Spellcraft: less useful for rare spells?

[taliesin15]

I'm wondering if the Spellcraft skill wouldn't be less useful for rarer spells. Right, so maybe Magic Missile, Fireball, Summon Monster, etc., more common spells can be more easily identified. What about campaigns that allow spellcasters to create their own original spells? Wouldn't this make using this skill difficult?

 

[Crothian]

You'd think that one would have needed to see or study the spell to recognize it, but that'sa not the way it works.

 

[taliesin15]

Crothian, YES, exactly! It seems like there's two ways one would learn say what the verbal components are, one is by seeing the spell cast, the other is by having some *direct* knowledge of spell technology. Unless, say, maybe its sorceror magic or something like that where it involves the manipulation of inner arcane energies, presumably the Spellcraft user would be able to infer by going within in some sense

 

[Jdvn1]

Yeah, like maybe you could be like, "Oh, that looks like... a Conjuration spell... I'd guess about... 4th level. By the looks of it he's going to... ow!"