Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
Okay, so this is one of the class skills listed for the alchemist but I can find no mention of in either of the two other books. Am I overlooking it, or is this a typo?
City of Brass: Knowledge (Physical Universe) - wtf?
- Thread starter Angel Tarragon
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ivocaliban
Explorer
I imagine it's simply the reverse of Knowledge: The Planes. Just as characters on the material planes must learn Knowledge: The Planes, so a planar native must use Knowledge: Physical Universe to understand the material plane. The only problem I see with this is that it becomes a Knowledge skill that can take the place of so many others.
For instance, a human mage native to Keoland on Oerth might learn Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Geography, Knowledge: History and Knowledge: Local just to have a decent understanding of his homeland, but he only needs to learn Knowledge: The Planes to know the same kind of information about the Elemental Plane of Fire.
So, if this mage ends up living in the Elemental Plane of Fire does he need to take Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Geography, etc. etc...or simply keep increasing Knowledge: Tha Planes? This same thing comes up when you have to decide if Knowledge: Dungeoneering is all a drow ranger needs to take to know everything about the caves and creatures of the underdark. Or does Knowledge: Dungeoneering become Knowledge: Surface World or something to that effect for natives of the underdark?
I would probably decide that skills like Knowledge: The Planes (or, conversely Knowledge: Physical Universe for a planar native) are general information only. You know a broad base of knowledge about the planes or a particular plane, but you wouldn't necessarily know about extremely rare flora or fauna, for example.
Basically, Knowledge: The Planes (as well as Knowledge: Dungeoneering or Knowledge: Physical Universe) are for those who would "like to visit, but wouldn't want to live there." I think of it as the difference between someone who visits New York City now and again for work and play and someone who's lived their all their lives.
Anyway, these kinds of complications might be the reason the skill was removed from the product (if indeed it was removed). It could have raised levels of complication that the writers didn't want to (or didn't have room to) deal with. Or it could have just been assumed that it works as a reverse of Knowledge: The Planes. Of course, you could just say that Knowledge: The Planes refers to all planes other than your native plane, in which case Knowledge: Physical Universe is entirely unnecessary.
Sorry for all the guesswork here. Just putting forth a possible explanation.
For instance, a human mage native to Keoland on Oerth might learn Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Geography, Knowledge: History and Knowledge: Local just to have a decent understanding of his homeland, but he only needs to learn Knowledge: The Planes to know the same kind of information about the Elemental Plane of Fire.
So, if this mage ends up living in the Elemental Plane of Fire does he need to take Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Geography, etc. etc...or simply keep increasing Knowledge: Tha Planes? This same thing comes up when you have to decide if Knowledge: Dungeoneering is all a drow ranger needs to take to know everything about the caves and creatures of the underdark. Or does Knowledge: Dungeoneering become Knowledge: Surface World or something to that effect for natives of the underdark?
I would probably decide that skills like Knowledge: The Planes (or, conversely Knowledge: Physical Universe for a planar native) are general information only. You know a broad base of knowledge about the planes or a particular plane, but you wouldn't necessarily know about extremely rare flora or fauna, for example.
Basically, Knowledge: The Planes (as well as Knowledge: Dungeoneering or Knowledge: Physical Universe) are for those who would "like to visit, but wouldn't want to live there." I think of it as the difference between someone who visits New York City now and again for work and play and someone who's lived their all their lives.
Anyway, these kinds of complications might be the reason the skill was removed from the product (if indeed it was removed). It could have raised levels of complication that the writers didn't want to (or didn't have room to) deal with. Or it could have just been assumed that it works as a reverse of Knowledge: The Planes. Of course, you could just say that Knowledge: The Planes refers to all planes other than your native plane, in which case Knowledge: Physical Universe is entirely unnecessary.
Sorry for all the guesswork here. Just putting forth a possible explanation.
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bowbe
First Post
Sorry for any confusion and an over amount of consternation on your part brother Frutkathka.
Allow me to quote a bit from the PHB 3.5 (and hopefully not come off as a smart arse in the process).
"Below are listed typical fields of study. With your DM's approval, you can invent new areas of knowledge."
1st. Assume now that we (meaning Necro, or even game designers/developers in general) take such invitations to heart, and feel that there is no more need of explanation than is offered by the august authors of the 3.5 PHB when inventing a general Knowledge ability.
2nd. There are no (zero) knowledge core areas that cover pure physical science in the 9th-10th grade high school sense. You dont find, for example, Astronomy, Botony, Geology, or anything loosely related to the actual physical sciences anywhere in that fabulous list of knowledge abilities? Why? Likely an oversight on the part of the 3.5 authors who were very geeked and very tuned to writing about FANTASTIC fantasy role play adventure on authoring their tome.
3rd. I think we can agree that an alchemist would need knowledge of these basic sciences in order to generate acids, bases, compounds ect. ect. All of which can be generated with basic science knowledge rather than arcane lore. Thus it is most likely our authors saw a need, and filled it with a basic and non-descriptive "physical univese" skill.
The alchemist as featured had its origin in the Players Guide to the Wilderlands (as noted in the credits page). Scott, Clark and I liked it. I think Scott and Clark wrote it (that or Pat Lawinger) so it went into the CoB as arabian folklore has its share of alchemists and seers.
Answer: Just assume its general knowledge of physical and generic sciences as anyone would pick up in 8-10th grade science tests in middle and high school and your golden. Sorry for the confusion. I guess we thought it was self explanatory as a knowledge skill.
Hope that helps.
Case
Allow me to quote a bit from the PHB 3.5 (and hopefully not come off as a smart arse in the process).
"Below are listed typical fields of study. With your DM's approval, you can invent new areas of knowledge."
1st. Assume now that we (meaning Necro, or even game designers/developers in general) take such invitations to heart, and feel that there is no more need of explanation than is offered by the august authors of the 3.5 PHB when inventing a general Knowledge ability.
2nd. There are no (zero) knowledge core areas that cover pure physical science in the 9th-10th grade high school sense. You dont find, for example, Astronomy, Botony, Geology, or anything loosely related to the actual physical sciences anywhere in that fabulous list of knowledge abilities? Why? Likely an oversight on the part of the 3.5 authors who were very geeked and very tuned to writing about FANTASTIC fantasy role play adventure on authoring their tome.
3rd. I think we can agree that an alchemist would need knowledge of these basic sciences in order to generate acids, bases, compounds ect. ect. All of which can be generated with basic science knowledge rather than arcane lore. Thus it is most likely our authors saw a need, and filled it with a basic and non-descriptive "physical univese" skill.
The alchemist as featured had its origin in the Players Guide to the Wilderlands (as noted in the credits page). Scott, Clark and I liked it. I think Scott and Clark wrote it (that or Pat Lawinger) so it went into the CoB as arabian folklore has its share of alchemists and seers.
Answer: Just assume its general knowledge of physical and generic sciences as anyone would pick up in 8-10th grade science tests in middle and high school and your golden. Sorry for the confusion. I guess we thought it was self explanatory as a knowledge skill.
Hope that helps.
Case
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ivocaliban
Explorer
Gosh. You would have thought I'd know all of that considering I have the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands three feet away from me.
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Nifft
Penguin Herder
You know, I could have sworn that Astronomy used to be described under Knowledge (religion), but the SRD isn't backing me up. I wonder if I made that up.bowbe said:
Botany could easily fall under Kn (nature) given its explicit attendance to plants.
Kn (geography) describes several things that could be taken to mean Geology... but that's not obvious.
Cheers, -- N
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