Knowledge (Local) for humanoids

[DreadArchon]

I give my players bonus points to spend on Knowledge skills, and they still don't take it.

Still, it's an important skill! The DC for a commoner to figure out what his own race is able to eat is 11, which means that most commoners don't know how to feed themselves without metagaming (you can't roll Knowledge untrained unless the DC is 10 or less). As a result, people in the community with Knowledge Local hold incredible power. Don't forget that.

 

[XCorvis]

Knowledge (local) isn't keyed to a particular locality. If your character is from Bissel, he can still try a knowledge (local) check to see if he knows anything about the Mayor of Verbobonc, or the particulars of a Bakluni holiday, or the laws that apply while visiting the Theocracy of the Pale, etc.

Once I figured this out, I frequently take it. I had been assuming it was "knowledge (particular region)" for the longest time. It's far too useful not to have. It really should be named something else, like knowledge (culture) or (humanoids).

Where is X location in the city? Who is in charge of Y (non-noble)? What is the accepted procedure for doing Z?

I would say that the first example is actually a Gather Info skill check. Knowledge (local) could only tell you where the location probably is, i.e. a fence might be in the bad part of town, so that's where you might start looking. Gather Info tells you that Bobby the Fence is on 5th street near the burned out warehouse.

I guess the second might be OK for Knowledge (local), but I think it would be easier as Gather Info unless person Y is really famous.

 

[XCorvis]

Still, it's an important skill! The DC for a commoner to figure out what his own race is able to eat is 11, which means that most commoners don't know how to feed themselves without metagaming (you can't roll Knowledge untrained unless the DC is 10 or less). As a result, people in the community with Knowledge Local hold incredible power. Don't forget that.

First, where did you find that particular DC?
Second, I think it's safe to allow for a circumstance bonus for your own race.
Third, on the other hand, I know lots of folks that don't know basic things like what to eat, how to wash themselves or clean up after themselves, so maybe it's not that far off...

 

[seans23]

Still, it's an important skill! The DC for a commoner to figure out what his own race is able to eat is 11, which means that most commoners don't know how to feed themselves without metagaming (you can't roll Knowledge untrained unless the DC is 10 or less). As a result, people in the community with Knowledge Local hold incredible power. Don't forget that.

Experts and Aristocrats can have knowledge(local)... and sure enough they'll have significant power in a town.

 

[Nail]

So pretty much anywhere your party goes, Knowledge: Local will tell you about the legends of that area, the prominent personalities that inhabit it, the laws that cover it, the customs of that place, the traditions of that place and the people in it, and the humanoids that inhabit it.

So, if you were to go to a new place, Knowledge (local) would tell you about it?

If you were to "cross the sea", and "visit a foreign land", would Knowledge (local) be your source for info?

....something to keep in mind, anyway.

 

[Tonguez]

So, if you were to go to a new place, Knowledge (local) would tell you about it?

If you were to "cross the sea", and "visit a foreign land", would Knowledge (local) be your source for info?

Yes

when Marco Polo went to China he was using knowledge local to pick up on some of the local legends, personalities, inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, humanoids - he may have failed a lot of his rolls but the skill was still useful...

 

[DreadArchon]

I got the DC 11 from 10 + hit dice on the lowest available hit dice. (In my campaign it's 5 + hit dice, because I thought that commoners would probably recognize Goblins and Ogres and Zombies and such, but never mind that.)

On a more serious note, I typically think of Know (Local) as the material plane equivalent of Know (Planes), so barring planar travel I'd say it applies everywhere.

I mean, you apply the same Knowledge skill to the entire plane of Celestia and everything in it as you do to all of the infinite layers of the Abyss and everything in them, why would putting three different England-sized countries under Know (Local) be unreasonable?

 

[moritheil]

I give my players bonus points to spend on Knowledge skills, and they still don't take it.

I give my players ambushes in the middle of the night. You might say it's the stick rather than the carrot.

 

[seans23]

On a more serious note, I typically think of Know (Local) as the material plane equivalent of Know (Planes), so barring planar travel I'd say it applies everywhere.

I'd probably allow Knowledge (Local) on other planes, too... who's in charge of Sigil? What's the most popular drink in the City of Brass? (Firewater! ouch!)

 

[Whimsical]

One of my DMs has a richly detailed campaign world with well-realized NPCs and organizations, distinctive cultures, and a many-layered history. He is also a prankster at heart and loves secrets. Which means that socially interacting in his world is a series of social traps that are set to have us stumble into trouble, upset NPCs, or at least have us humliate ourselves. I ran a social bard/rogue in his game and I used my maxed out Know(local) check constantly. I was always checking to identify who we were talking with, their reputation, how certain acts are regarded culturally or legaly, checking for loopholes in deals that we were about to arrange, other NPCs we would upset if we went along our course of action, significant hollidays of the year for this culture (and what happens if we don't participate,) likey buyers and sellers of certain items (which grants a bonus to my diplomacy check when making a deal, or allows us to make a deal in the first place,) recent history within the last few years or even months. This is information that would not normally be volunteered by the DM. Generally we were treated like mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed bull[biscuits]. Every time I happen to ask the right question and make the know(local) check, I was able to scoop off some of those bull biscuts off of the party. Although with all of my efforts I know that I have been somewhat helpful, the nature of the DM's game is that we still get surprised by social *gotchas!* and in general I felt like we were that car in the car commercial that is just spinning around in circles through an icy parking lot. We were power that we were not able to engage. What's our AC vs. cutting remark? What's our save vs. backhanded insult? There was a certain point where his game was so soulcrushing that I quit.

Although this DM does what he does to a frustrating degree, in moderation it is a good way to make the local knowledge skill relevant and valuable in a game. Don't just give away facts, have the PCs dig it out of their own head. Set social situations up so that the obvious way to deal with it is not the right way. Have an NPC that likes to work loopholes in deals they make with the party. Or an NPC that is very difficult to deal with, but with a little known reason why, and an even littler known way of placating him. Set up situations where the PCs could accidently break a social taboo. And then set it up so that knowledgable PCs could evade it.