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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7461830" data-attributes="member: 20323">&quot;Knowledge checks&quot; are a nebulous area of the game that DMs handle in a variety of ways. IME players often lean on them as a crutch to passively gain as much info as possible with minimal investment. It's up to the DM to help guide players away from that habit.In this case, I would have the dwarven merchant mention glimpsing a fearsome creature that reminded him a bit of the guttar (cave oxen) his brother used for an Underdark prospecting venture. Then, when a player says &quot;I want to make a Nature check to learn more about this mystery monster&quot;, I'd respond with &quot;ok, where/how/from whom did your PC pick up his/her knowledge of beasts?&quot; or possibly &quot;are you examining a particular part of the scene or trying to recall something specific?&quot;If it really was essential that I not give away &quot;auroch&quot; (and to me that doesn't seem like a big deal to just let the players know – but I don't know your whole story), I'd probably mention cloven hoof tracks of a very large four-legged animal. Then have fun seeding false rumors (e.g. a gorgon!) that the PCs can rule out with some investigative footwork.While I often use detect magic in homebrew ways (e.g. to detect &quot;elven magic&quot;), RAW is that detect magic determines which <a href="https://open5e.com/spellcasting/schools-of-magic.html" target="_blank">school of magic</a> is in effect on a creature or object. The link describes each school of magic.Magical auras, in my game, appear as a faint shimmering in the air around something... with coloration according to origin. For example fiendish magic is red, black light, or shadowy flame; whereas fey magic is verdant or like moon through the leaves; and &quot;general&quot; arcane magic is vaguely bluish to violet.I describe the school as a felt sense the caster receives. So, an abjuration spell on a chest might feel like hairs rising on the back of one's neck, a hypervigilance, and a feeling of compression over the chest. I also flat-out say &quot;abjuration magic&quot; when relaying this.&nbsp;Is it critical for the adventure to progress that the players learn that one side had zombies? If &quot;yes&quot;, then simply tell them in your initial scene description OR when a player first shows interest in examining a corpse (no roll necessary). If &quot;no&quot;, you might tie that deduction (i.e. &quot;hey, these corpses look too old and are all desiccated and warped&quot;) to an Investigation or Medicine check (used forensically).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7461830, member: 20323"] "Knowledge checks" are a nebulous area of the game that DMs handle in a variety of ways. IME players often lean on them as a crutch to passively gain as much info as possible with minimal investment. It's up to the DM to help guide players away from that habit. In this case, I would have the dwarven merchant mention glimpsing a fearsome creature that reminded him a bit of the guttar (cave oxen) his brother used for an Underdark prospecting venture. Then, when a player says "I want to make a Nature check to learn more about this mystery monster", I'd respond with "ok, where/how/from whom did your PC pick up his/her knowledge of beasts?" or possibly "are you examining a particular part of the scene or trying to recall something specific?" If it really was essential that I not give away "auroch" (and to me that doesn't seem like a big deal to just let the players know – but I don't know your whole story), I'd probably mention cloven hoof tracks of a very large four-legged animal. Then have fun seeding false rumors (e.g. a gorgon!) that the PCs can rule out with some investigative footwork. While I often use [I]detect magic[/I] in homebrew ways (e.g. to detect "elven magic"), RAW is that [I]detect magic[/I] determines which [url=https://open5e.com/spellcasting/schools-of-magic.html]school of magic[/url] is in effect on a creature or object. The link describes each school of magic. Magical auras, in my game, appear as a faint shimmering in the air around something... with coloration according to origin. For example fiendish magic is red, black light, or shadowy flame; whereas fey magic is verdant or like moon through the leaves; and "general" arcane magic is vaguely bluish to violet. I describe the school as a felt sense the caster receives. So, an abjuration spell on a chest might feel like hairs rising on the back of one's neck, a hypervigilance, and a feeling of compression over the chest. I also flat-out say "abjuration magic" when relaying this. Is it critical for the adventure to progress that the players learn that one side had zombies? If "yes", then simply tell them in your initial scene description OR when a player first shows interest in examining a corpse (no roll necessary). If "no", you might tie that deduction (i.e. "hey, these corpses look too old and are all desiccated and warped") to an Investigation or Medicine check (used forensically). [/QUOTE]

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