[FRCS:Harper Scout] Favored Enemy Skill Bonuses

[Harold as a Verb]

From the FRCS:

"Favored Enemy: A Harper Scout selects a favored enemy from the following lists of evil organisations that oppose the Harpers' goals: ...<snipped for brevity> ... the Zhentarim. This ability works exactly like the favored enemy ability of the ranger class."

From the PHB:

"[Ranger] Favored Enemy: ... gains a +1 bonus to Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Wilderness Lore checks when using these skills against this type of creature."

The Question:

Does a Harper Scout with (e.g.) Favored Enemy: the Zhentarim retain the skill bonuses against a member of that organisation if the Harper Scout is unaware that the person is affiliated so?

EDIT: Have to learn to spell in American.

 

[Maitre Du Donjon]

Welcome to the boards, Harold!

My take on it would be... it depends.

On most occasions, i'd say the harper keeps his bonuses. Why? Because he's been trained that way. His way of life revolves around opposing and thwarting these evil organisations, so he acts accordingly, even if he doesnt know if the person he is dealing with is a member of such an organization.

In other words, the harper is specially trained to spot (not the skill, in general) Zhentarim (e.g.) traits, and reacting to them has become second nature to him.

Of course, the DM should keep track of the bonuses. The player shouldnt get a free identification of a person.

This, of course, is all IMO.

Maybe the fact has adressed this (maybe not the FRCS faq, but the ranger faq...)

Maitre D

 

[Vurt]

Yes. The Harper Scout doesn't need to know that the creatures in question belong to the organization. Otherwise some of the skills might end up being less than useful, for example the Scout should logically get the bonus when making an opposed sense motive/bluff check to determine whether someone is indeed a Zhent and is lying about their affiliation.

If the character in question isn't aware of the affiliation, the DM should simply apply the modifiers themselves to the adjusted roll.

In flavour terms, these folks simply have habits that the Scout has a better time picking up on and taking advantage of, immaterial of whether or not the Scout is aware of the fact.

Cheers,
Vurt

 

[Harold as a Verb]

Much obliged.

My first instinct was "yes", then after thinking about it I had the uncomfortable feeling that that might not make perfect sense, mechanically, so I hunted around the FAQs and so forth for evidence to reinforce my misgivings ... and didn't find any.

So thanks for putting me out of my misery.

I shall now resume lurking ...