Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide


Chapter 1: Running the Game / Difficulty Classes / Specific Actions

Recall Knowledge

Source GM Core pg. 54
On most topics, you can use simple DCs for checks to Recall Knowledge. For a check about a specific creature, trap, or other subject with a level, use a level-based DC (adjusting for rarity as needed). You might adjust the difficulty down, maybe even drastically, if the subject is especially notorious or famed. Knowing simple tales about an infamous dragon’s exploits, for example, might be incredibly easy for the dragon’s level, or even just a simple trained DC.

Alternative Skills

Source GM Core pg. 54
As noted in the action’s description, a character might attempt to Recall Knowledge using a different skill than the ones listed as the default options. If the skill is highly applicable, like using Medicine to identify a medicinal tonic, you probably don’t need to adjust the DC. If its relevance is a stretch, adjust the DC upward as described in Adjusting Difficulty.

Additional Knowledge

Source GM Core pg. 54
Sometimes a character might want to follow up on a check to Recall Knowledge, rolling another check to discover more information. After a success, further uses of Recall Knowledge can yield more information, but you should adjust the difficulty to be higher for each attempt. Once a character has attempted an incredibly hard check or failed a check, further attempts are fruitless—the character has recalled everything they know about the subject.

Creature Identification

Source GM Core pg. 54
A character who successfully identifies a creature learns one of its best-known attributes—such as a hydra's head regrowth (and the fact that it can be stopped by acid or fire) or a manticore's tail spikes. On a critical success, the character also learns something subtler, like a weakness that's not obvious or the trigger for one of the creature's reactions.

The skill used to identify a creature usually depends on that creature's trait, as shown on the Creature Identification Skills table, but you have leeway on which skills apply. For instance, hags are humanoids but have a strong connection to occult spells and live outside society, so you might allow a character to use Occultism to identify them without any DC adjustment and make using Society harder. Lore skills can also be used to identify a specific creature. Using the applicable Lore usually has an easy or very easy DC (before adjusting for rarity).

Creature Identification Skills

Creature TraitSkills
AberrationOccultism
AnimalNature
AstralOccultism
BeastArcana, Nature
CelestialReligion
ConstructArcana, Crafting
DragonArcana
DreamOccultism
ElementalArcana, Nature
EtherealOccultism
FeyNature
FiendReligion
FungusNature
HumanoidSociety
MonitorReligion
OozeOccultism
PlantNature
ShadeReligion
SpiritOccultism
TimeOccultism
UndeadReligion