What skill best covers the availity to do research?

[johnsemlak]

What skill best covers the availity to find a piece of information by consulting books, maps or a library? Gather Information refers to getting info from people, so it's rather different.

I've heard Ravenloft had a specific skill, something like Book browsing.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

What skill best covers the availity to find a piece of information by consulting books, maps or a library? Gather Information refers to getting info from people, so it's rather different.

I've heard Ravenloft had a specific skill, something like Book browsing.

D20 Modern introduces the skill "Research".
Arcana Unearthed makes it a Knowledge Skill Check adding a bonus from the book or library.

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[shilsen]

I'd go with the Knowledge skill (in the area being researched) plus a bonus for access to the libary.

Assuming the character is searching for a specific piece of information, the DM could just set a DC and have the character make a roll after a set period of research time. If the DC wasn't made, and if the library was deemed to have enough material to make it worthwhile, the character could spend more time and make another check later, with the gained bonus increasing to match the increased time.

If the character is just searching for information in general, the DM could allow a bonus (depending on time and effort spent), have the character roll, see what the final skill check was, and provide the appropriate amount of information.

At least that's what I'd do. I'd also allow a synergy bonus if the character had ranks in an appropriate profession skill.

 

[Shallown]

I have a cleric in my group with the Research Skill. He uses when ever he is doing research. Last eveneing he was researching a ritual in a large tome that the party has. I had him roll a knowledge "the book" roll to see if he knew the best place to start. Other players have knowledge "the book" since it is pivotal to the campaign they have actually studeied the book extensively. He tells me how long he wishes to research and what he is looking for. I give him synergies based on his skills which he must of course have 5 ranks in to get a synergy bonus at all.

A lot of my game is based on research and weird histories and knowledges. Since I give extra Skill points to all classes most classes are willing to buy up some knowledges and use them. Even the fighters go into places and do research since there are only things fighters tend to understand. I give certain bonuses based pn classes to research as well. I tend to run an information heavy campaign.

Later

PS the Research is a Professional skill in my game but I might also let it be a Knowledge skill. Just depends on how theu use it.

I tend to be flexible more so than picky.

 

[hong]

Coffee gives a +2 competence bonus to Research.


Hong "trust me on this" Ooi

 

[Antoine]

What skill best covers the availity to find a piece of information by consulting books, maps or a library? Gather Information refers to getting info from people, so it's rather different.

It depends on what you're trying to judge :

1. Will a PC find/confirm any piece of information in a given library ?
Give the library an equivalent Knowledge rank,
add character Int bonus,
add synergy bonus if the PC has 5+ ranks in the specific knowledge,
add synergy bonus if the PC has 5+ ranks in a related Profession (scribe, librarian…)
set the DC,
roll the d20.

2. For a book (or map), I'd go the other way round and have the book (or map) confer a circumstance bonus on the related knowledge check.

3. From a more realistic point of view about libraries, another method :
If PCs are trying to confirm a piece of information, their own skill is dominant, then the library gives a circumstance bonus to knowledge skill, no retry.
If the PCs are trying to discover a piece of information : give the library a equivalent Knowledge rank, set a DC, roll the d20, keep the result for yourself.
Determine a research period. You may use the DC here, such as :
DC 10 - one hour
DC 15 - half a day
DC 20 and higher - a day (8 hours)
Have the PC roll d20 + Int + appropriate synergy bonuses (5+ ranks in the specific knowledge area, useful profession, decipher script, search, you name it from the type of research or the organization of the library) + aid from others (PCs, librarians, sages…).
At the end of any given period, have the PC roll vs. the set DC. If he/she succeeds, he find the information or knows there's nothing to find. If not, retry is allowed (and thus taking 10 or 20).

The last method, though more complicated, doesn't let the PCs skill interfere with the content on the library. Only with what can be found/derived from that content.

Hope this helps.

 

[Altalazar]

In part, I think this would depend on how book knowledge is organized within the gameworld. Sure, we could just "abstract" it, but it is an interesting issue to think about.

For instance, there was the Dewey Decimal System - and card catalogs based on it. With such a system, you could have a general "research" skill that represented how to utilize that resource to research almost anything.

On the other hand, with no such system, instead with just a bunch of books scattered across the land, in mostly private libraries with no formal organization, then general research would tend to be less useful - and it is more about connections with scholars who might have heard who has such-and-such a book - and it is probably more subject-area specific - i.e. to research mold-farming, you might need to talk to the various experts in mold-farming to find out what books they've heard of about the subject, then find out where they might be (who has them). Some of the mold-farming books, once found, might refer to other mold-farming books, leading to more searching in other private libraries for those other tomes. But that won't help you out later on if you are looking for books on tatoo-removal, except perhaps incidentally, by having made contacts with a lot of private library owners.

Then today, we have the World Wide Web and online databases - where whole new research skills are required, and where you need to pay large sums of money to get access to the best databases, like Lexus-Nexus. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to make the magical equivalent - I'm sure a mage with a large enough library might want the ability to be able to search it quickly, without too much fuss.

So the "short" answer, for me, is how knowledge is organized in the game world - and perhaps the answer is different depending on where in the world you are.

 

[Paul_Klein]

I'm not sure a Knowledge check is the way to go. I can know absolutly nothing about physics (meaning no ranks in Knowledge [physics]), but I can go to a library, spend enough time, and walk away with pretty much anything I need to know. I wouldn't be able to do that if I couldn't make a Knowledge (physics) roll.

 

[Vaxalon]

I would argue, Paul, that you can't.

You can either spend enough time in the library that you actually acquire a rank in Knowledge (Physics) or you would be unable to integrate the information you found in the library.

 

[Paul_Klein]

But what if I don't want a rank in it? What if I just want to research something for a one-use thing?