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Message: <blockquote data-quote="haakon1" data-source="post: 6113981" data-attributes="member: 25619">Ah, I overlooked that.  It's actually BOTH skills.  The Local rule seems pretty good, but the History one seems more from the "filler not killer" era of 3.5e rules.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />   I'll quote it all:<<History: With a  successful DC15 Knowledge (history) check, you know the basics of how a particular army organizes itself.  For example, a successful check reveals that bugbears include a shaman for every 20-soldier platoon, or that elf generals often ride with the cavalry.  If you're standing on or near a historic battlefield, you can recall the details of the battle fought there with a DC20 Knowledge (history) check.  You know for example that the dwarves of the Brass Hills defeated the orc hordes by starting an avalanche on the hills to your left, and that most of the surviving orcs retreated into the lava tubes somewhere ahead."Local:  A DC10 Knowledge (local) check is sufficient to identify a military unit or noble's family by its heraldry, if the unit or the family hails from the local area.  A Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check is required to identify the (sic) heraldry from far-off lands.Nobility and Royalty: A Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check tells you something about the heraldry of far-off lands.  A DC25 check tells you what part of the world (down to a province or city) a heraldic design comes from.  A DC30 check tells you the name of the military unit or family.>>To me, that stuff seems a bit like "parlor tricks".To use a real world example, that I can identify the US 2nd Infantry Division by its heraldry is "interesting", but that I could look at a squad from that unit and tell that they are equipped as scouts, so that they might on a long-range patrol or a spearhead for a larger force, that's much more interesting and requires more than Knowledge (Local) or Knowledge (History) -- the latter is a skill I actually have -- I could also tell you the Indianhead division has been based in Korea since the 1950's -- but not being a veteran or analyst, I couldn't tell regular infantry from scouts.  That's I mean by Military Intelligence -- not just familiarity with symbols, but familiarity with and ability to interpret military behavior.To give examples of how I used the Military Intelligence skill, we've done things like:-- The player wondering about the hobgoblins wearing the Baron of the land they are travelling in's uniform, so he can "estimate" if they might really be mercenaries working for the Baron, or if that's unlikely (which was the case) due to who is recruited and who else in the area has used hobgoblins.-- Encountering allied forces and identifying their nationality by their heraldry.  Not the specific unit by heraldry, as it was the national army.  But type and purpose of unit from its gear, nationality from heraldry.-- Encountering friendly forces and estimating their quality and training.-- Encountering friendly forces and estimate their numbers and intent (siege train with them, not just regular baggage).</blockquote>

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