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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GMMichael" data-source="post: 6552185" data-attributes="member: 6685730">Am I hearing an implicit "Do I know anything about a skeleton that hovers, but doesn't otherwise move?" from the player?  Who then immediately assumes that a roll is required to know anything at all?That could easily be either GM or player error, but going by Thread Title, I'm going to assume it's the system's fault.  If that's the case, it doesn't sound much like a roleplaying game.I play it like this:It's hard to say that I prefer this type of gaming over something more game-driven, because the player's side is ONLY game-driven.  The GM's side, I suppose, is drama-driven, since he's basically ignoring the player's rolls in favor of making the encounter scarier.  I'm sure there's a compromise in there, to the effect of narrating the character's thoughts (the checks of understanding) as more clues are revealed about what the thing is as is gets closer."A swastika?  This man worships the Brahman?"Sorry.  I missed my knowledge check by 2.  But I think your example helps to illustrate a problem with knowledge checks.  A character, trying to figure out what he knows about something, is going to have a list of possibilities (if his intelligence is high enough.  If it's low, he'll just feel dumb.)  And as he gets more information, that list will dwindle.  Whether the correct knowledge is in that list depends on exactly what the character knows.  This last thing shouldn't be up to a knowledge check - it should be up to the GM and the player.  The knowledge check should, in most cases, be a last-ditch roll for when the GM says to himself, "wow, I just have no clue if the character would know about this."Should the PC get another knowledge check to, say, identify a floating skeleton, if he failed an earlier check?  Well, if he made the earlier check, the GM has already said "I just have no clue, so let's make one roll to end the subject."</blockquote>

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