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<blockquote data-quote="Ibrandul" data-source="post: 8739730" data-attributes="member: 6871736">
<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">A party of five 16th-level characters hears a cultist raving about Tharizdun. The players have not heard of Tharizdun during play in this campaign. The party is in the Free City of Greyhawk, and none of them has ever left Greyspace. Tharizdun is a Greyhawk deity but not a widely known one among the population. I call for everyone to roll a DC 20 Int (Rel) check.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">The same thing happens, but the party is in Neverwinter, and none of them has ever traveled outside of Realmspace. Tharizdun has tried to gain power in Realmspace recently, but the deity is very little known there. The DC is 25.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">The same thing happens, but the party is in the Mournland and has never left Eberron. Eberron is metaphysically cordoned off from the rest of the multiverse (though not in an absolutely impenetrable way), and it is extremely strange that Tharizdun's name should be spoken there. But do any of the PCs know how strange this is? The DC is 30.</li>
</ol>Those are all knowledge-based examples, of course, but I wanted to give a very specific sense of what world-building purpose is served by such checks.More generally, I have players ask all the time to do things that are really difficult, whether they know it or not.<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">&quot;Can I nonmagically calm this wild catoblepas that hasn't noticed me and convince it we are no threat?&quot; &quot;Maybe. Roll Wis (Animal Handling).&quot; Wild catoblepases are naturally aggressive and prone to attacking adventurers on sight, but they can be domesticated. The DC is 20.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Same thing, but the PC doesn't know that she has inadvertently positioned herself between the catoblepas and its baby. DC 25.</li>
</ol></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ibrandul, post: 8739730, member: 6871736"] [LIST=1] [*]A party of five 16th-level characters hears a cultist raving about Tharizdun. The players have not heard of Tharizdun during play in this campaign. The party is in the Free City of Greyhawk, and none of them has ever left Greyspace. Tharizdun is a Greyhawk deity but not a widely known one among the population. I call for everyone to roll a DC 20 Int (Rel) check. [*]The same thing happens, but the party is in Neverwinter, and none of them has ever traveled outside of Realmspace. Tharizdun has tried to gain power in Realmspace recently, but the deity is very little known there. The DC is 25. [*]The same thing happens, but the party is in the Mournland and has never left Eberron. Eberron is metaphysically cordoned off from the rest of the multiverse (though not in an absolutely impenetrable way), and it is extremely strange that Tharizdun's name should be spoken there. But do any of the PCs know how strange this is? The DC is 30. [/LIST] Those are all knowledge-based examples, of course, but I wanted to give a very specific sense of what world-building purpose is served by such checks. More generally, I have players ask all the time to do things that are really difficult, whether they know it or not. [LIST=1] [*]"Can I nonmagically calm this wild catoblepas that hasn't noticed me and convince it we are no threat?" "Maybe. Roll Wis (Animal Handling)." Wild catoblepases are naturally aggressive and prone to attacking adventurers on sight, but they can be domesticated. The DC is 20. [*]Same thing, but the PC doesn't know that she has inadvertently positioned herself between the catoblepas and its baby. DC 25. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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