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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Werdnam" data-source="post: 218998" data-attributes="member: 2357">I was recently thinking of making a house rule for a new use of either Spellcraft or Knowledge(Arcana) to allow for the possibility of getting info about a magic item without needing to cast Identify.  So I was reading up on Spellcraft, and here's some of the things it can do, from the SRD:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When using read magic, identify a glyph of warding.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Identify a spell being cast. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Prepare a spell from a borrowed spellbook.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When casting detect magic, determine the school of magic involved in the aura of a single item or creature the character can see. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When using read magic, identify a symbol.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Identify a spell that's already in place and in ffect. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Identify materials created or shaped by magic, such as noting that an iron wall is the result of a wall of iron spell. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Decipher a written spell (such as a scroll) without using read magic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Draw a diagram to augment casting dimensional anchor on a summoned creature. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Understand a strange or unique magical effect, such as the effects of a magic stream. </li> </ul>All right, all well and good, and this seems to imply that Spellcraft would be the right skill for my idea.  In fact, this list makes me feel as if every time I would consider someone making a Knowledge(Arcana) check, I would also feel as if Spellcraft would cover it.So, can anyone give any examples of times when one of these two skills would be appropriate, but the other would not?  Right now, it seems to me as one of the two should simply not exist -- they seem redundant to me.</blockquote>

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