Monster Knowledge Check - Which Skill?

[Nichwee]

Basically I am confused on which skill will tell me the MKC information on some creatures.

The easiest example of my problem comes from Skeletons.
They are listed in MM1 as Medium Natural Animate(undead).

Now does this mean they can be covered under Nature (as they have the natural origin) or just Religion (as they have the undead keyword) or both?

Not a huge issue but as I have a Nature heavy character I was suddenly wondering if he would need Religion to do MKC on these or if his Nature Skill would do?

Similar issue arrise with a Bodak that is a Medium Shadow Humanoid(undead) and the Colossus - Immortal Animate(construct) - as Immortal origin comes under Religion and construct keyword under Arcana.

 

[Shin Okada]

Both of the skills can be used.

Against a Natural Animated (Undead), you can use both Nature and Religion.

Same can be said for other critters which can be identified by multiple skills.

 

[Nichwee]

Thanks. That was what I thought by RAW but it seemed a bit odd that my Wizard trained in Nature could know stuff about a Death Knight despite it being a basic human, say, other than its undead-ness which he doesn't have Religion for.

Bodes well for his Lorekeeper ED though, as he is trained in Arcana,Nature and Dungeoneering - he will get his bonuses vs "creature whose origin is in the perview of one of you trained skills" on anything non-immortal = 99% of things

 

[Amaroq]

The RAW for each of the skill checks indicates exactly what type of creature you can use the skill check to gain Monster Knowledge for.

Some creatures may fall under two types.

Personally, in my game world, "undead" precludes "natural", so Nature checks give you only a sense of just how unnatural this creature is, maybe a description of the death-blows it took ... basically "look, ma, its undead, make a Religion check" only with a lot more flavor.