But also in terms of what’s consistent. The “default” is to put the DC at 10+CR to know things about the monster or NPC you’re dealing with, but this makes no sense. It doesn’t even require a check to know that Trolls are vulnerable to fire or Vampires to sunlight. That’s just things everyone knows in most game worlds. So the relevant factor is obscurity, not how powerful the monster is. Frankly, the most legendary monsters and the most famous or infamous personas in history would be easier to recall because they’re the ones people keep records about! And if you’re the DM, you wouldn’t want to gate world-building lore behind a difficult skill check anyway.
So what makes sense?
Brainstorming here, maybe this would work?
DC5: common knowledge. Only profoundly ignorant folks wouldn’t know these things. Trolls hate fire. Merfolk live in water. You find trees in the forest.
DC10: Information from tales and various records. Formally educated folks of normal Intelligence would have a good chance to know. Vampires have multiple forms and which forms those are and what they purportedly do. Metallic Dragons have multiple kinds of breath weapons. Skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage.
DC15: Esoteric information that Sages might know. The story of how Lord Soth became a Death Knight. Specific strategies known to defeat demons and devils. The capabilities of a Gnoll War Chief and how Gnoll society operates.
DC20: Truly obscure monster or historical information that borders on weird trivia. The specific lineage of THIS orc warband and how they’re related to orc movements in the area in the past 5 years. Sergei von Zarovich’s favorite color. The details of the Giant Ordning and which Giants are known to be of what stature.
DC25: Information so obscure only the smartest humans with vast experience and expertise could be expected to know it. The names of the three daughters of the current Storm Giant King and the proper etiquette in which to address them.
Players should be rewarded for having high skill checks, but there is also a danger in allowing such checks or making them too easy.
Which makes a better memory?
"Remember that time when we fought our first Troll, and the darn thing just kept getting up? We were scraping the bottom of the barrel, all of us out of resources when Timmy's exhausted barbarian picked up a discarded torch and smacked the Troll with it out of desperation - and that's how we discovered Trolls regenerate unless hit with fire."
or
"Remember that time we encountered a monster none of our characters knew anything about, and Timmy made a roll with his 20 ability score and expertise and learned everything there was to know about it... for the 15th time in the campaign?"
Which makes a better memory?
Just because a character has a high roll or massive bonus to a skill check, doesn't mean that character had the exposure to the knowledge in the first place. Give them something, but don't take away the experience of learning stuff for themselves. Even if a player has encountered trolls in every campaign, has the character that they are playing? If the character has no reasonable way of knowing the information, I don't care how high they roll, they aren't getting everything.
The point of having knowledge skills and playing a knowledgeable character is to Roleplay the fantasy of a character who has encyclopedia knowledge. That is the entire point of such a character. It’s not about skill checks. That’s just the mechanical expression of the concept. It has to do with the fantasy of the player who’s playing that kind of character. Replacing an attack roll with descriptive narrations of how combat maneuvers would work is an option, but generally not an option DMs demand. You can run your games however you want, naturally.
If the player playing the knowledgeable character is asking for information on a topic in which they have devoted build resources towards, they’re asking to take the spotlight and roleplay a character who has foreknowledge and can use the foreknowledge effectively. I think it’s fair to ask for a mechanical d20 Test or relevant ability and then give the player something significant they can use for that purpose. IMO, it’s best to lean into these PC hooks with a “Yes, and” mentality. A knowledgeable player character can function as a lore dump location where you can make sure all the players know what’s usually expected out of, say, a Troll. If a specific Troll they’re fighting isn’t going down to fire, it’s appropriate for the player with a strong History check (relevant skill for Giants) or Arcana check (relevant history for Fey), depending on how you class your Trolls, to know that that isn’t normal for your game world.
If you’re a DM who’s big on world building, then it’s a golden opportunity to present your characters with unusual monsters without warping their perceptions of what your game world actually is.
For instance, you could present them with a bunch of harpies who are clean and look eagle-like rather vulture-like. Are all harpies in your world like that? A PC with the right knowledge skill would know.
This is particularly useful if you’re running a campaign series where it’s advantageous for the party to notice that things are not normal in a particular location, or with a specific monster. There’s a whole bunch of gnoll warbands going around Ruinsfauld. Is that normal for the region? When was the last time something like that happened? Someone with a strong History modifier would know. The party encounters a grick in a shallow cave system. Is that relevant? A party with a PC with a strong Arcana modifier would know that Gricks are Underdark monsters so a grick being in a shallow cave system strongly suggests that a portal to the Underdark has been opened in that system.
The game isn’t adversarial. A player playing a character with lots of Knowledge skills wants to play a specific fantasy. It’s best for the table to let them have it.
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How do people run Study checks on monsters?
Specifically, lore checks vs. combat checks.
But also in terms of what’s consistent. The “default” is to put the DC at 10+CR to know things about the monster or NPC you’re dealing with, but this makes no sense. It doesn’t even require a check to know that Trolls are vulnerable to fire or Vampires to sunlight. That’s just things everyone knows in most game worlds. So the relevant factor is obscurity, not how powerful the monster is. Frankly, the most legendary monsters and the most famous or infamous personas in history would be easier to recall because they’re the ones people keep records about! And if you’re the DM, you wouldn’t want to gate world-building lore behind a difficult skill check anyway.
So what makes sense?
Brainstorming here, maybe this would work?
DC5: common knowledge. Only profoundly ignorant folks wouldn’t know these things. Trolls hate fire. Merfolk live in water. You find trees in the forest.
DC10: Information from tales and various records. Formally educated folks of normal Intelligence would have a good chance to know. Vampires have multiple forms and which forms those are and what they purportedly do. Metallic Dragons have multiple kinds of breath weapons. Skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage.
DC15: Esoteric information that Sages might know. The story of how Lord Soth became a Death Knight. Specific strategies known to defeat demons and devils. The capabilities of a Gnoll War Chief and how Gnoll society operates.
DC20: Truly obscure monster or historical information that borders on weird trivia. The specific lineage of THIS orc warband and how they’re related to orc movements in the area in the past 5 years. Sergei von Zarovich’s favorite color. The details of the Giant Ordning and which Giants are known to be of what stature.
DC25: Information so obscure only the smartest humans with vast experience and expertise could be expected to know it. The names of the three daughters of the current Storm Giant King and the proper etiquette in which to address them.
This would work, remember as DM you can always give as much or as little informations as you want, this with or without any checks.
I like your proposal because, as a DM, I also often let players make checks to learn more details about monsters and creatures using the Monster Research table included in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
Players should be rewarded for having high skill checks, but there is also a danger in allowing such checks or making them too easy.
Which makes a better memory?
"Remember that time when we fought our first Troll, and the darn thing just kept getting up? We were scraping the bottom of the barrel, all of us out of resources when Timmy's exhausted barbarian picked up a discarded torch and smacked the Troll with it out of desperation - and that's how we discovered Trolls regenerate unless hit with fire."
or
"Remember that time we encountered a monster none of our characters knew anything about, and Timmy made a roll with his 20 ability score and expertise and learned everything there was to know about it... for the 15th time in the campaign?"
Which makes a better memory?
Just because a character has a high roll or massive bonus to a skill check, doesn't mean that character had the exposure to the knowledge in the first place. Give them something, but don't take away the experience of learning stuff for themselves. Even if a player has encountered trolls in every campaign, has the character that they are playing? If the character has no reasonable way of knowing the information, I don't care how high they roll, they aren't getting everything.
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
The point of having knowledge skills and playing a knowledgeable character is to Roleplay the fantasy of a character who has encyclopedia knowledge. That is the entire point of such a character. It’s not about skill checks. That’s just the mechanical expression of the concept. It has to do with the fantasy of the player who’s playing that kind of character. Replacing an attack roll with descriptive narrations of how combat maneuvers would work is an option, but generally not an option DMs demand. You can run your games however you want, naturally.
If the player playing the knowledgeable character is asking for information on a topic in which they have devoted build resources towards, they’re asking to take the spotlight and roleplay a character who has foreknowledge and can use the foreknowledge effectively. I think it’s fair to ask for a mechanical d20 Test or relevant ability and then give the player something significant they can use for that purpose. IMO, it’s best to lean into these PC hooks with a “Yes, and” mentality. A knowledgeable player character can function as a lore dump location where you can make sure all the players know what’s usually expected out of, say, a Troll. If a specific Troll they’re fighting isn’t going down to fire, it’s appropriate for the player with a strong History check (relevant skill for Giants) or Arcana check (relevant history for Fey), depending on how you class your Trolls, to know that that isn’t normal for your game world.
If you’re a DM who’s big on world building, then it’s a golden opportunity to present your characters with unusual monsters without warping their perceptions of what your game world actually is.
For instance, you could present them with a bunch of harpies who are clean and look eagle-like rather vulture-like. Are all harpies in your world like that? A PC with the right knowledge skill would know.
This is particularly useful if you’re running a campaign series where it’s advantageous for the party to notice that things are not normal in a particular location, or with a specific monster. There’s a whole bunch of gnoll warbands going around Ruinsfauld. Is that normal for the region? When was the last time something like that happened? Someone with a strong History modifier would know. The party encounters a grick in a shallow cave system. Is that relevant? A party with a PC with a strong Arcana modifier would know that Gricks are Underdark monsters so a grick being in a shallow cave system strongly suggests that a portal to the Underdark has been opened in that system.
The game isn’t adversarial. A player playing a character with lots of Knowledge skills wants to play a specific fantasy. It’s best for the table to let them have it.