You are educated in a field of study and can answer both simple and complex questions. Like the Craft, Perform, and Profession skills, Knowledge actually encompasses a number of different specialties. Below are listed typical fields of study.
Some Knowledge skills that use Intelligence attribute bonuses:
Some Knowledge skills that use Wisdom attribute bonuses:
Check: Answering a question within your field of study has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for basic questions), or 20 to 30 (for really tough questions).
You can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities, behaviors, environments, etc. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster. For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information. Many of the Knowledge skills have specific uses as noted on Table: Knowledge Skill DCs.
|
Monster Frequency |
Identify DC |
|---|---|
| common monster | 5 + monsters CR |
| uncommon monster | 10 + monsters CR |
| rare monster | 15 + monsters CR |
Different types of creatures require different knowledge skills:
| Monster Type | Knowledge Skill |
|---|---|
| constructs, dragons, magical beasts, elementals | Arcana |
| aberrations, oozes, fungi, underground creatures | Dungeoneering |
| Social humanoids | History |
| Fey, monstrous humanoids, wild humanoids, surface animals, plants, vermin | Nature |
| Undead, Outsiders | Religion |
Knowledge of religious beliefs, and of alternate planes of existence.
| Task | DC |
|---|---|
| Know the names of the planes | 10 |
| Recognize current plane | 15 |
| Identify a creature's planar origin | 20 |
| Recognize a common deity's symbol or clergy | 10 |
| Know common mythology and tenets | 15 |
| Recognize an obscure deity's symbol or clergy | 20 |
| Task | Knowledge Skill | DC |
|---|---|---|
| Identify underground hazard | Dungeoneering | 15 + hazard's CR |
| Identify mineral, stone, or metal | Dungeoneering | 10 |
| Determine slope | Dungeoneering | 15 |
| Determine depth underground | Dungeoneering | 20 |
| Identify dangerous construction | Engineering | 10 |
| Determine a structure's style or age | Engineering | 15 |
| Determine a structure's weakness | Engineering | 20 |
| Identify a creature's ethnicity or accent | History | 10 |
| Recognize regional terrain features | History | 15 |
| Know location of nearest community or noteworthy site | History | 20 |
| Know recent or historically significant event | History | 10 |
| Determine approximate date of a specific event | History | 15 |
| Know obscure or ancient historical event | History | 20 |
| Know local laws, rulers, and popular locations | History | 10 |
| Know a common rumor or local tradition | History | 15 |
| Know hidden organizations, rulers, and locations | History | 20 |
| Know current rulers and their symbols | History | 10 |
| Know proper etiquette | History | 15 |
| Know line of succession | History | 20 |
Action: Usually none. In most cases, a Knowledge check doesn't take an action (but see “Untrained,” below).
Try Again: No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn't let you know something that you never learned in the first place.
Untrained: You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10. If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours. Particularly complete libraries might even grant a bonus on Knowledge checks in the fields that they cover.
You are skilled at surviving in the wild and at navigating in the wilderness. You also excel at following trails and tracks left by others.
Check: You can keep yourself and others safe and fed in the wild. The table below gives the DCs for various tasks that require Survival checks.
| Survival DC | Task |
|---|---|
| 10 | Identify a common plant or animal |
| 10 | Get along in the wild. Move up to half your overland speed while hunting and foraging (no food or water supplies needed). You can provide food and water for one other person for every 2 points by which your check result exceeds 10. |
| 15 | Gain a +2 bonus on all [pfr_combat#fortitude|Fortitude] saves against severe weather while moving up to half your overland speed, or gain a +4 bonus if you remain stationary. You may grant the same bonus to one other character for every 1 point by which your Survival check result exceeds 15. |
| 15 | Keep from getting lost or avoid natural hazards, such as quicksand. |
| 15 | Identify unnatural weather phenomenon |
| 15 | Predict the weather up to 24 hours in advance. For every 5 points by which your Survival check result exceeds 15, you can predict the weather for one additional day in advance. |
| 15 + hazard's CR | Identify natural hazard |
| 20 | Determine artificial nature of feature |
Follow Tracks: To find tracks or to follow them for 1 mile requires a successful Survival check. You must make another Survival check every time the tracks become difficult to follow. If you are not trained in this skill, you can make untrained checks to find tracks, but you can follow them only if the DC for the task is 10 or lower. Alternatively, you can use the Perception skill to find a footprint or similar sign of a creature's passage using the same DCs, but you can't use Perception to follow tracks, even if someone else has already found them.
You move at half your normal speed while following tracks (or at your normal speed with a –5 penalty on the check, or at up to twice your normal speed with a –20 penalty on the check). The DC depends on the surface and the prevailing conditions, as given on the table.
| Surface | Survival DC |
|---|---|
| Very soft ground | 5 |
| Soft ground | 10 |
| Firm ground | 15 |
| Hard ground | 20 |
Very Soft Ground: Any surface (fresh snow, thick dust, wet mud) that holds deep, clear impressions of footprints.
Soft Ground: Any surface soft enough to yield to pressure, but firmer than wet mud or fresh snow, in which a creature leaves frequent but shallow footprints.
Firm Ground: Most normal outdoor surfaces (such as lawns, fields, woods, and the like) or exceptionally soft or dirty indoor surfaces (thick rugs and very dirty or dusty floors). The creature might leave some traces (broken branches or tufts of hair), but it leaves only occasional or partial footprints.
Hard Ground: Any surface that doesn't hold footprints at all, such as bare rock or an indoor floor. Most streambeds fall into this category, since any footprints left behind are obscured or washed away. The creature leaves only traces (scuff marks or displaced pebbles).
| Condition | Survival DC Modifier |
|---|---|
| 1 For a group of mixed sizes, apply only the modifier for the largest size category. | |
| 2 Apply only the largest modifier from this category. | |
| Every three creatures in the group being tracked | –1 |
| Size of creature or creatures being tracked:1 | |
| Fine | +8 |
| Diminutive | +4 |
| Tiny | +2 |
| Small | +1 |
| Medium | +0 |
| Large | –1 |
| Huge | –2 |
| Gargantuan | –4 |
| Colossal | –8 |
| Every 24 hours since the trail was made | +1 |
| Every hour of rain since the trail was made | +1 |
| Fresh snow since the trail was made | +10 |
| Poor visibility:2 | |
| Overcast or moonless night | +6 |
| Moonlight | +3 |
| Fog or precipitation | +3 |
| Tracked party hides trail (and moves at half speed) | +5 |
Several modifiers may apply to the Survival check, as given on the table above.
Action: Varies. A single Survival check may represent activity over the course of hours or a full day. A Survival check made to find tracks is at least a full-round action, and it may take even longer.
Try Again: Varies. For getting along in the wild or for gaining the [pfr_combat#fortitude|Fortitude] save bonus noted in the first table above, you make a Survival check once every 24 hours. The result of that check applies until the next check is made. To avoid getting lost or avoid natural hazards, you make a Survival check whenever the situation calls for one. Retries to avoid getting lost in a specific situation or to avoid a specific natural hazard are not allowed. For finding tracks, you can retry a failed check after 1 hour (outdoors) or 10 minutes (indoors) of searching.
Special: If you are trained in Survival, you can automatically determine where true north lies in relation to yourself.
A ranger gains a bonus on Survival checks when using this skill to find or follow the tracks of a favored enemy.
If you have the [pfr_feats#self-sufficient|Self-Sufficient] feat, you get a bonus on Knowledge Nature checks (see [pfr_feats|Feats]).
You are skilled at the art of casting spells, identifying magic items, crafting magic items, and identifying spells as they are being cast.
Check: Spellcraft is used whenever your knowledge and skill of the technical art of casting a spell or crafting a magic item comes into question. This skill is also used to identify the properties of magic items in your possession through the use of spells such as detect magic and identify. The DC of this check varies depending upon the task at hand.
Action: Identifying a spell as it is being cast requires no action, but you must be able to clearly see the spell as it is being cast, and this incurs the same penalties as a Perception skill check due to distance, poor conditions, and other factors. Learning a spell from a spellbook takes 1 hour per level of the spell (0-level spells take 30 minutes). Preparing a spell from a borrowed spellbook does not add any time to your spell preparation. Making a Spellcraft check to craft a magic item is made as part of the creation process. Attempting to ascertain the properties of a magic item takes 3 rounds per item to be identified and you must be able to thoroughly examine the object.
Retry: You cannot retry checks made to identify a spell. If you fail to learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll, you must wait at least 1 week before you can try again. If you fail to prepare a spell from a borrowed spellbook, you cannot try again until the next day. When using detect magic or identify to learn the properties of magic items, you can only attempt to ascertain the properties of an individual item once per day. Additional attempts reveal the same results.
Special: If you are a specialist wizard, you get a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify, learn, and prepare spells from your chosen school. Similarly, you take a –5 penalty on similar checks made concerning spells from your opposition schools.
An elf gets a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks to identify the properties of magic items.
If you have the [pfr_feats#magical-aptitude|Magical Aptitude] feat, you gain a bonus on Spellcraft checks (see [pfr_feats|Feats]).
| Spellcraft DC | Task |
|---|---|
| 13 | When using read magic, identify a glyph of warding. No action required. |
| 15 + spell level | Identify a spell being cast. (You must see or hear the spell’s verbal or somatic components.) No action required. No retry. |
| 15 + spell level | Learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll (wizard only). No retry for that spell until you gain at least 1 rank in Spellcraft (even if you find another source to try to learn the spell from). Requires 8 hours. |
| 15 + spell level | Prepare a spell from a borrowed spellbook (wizard only). One try per day. No extra time required. |
| 15 + spell level | When casting detect magic, determine the school of magic involved in the aura of a single item or creature you can see. (If the aura is not a spell effect, the DC is 15 + one-half caster level.) No action required. |
| 19 | When using read magic, identify a symbol. No action required. |
| 20 + spell level | Identify a spell that’s already in place and in effect. You must be able to see or detect the effects of the spell. No action required. No retry. |
| 20 + spell level | Identify materials created or shaped by magic, such as noting that an iron wall is the result of a wall of iron spell. No action required. No retry. |
| 20 + spell level | Decipher a written spell (such as a scroll) without using read magic. One try per day. Requires a full-round action. |
| 25 + spell level | After rolling a saving throw against a spell targeted on you, determine what that spell was. No action required. No retry. |
| 25 | Identify a potion. Requires 1 minute. No retry. |
| 20 | Draw a diagram to allow dimensional anchor to be cast on a magic circle spell. Requires 10 minutes. No retry. This check is made secretly so you do not know the result. |
| 30 or higher | Understand a strange or unique magical effect, such as the effects of a magic stream. Time required varies. No retry. |