What the heck is that?!

[wedgeski]

I see Knowledge checks as revealing something *about* the monster, rather than what it *is*. If a player wants his PC to have heard of a Chaos Beast and be able to identify it on sight, then where's the harm? That's a far cry from knowing about its attacks/weaknesses/etc, which is where the Knowledge check needs to be strictly applied.

 

[glass]

Indeed. Only the most accomplished of sages will have ever heard of dragons, too.

'Well, it looks like a red dragon, but its much bigger than any red dragon you know about. It is probably still fire breathing and immune to fire, but it might have a few more abilities than the ones you have studied.'

Works for me.


glass.

 

[Rhun]

Just use DC 10 for common animals.
DC 15 for uncommon creatures.
DC 20 or 30 for really rare creatures.
For every 5 points the DC is beat give more info.

Just like it says in the knowledge skill section before it starts to talk about identifying creatures.

I use this method as well.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Something I hope that they do is go back and do for the previous MM's and other creature books and provide this type of info as a web enhancement. Not that I can see WoTC doing it mind you.

Sounds like an idea for an ENWorld collaboration.

I would contribute but I don't think I could head it up.

DS