Can Kreighton's Cognitive Crossover automatically fail?

[SubMatirx]

For the two linked skills, if you fail a recall knowledge check with your first skill you get to retry with the linked skill. However, does this skill have to be relevant to the target of the recall knowledge?

For example, if Religion and Arcana are linked, and you do a Religion check against a skeleton and fail, and retry with Arcana, does it instantly fail since Arcana doesn't apply to skeletons? Or does it still work for Religion but use your Arcana skill roll?

My GM said his interpretation was that it would use Arcana vs the skeleton and fail instantly, which I can see based on how it's worded. Though if that's the case it would make this a very weak and extremely situational skill feat since you'd need to pick two skills that just happened to be the two skills used by the creature you're fighting.

[Aw3som3-117]

Unfortunately I don't think RAW is too clear here. It all comes down to what is meant by reattempting "the triggering check." Taking your example, is the triggering check the Recall Knowledge check, and you reattempt it with Arcana, as your GM read it? Or, is the triggering check specifically a Recall Knowledge (Religion) check, and you can reattempt said religion check, but "using" the other chosen skill, i.e. rolling with that skill's modifier.

For the exact reasons you mentioned (the weakness of the feat if it doesn't work that way) I'd lean toward the latter. It almost borders on "too bad to be true" if that's not the case. However, as far as I can tell both interpretations are valid, so it's really a GM call unless someone can find something more concrete in the rules.

[Squiggit]

I can see your GM's argument, but the flavor of the feat specifically calls out gaining knowledge from "unlikely sources" which to me suggests the intent is pointing in the other way. It's not really an unlikely source if you're required to use Lore(Undead) as your backup skill for that Religion check.

Also worth pointing out that (sans Lore since it can cover anything) most things with explicitly defined checks in the game don't have redundant choices to begin with. Checking out the bestiary, for example, some creatures have two valid recall knowledge paths, but many don't.

From a RAW standpoint, I think the feat specifically directing you to reattempt the same check but with a different skill is essentially a form of skill substitution, not an entirely new (and therefore invalid) recall knowledge action.