Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Million Dollar TTRPG Crowdfunders
Most Anticipated Tabletop RPGs Of The Year
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Knowledge (Warfare) - Discussion?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6705814" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>It's probably going to work, and has no real balance issues, but IMHO that +1 modifier is quite boring and fiddly.</p><p></p><p>Previously in some 3e campaigns we have used a skill which we called Knowledge(Battle), that wasn't specifically referring to <em>wars</em> (i.e. large-scales battles, which are typically rare in normal RPGs) and as such was applicable also to PC-scale combat. </p><p></p><p>It was quite similar to what you have in mind, but instead of a flat bonus, it was instead used to get one tactical clue, such as:</p><p></p><p>- what could be the most advantageous position for fighting in this locale</p><p>- what tactic are the enemies using or about to use</p><p>- is there something in the environment that we could use to our advantage</p><p>- what is the safest route for withdrawing</p><p>- who is leader/commander of the enemies army</p><p>- what could be the weak spot of the enemies army</p><p></p><p>The player can come up with more questions freely. Sometimes the players can just figure out these kind of things without a check (in fact, having this skill in the game shouldn't make it mandatory!) but often they are just guessing... so a PC with the Knowledge(Battle) skill is entitled to make a check and -if successful- receive an answer to these sort of question from the DM. The DC is as usual up to the DM, depending on the question and the circumstances.</p><p></p><p>I don't remember for sure, but I think we actually required the use of a standard action to make each check, as if the PC is giving up her attacks in order to focus and assess the situation, which is the same as you plan to use. If it turns out to be too costly, you can consider allowing this as a move-equivalent-action, but in general I think it's better not to make it free.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6705814, member: 1465"] It's probably going to work, and has no real balance issues, but IMHO that +1 modifier is quite boring and fiddly. Previously in some 3e campaigns we have used a skill which we called Knowledge(Battle), that wasn't specifically referring to [I]wars[/I] (i.e. large-scales battles, which are typically rare in normal RPGs) and as such was applicable also to PC-scale combat. It was quite similar to what you have in mind, but instead of a flat bonus, it was instead used to get one tactical clue, such as: - what could be the most advantageous position for fighting in this locale - what tactic are the enemies using or about to use - is there something in the environment that we could use to our advantage - what is the safest route for withdrawing - who is leader/commander of the enemies army - what could be the weak spot of the enemies army The player can come up with more questions freely. Sometimes the players can just figure out these kind of things without a check (in fact, having this skill in the game shouldn't make it mandatory!) but often they are just guessing... so a PC with the Knowledge(Battle) skill is entitled to make a check and -if successful- receive an answer to these sort of question from the DM. The DC is as usual up to the DM, depending on the question and the circumstances. I don't remember for sure, but I think we actually required the use of a standard action to make each check, as if the PC is giving up her attacks in order to focus and assess the situation, which is the same as you plan to use. If it turns out to be too costly, you can consider allowing this as a move-equivalent-action, but in general I think it's better not to make it free. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Knowledge (Warfare) - Discussion?
Top