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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
GM Core / Chapter 4: Subsystems / Research / Building a Research Challenge

Designing the Library

Source GM Core pg. 190 2.0
“Library” is the general term to designate the setting of the PCs' research. Despite the name, it doesn't necessarily consist of a quiet hall full of books. It could be an Astral memory palace, a gallery of iconographic artwork, or even a mansion where the party is questioning the guests. In many ways, designing a library is similar to designing any other dungeon, castle, or adventure locale, with various rooms or other areas, each with its own complications for the PCs to overcome. If your library is closer to a dungeon crawl on a tactical map, these are likely hazards or encounters with hostile creatures; if your library is meant to be meandered through more narratively, these might instead be skill-based or social encounters with NPCs.

Throughout the library, you'll place research checks. These describe the task that the party is doing to Research—perusing books, alchemically testing samples, or talking to a stubborn librarian—and a number of skills and DCs the party can use with the Research activity, in order from the lowest DC (the skill that works best) to the highest DC.

Research


Concentration Exploration
You comb through information to learn more about the topic at hand. Choose your research topic, section of the library, or other division depending on the form of research, and attempt a skill check. The skills to use and the DC for the check depend on the specific research task, and the Research activity gains any traits appropriate to the type of research (such as linguistic when perusing books).
Critical Success You gain 2 RP.
Success You gain 1 RP.
Critical Failure You make a false discovery and lose 1 RP.

If a skill isn't listed but a player provides a strong explanation for using it, you can add it at an appropriate DC (usually the highest listed DC). Academia Lore and Library Lore will often be listed in these entries, but also try to engage the whole party by varying the skills listed in each check; perhaps the books on aeromancy are all flying high overhead, requiring a round of Athletics checks to represent climbing up ladders to retrieve them. A variety of skills and decisions, along with vivid descriptions, are the key to an engaging and memorable research challenge, rather than just a string of die rolls by the investigator or wizard.

Each research check also has a maximum RP value. After reaching this value, the PCs can't gain any more RP from that research check (they don't gain more information by reading the same book over and over!) so they'll need to continue exploring to find more locations for further research. You can use this to guide your PCs through your library by placing research checks in various sections you know you want them to explore—an easy check near the entrance to introduce them to the topic is usually helpful as well! Be sure that your library provides enough RP for players to meet all the research thresholds in the stat block.