Knowledge (local)

[Greylock]

I'm of the school of thought that requiring seperate and specific schools/locales for Knowledge - Local makes the cost of the skill too high. Kinda like forcing a pc to have Use Rope - Hemp. Better yet, Knowledge Arcane - Divination or such. It's a skill, a general knack for an ability. Assume the pc is talking to farmboys and merchants every time he hits a new town.

 

[hero4hire]

I usually consider a character with Knowledge (Local) to be someone with a lot of street saavy, or good at hob-knobbing with people. If a character ends up being "stuck" in a new campaign area I allow him/her to trade in one rank per day of Knowledge (Local) while actively establishing new contacts, learning about local hotspots, etc...

 

[sfedi]

I don't split KL in several subskills.
That would make the skill weak.
I do make characters spend time to gain the full benefit of the skill if they move to a new region.

Besides that, I use it to anything that has to do with humanoids.
Typical tactics (the goblins that run away, will probably get reinforcements)
Signs of presence (that kind of art is Orc),
Social Customs (thievery among the Drow isn't seriously punished)
And lots of other useful stuff for social interactions
and for "Sensing Motive" over a Social Body (as opposed to a single individual)

 

[Nifft]

I replace it with Knowledge (streetwise), and it includes some practical knowledge about how to pick up the local customs quickly and painlessly. It isn't just knowing "where the weed at", it's knowing how to figure it out.

Wouldn't that fit better under "Gather Information"?

Me, I like Kn(Local) to be limited, but flavorful -- so if you're an expert on the City of Ivory Towers, that means you know all sorts of little details that even a Bardic Lore check would have trouble uncovering.

Maybe a social person would know that Mrs. Ballethwate makes the best cookies in town, and that she gets her secret ingredients from a river nixie named Red Roy who has a thing for tiny gold frog statues, while a more intellectual person would know that a certain house on Heathrak Lane was in the demon-worshipping Desoleil family for three generations, but was sold to the Carnifas family two years before the horror behind the Desoleil scandal came to light, and was thus not confiscated with the rest of the Desloeil property last year.

Anyway... that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

-- N

 

[frankthedm]

I assumed it was like "hearth wisdom " from vampire;dark ages. Things your momma told you when you were little and a hodgepodge of common information tidbits for a fantasy world.

 

[ThoughtfulOwl]

I subscribe to the Knowledge(Local) = streetwise camp; dividing the skill becomes overly costly. I reflect the (un)familiarity with a specific region with appropriate circumstance modifiers and by setting the basic difficulty.

For example, knowing where to find the thieves' guild or what is the local lore about the nearest dungeon would be really easy (DC 10) in your home town, but really tough (DC 30) in a city you barely heard about and are visiting for the first time. Newcomers will be better off asking directly to the locals with Gather Information, but they will eventually get more familiar with the place.

 

[Thanee]

That quote is about "Knowledge", not specifically "Knowledge (local)". I don't think that means that Knowledge (local) gives you knowledge of all humanoids everywhere.

But hey, if you can trick a DM into telling your character about a monster that comes from the other side of the world, good for you.

Heh. I certainly don't play it like that, but I'm quite certain, that it is meant to work like that, really (which I find kind of stupid, too, hence this thread).

Bye
Thanee

 

[isoChron]

In FR knowledge local is divided up into the various regions. So there is a knowledge local (Rashemen) and Knowledge local (Thay) ....
Knowledge local gives a +2 snergy bonus to Knowledge History, Knowledge Geographie and Knowledge Nobility for that region. (In the Forgotten Realms at least).

If you want to know about laws, habits, feasts and the way of trading (to haggle about the price of a vase or not ), then it's important to have Knowledge Local (region).
What kind of guys are to be avoided, things you better don't say in a pub full of rashemi berserker,......

 

[Klaus]

Knowledge (local) is the kind of knowledge you get from, say, a travel guide... Stuff people eat, how to dress as a local, best bargains in town, where to find the bohemian neighboorhood. It is very loose, and much more social-interaction-oriented than, say, Knowledge (history) or (geography).

As for humanoids, it should be something like "Beyond them Gloom Woods there be goblins about! Tricky little bastards, very handy with knives. But the REAL threat? Them bugbears. Those buggers can sneak up on you and snap you in half before you know they were there".

If you want to simulate the "never been there before" feel, simply increase the Knowledge DC for regions a character has never spent at least a month in.

 

[Thanee]

But that knowledge is usually gained automatically, or not? I mean, without the skill.

Or do you require a character to have Knowledge (local) to find out such basic information?

Bye
Thanee