I'd allow a character to do this but it would mean Wizards and such who probably don't have high Gather Info ranks (being a cross-class skill) would be less capable library researchers than, say, a street-smart rogue with lots of ranks in Gather Info.
What skill do you use to research at a library?
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I'd allow a character to do this but it would mean Wizards and such who probably don't have high Gather Info ranks (being a cross-class skill) would be less capable library researchers than, say, a street-smart rogue with lots of ranks in Gather Info.
Michael Silverbane
Adventurer
That's a pretty clever solution. I think I may give that a shot in future games.
StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
Can't you retry the check after gaining a level and putting another rank in the skill? I've always played with that rule, and I'm pretty sure it's in the RAW somewhere. But I don't care enough to go searching for it.
IMC, it's a Knowledge skill check. I have a one-hour library search grant a +2 bonus to the check, or higher if the library is very large or especially well stocked. One or two assistants may use Aid Another to help in this check, as long as they have ranks in the same skill or in Profession (research).
Taking 20 on the check is allowed, but that requires 20 man-hours of searching. E.g., if the PC has two assistants, he can take 20 after a 7-hour work day.
If taking 20 is not enough to reach the target DC, but the DM decides the answer is somewhere in the library, add another +1 bonus per man-hour until the answer is found. That means you can happen upon the right book if you just keep searching long enough. But it also means that if the answer really isn't to be found here, you can waste an awful lot of time before convincing yourself of that.
Taking 20 on the check is allowed, but that requires 20 man-hours of searching. E.g., if the PC has two assistants, he can take 20 after a 7-hour work day.
If taking 20 is not enough to reach the target DC, but the DM decides the answer is somewhere in the library, add another +1 bonus per man-hour until the answer is found. That means you can happen upon the right book if you just keep searching long enough. But it also means that if the answer really isn't to be found here, you can waste an awful lot of time before convincing yourself of that.
A rogue is almost always going to be better at skill checks than a wizard due to their higher number of skill points (8 versus 2) - so x-class or not won't matter much here.
Remathilis
Legend
In a library, I allow a reroll and I allow all knowledges to be used untrained, but the time to make a check is 1d4+1 hours.
StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
If it's a knowledge check, that's simply not true. Wizards with high int and short skill list have nothing better to blow the points on. Also, they'll have higher int bonus, so a higher check mod. Also...rogues only get Knowledge local...
pawsplay
Hero
Can't you retry the check after gaining a level and putting another rank in the skill? I've always played with that rule, and I'm pretty sure it's in the RAW somewhere. But I don't care enough to go searching for it.
No, that's not a real rule. Research (Int) is a skill in d20 Modern, btw.
I disagree - there are only a few skills that wizards "must" have and those would be maxed out using the skill points (note that the wizard's short skill list is actually much larger than it first appears since all knowledge skills are class skills and each knowledge skill is separate - so an awful lot of choices available.
Let's see a wizards must have maxed out skills are:
Knowledge (arcana)
Concentration
Spellcraft
Knolwedge (specific - determines what you can know about certain creatures)
Alchemy - quite often falls in here too - and you must be a spellcaster to take it, so rogues are left out on this one.
Since Knowledge (specific) gives information about certain monsters and a rogue has such a large skill point pool - the odds are he can cover these at least to the point of being able to make a skill check to determine other than "commmon knowledge" whereas others could not. While the wizard, even though class skills must carefully choose which ones to invest in with his smaller skill point pool.
