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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 590377" data-attributes="member: 6875">That would be correct, as the rules are written.I would allow the cleric to re-try the Knowledge (Religion) skill, despite the letter of the rules, using a "take 10" approach anytime circumstances improved over the last time a check was made.  IOW, recheck when teh cleric can take some non-stressed time out to really think about the holy symbol ("Hmm, yes I rather thought that looked familiar ... with everyone jumping about, and those orcs trying to bash my skull in I couldn't quite placeit but now I am sure that the symbol is DEFINITELY the mark of the Frozen Apostates cult ... shame I couldn't place it earlier, they tend to be well-warded against our good wizard's ice-damage magicks ..." etc, etc).  IOW, when the cleric can "Take 10", they can do so, even if a prior roll failed (odds are, they'll only bother if they rolled a 9 nr less ANYway).And perhaps, recheck AGAIN, if the cleric later comes across a good reference library, versed in (perhaps esoteric) aspects of theology ("Aha!  I couldn't place that specific holy symbol before, because it's not been SEEN for three thousand years ... that altar int eh tomb was dedicated to the evil deity Akkadis, as these ancient scrolls have revealed to me ...").  IOW, sometimes "Knowledge (___)" skills aren't solely your own knowledge, it's also knowledge of how to hunt through a library or other sources to FIND "new" knowledge related to that field (knowing which sources are credible, which are not, and so on).Yes, it's a "check", but not a "roll" ...My most-recent higher-than-10th-level character (a Wizard(Necromancer) 8 / Loremaster 6) eventually had a Concentration skill of +19 (+23 for csting defensively).  Even for ninth-level spells (which he had no access to yet, ofc), he could NEVER fail a "cast defensively" roll.  His spellcract was somewhere around +20 (20+ Intelligence, maximum ranks).And he had a slew of other skills (Profession: Mortician; Healing; Alchemy; Scry; etc, etc, etc), too.Yes, every basic question.  As a DM, you are the one who decides if a question is "basic", or not.  Take "Knowledge: Astronomy".  Knowing orbits are not perfect circles, and knowing the formulae for determining various aspects of an orbit were put together by Kepler (?sp) is a basic question (or I'd not know it, as I don't honestly think I have even a 1-rank Astronomy skill ... maybe a half-rank, just enought o make the check at all).  However, recalling the EXACT formulae themselves is a bit more advanced than that ... and in fact, I can't recall them (except they had various greek-alphabet bits in them <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> ... big help, eh?).Only one step further, but knowing the actual formulae is less "basic" than knowing there ARE formulae.A Search check would work, if you knew what you were looking for ("I need a copy of Mertogia's Mysterii Alchemica published prior to year 335 of the New Calendar ... and INTACT copy if possible ...").However, if you simply need to sift through scores, or even HUYNDREDS, of scrolls, tomes, and so on, and DIDN'T know for certain the early-edition  Mysterii Alchemica had the answer(s) you needed .... "Knowledge: Alchemy" woul serve you far better, as anyone versed in a given Knowledge skill should know what to look for while perusing / skimming volumes OF that knowledge.  Perhaps a synergy bonus would be applicable in that specific circumstance, going in both directions.Rating the library for a Circumstance bonus (either overall, or in specific subjects, or a combination of the two) models how complete the library's selection is, in regars to teh topic at hand (and some libraries may have NEGATIVE ratins ... for example, searching for ancient Druidic rites and rituals in a 12th-century christian monastery's library ... you'r emore likely to be hindered, relying on the library, then helped ...).Hence, if you know the book(s) you need, a Search check is in order.  If you don't ... a Knowledge check, aided by the library, seems a better choice.Heh.</blockquote>

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