being trained.
Using Possible Cabbage's examples:
Q) What is the DC to know about Asmodean Rites?
A) Using Religion, DC 15 to recall their names, DC 20 to recognize that they were performed [here].
A) Using Theology Lore, DC 10 to recall their names, DC 15 to recognize that they were performed [here].
A) Using Asmodeus Lore, you know all their names without rolling, DC 10 to recognize that they were performed [here], and if you succeed, additional info, such as how many people, general purpose, exact material components consumed, etc.
Not an Exact Science, but a Tool.
Creative Director
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The best way for a Lore skill to be used is for a GM to supply the players at the start of a campaign with a list of Lores that'll be relevant for the game. Normally, something like Ghlaunder Lore would be pretty minor, for example, but in a campaign where the main plot is fighting against the cult of Ghlaunder, it's a great skill. This is why we list "best lore skills" in our Adventure Path players' guides... but individual GMs should do the same with their players at the start of their own campaigns. Or alternately, the GM should take notes on what Lores the players pick up and do their best to include those themes in the game.
The whole concept seems really silly to me. Why not just a general "Lore: Theology" skill? Or, failing that, a "Lore: Inner Sea Gods'' skill and a separate skill for each other culture's pantheon (but not a separate skill for each of the 100+ gods in the setting.)
Using a real world approach. Say that you are a devout Christian who is not a theology student - how much would you be able to tell me about Ahura Mazda?
If you, like I, have players who often take the "additional lore" skill feat (or something similar like gnomes have) primarily as a roleplaying choice to indicate "what their character is into" pay attention to that and see if you can make it come up. I'm not saying opportunities to show off one's acumen at cabinetry should be common per se, but if you can make one feel organic and relevant then that player is going to feel awesome (e.g. put some treasure or important documents behind a false panel or hidden drawer put there by a master craftsperson.)
Religion stands as being broader again than "lore theology", it has skill feats, knowledge checks unrelated to gods/pantheons and counts as a prerequisite for many things.
It is also quite reasonable to assume that someone could have both, that said as per usual I would houserule allow someone to apply additional lore to an existing lore skill rather than forcing them take a new lore skill.
Then your lore Abbadar will always be of a higher tier than your Religion knowledge (as it is narrow enough to warrant a -5 to DC on recall knowledges directly related to Abbadar)
Using a real world approach. Say that you are a devout Christian who is not a theology student - how much would you be able to tell me about Ahura Mazda?This is a game with an "Athletics" skill. Real world approach doesn't really apply.
I mean, except for where it does... like in this case where a skill can be broader or narrower when it comes to a knowledge set.
The whole concept seems really silly to me. Why not just a general "Lore: Theology" skill? Or, failing that, a "Lore: Inner Sea Gods'' skill and a separate skill for each other culture's pantheon (but not a separate skill for each of the 100+ gods in the setting.)
I think the answer here is, it obviously doesn't.
(Knowledge) Religion skill should cover it, but will have a higher DC than an appropriate lore.
Lore theology would be very similar to knowledge religion, but wouldn't include a lot of specifics about celestials, fiends, or undead. So you wouldn't be able to identify them probably, but might know that X or Y deity worked with a specific kind. It would also probably lack information about the Planes, beyond X deity lives there. However, you would have an easier time knowing stuff specific to deities.
How much of a bonus (well really a reduction in DC) is unclear, since this is still a very broad lore.
As you get more specific though, you should have an easier time knowing stuff about that topic.
The whole concept seems really silly to me. Why not just a general "Lore: Theology" skill? Or, failing that, a "Lore: Inner Sea Gods'' skill and a separate skill for each other culture's pantheon (but not a separate skill for each of the 100+ gods in the setting.)Using a real world approach. Say that you are a devout Christian who is not a theology student - how much would you be able to tell me about Ahura Mazda?
LOL Real world I'm an atheist and I can answer you. Should we start talking about the prince of intelligence starting from the first persian empire? Though in my case, I'd be using Lore" mythology. ;)
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Another thing is that if your lore is hyper specific and on the nose like "Sacred Tattoos of Besmara Lore", if it comes up you might just straight up tell the player "you recognize the tattoo" and tell them what it means.
Speaking as a GM I really like the lore skill. My rule of thumb is to reduce the DC of a check by 2 if the lore is directly relevant or increase it by 2 if the lore skill is only vaguely related, but ultimately it depends on the specificity of the lore in question. Though technically more focused than the Religion skill Lore: Theology still feels pretty broad so I probably wouldn't modify the DC compared to what it would be if you were using Religion.