Tell me more ×
Role-playing Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite

Knowledge skills are the cinderella of the skill set. Nobody really puts grades in Knowledge (local), Knowledge (Nature) or Knowledge (Royalty). If you have a bard in the group, all these knowledge are made useless by any bardic lore, otherwise you can always roleplay them out of NPC conversation. Grades in knowledge are wasted, and players know it.

This is the reason why, as far as I understand, grades in knowledge are prerequisite for prestige classes. Nobody would pick them otherwise.

The question stands. How can I increase, either as a player or a GM, the importance of grades in knowledge skills without appearing insanely pedantic ? Should I force the players to dedicate at least one grade per level in knowledge ? Is it a viable strategy ?

share|improve this question
1  
I want to answer, but I feel it would be too similar to those below, and sound like a rehash. So let me just say this: if you want players to take skills, make them useful! There are many ways that you can integrate those knowledges into the campaign, I guarantee, you start throwing out knowledge checks(and relevant plot points where they are necessary) and they will be taking them next level. If you are running hack-and-slash, don't bother, it wont jive with the campaign, but if you are running epic, intrigue, or developmental, these checks can be integrated, just keep and eye out for it. :) – BBischof Sep 19 '10 at 8:20

2 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Knowledge (royalty) I'll give you. It's dumb and should get stuck into Kno(history) or (local) unless you are running an all courtly intrigue all the time game. But Knowledge (nature) is used for "monster ID" of animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, and vermin - it's one of the better ones! And Knowledge (local) has been invaluable in my games, especially city-based ones. (And it's used for humanoid ID.)

Knowledge skills should let you get an advantage if used right. If you are wandering around and find a cave with a scratched up tree outside it, Knowledge (nature) should tell you that's probably a bear's cave and since it's December it's probably hibernating. Of course this requires the PCs to not just happily run from random encounter to random encounter like they're grinding in WoW. Think "Man vs. Wild" or most of the other shows on those channels for this skill. There is overlap with Survival, but that skill is just tracking and eating and avoiding natural hazards and that's it. If it's plant or animal or whatnot it's Kno(nature).

Similarly, knowledge (local) tells you that guy in the bar flirting with the waitress is a local enforcer for a crime boss and he's killed guys a lot more skilled than you - so you probably don't want to mess with him. Or even that he has a weakness for dwarven stout, if you want to chat him up. Heck, this is the one skill most people in my game have, because they get sick of waking up in bathtubs full of ice in inn rooms with a note about how they need to get to the local temple since they're out of kidneys now.

share|improve this answer
4  
…they get sick of waking up in bathtubs full of ice in inn rooms with a note about how they need to get to the local temple since they're out of kidneys now. → That's evil and awesome. – SevenSidedDie Sep 18 '10 at 3:18
1  
And without knowledge(local) they can't find the right temple in time either! – mxyzplk♦ Sep 18 '10 at 17:01
Hey, don't underestimate Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty). Remember, it can be used to identify heraldry - and since full plate covers up pretty much everything, a shield may be the only way to tell if the knight charging towards you is friend or foe... – GMJoe Jan 24 '12 at 9:45
Yeah, and I've had that come up exactly zero times in my life... It can be good if you're running a chivalric type campaign but otherwise not, and it's a picky subset of history and local that should be subsumed. Knowledge (fungi) could come in useful once in a blue moon too but it is safely ensconced in Knowledge (nature), a more useful skill. – mxyzplk♦ Jan 24 '12 at 13:30
I'm entirely willing to accept that you've rarely found a use for the Knowledge(Nobility) skill - but you could have said that about all the knowledge skills, and it would have been equally plausible. Yes, you could fold it into other knowledge skills - but you could also make a convincing case that knowledge(local) should be rolled into Knowledge(geography), or that Knowledge(Arcana) and Knowledge(Religion) should be combined. Ultimately, how useful a given knowledge skill is depends on the style of the campaign and how much utility the GM wants those skills to have. – GMJoe Mar 5 '12 at 4:11
up vote 3 down vote

Players take the stuff that is useful for them. So if a skill has use it will get used.

I recommend taking a page from Gumshoes and building clues around those skills. If I have Knowledge (Royalty) and we're in the sewers beneath the city and I come to a strange glyph I should get a clue that might say "that is the private symbol of Prince Ralph the Pleasured, given the stories around him there is probably a secret way" follow that up with a bonus for finding it (or just give it) and players will quickly see the value.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.