tylermalan said:
What exactly is Knowledge (Local) supposed to represent?
I think it was originally intended to be specialized, such as Knowledge(Silver Marches) or Knowledge(Thay).
But many groups just treat it as one single skill that covers anything about civilized places, particularly towns.
In our games we treat it as separate skills, and we allow different degrees of "narrowness" (e.g. you could select a region or only a town).
In any case it covers questions like:
- people in charge, authorities, and groups of power
- local laws
- people living in the area ("Where can I find an alchemist?")
- local places and sights ("Where's the nearest entrance to the sewers?")
- customs, events
- the history of the region
- local flora and fauna
In a certain way, you can allow the local knowledge of a certain area to cover most (if not all) the other knowledge, but with the obvious restriction that only answers questions to the specific area.
For example, Knowledge(Amn) can answer questions such as:
"What are the religions practiced in Amn, who are the leaders, and where are the temples?" (Religion)
"What is the history of Amn?" (History)
"What plants can I find or harvest around Amn?" (Nature)
etc.