Trained Only@
Like the Craft and Profession skills, Knowledge actually encompasses a number of unrelated skills. Knowledge represents a study of some body of lore, possibly an academic or even scientific discipline. Below are typical fields of study.
Alien Species: Customs, Societies, Attributes of species other than your own
Archeology: The scientific study of material remains
Architecture: The art and science of building structures
Art: Fine arts and graphic arts, including art history and artistic techniques. Antiques, modern art, photography, and performance art forms such as music and dance, among others.
Astronomy: The study of celestial bodies
Behavioral Sciences: Psychology, sociology, and criminology.
Biology: The scientific study of living organisms and their vital processes
Bureaucracy: Knowledge of bureaucratic procedures
Business: Knowledge of business procedures, profit and loss, supply and demand
Chemistry: The scientific study of the composition, structure, and properties of substances
Civics: Law, legislation, litigation, and legal rights and obligations. Political and governmental institutions and processes.
Current Events: Recent happenings in the news, sports, politics, entertainment, and foreign affairs.
Earth and Life Sciences: Botany, geology, and paleontology
Engineering: The scientific study of the application of matter and energy
Forensics: Knowledge of applying the scientific method to solve problems
Genetics: The scientific study of the genetic makeup of an organism
History: Events, personalities, and cultures of the past and antiquities and Knowledge of past events that have been important to the development of galactic society
Jedi Lore: Knowledge of the traditions, legends, and powers of the Jedi Order (Note: 1 rank at a minimum required for The Jedi Trials)
Local Lore: Knowledge of the traditions, legends, and culture of a specific people
Medicine: The scientific study of the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease
Nei Lore: The occult, magic and the supernatural, astrology, numerology, and similar topics.
Ninja Lore: The various ninja sayings and rules, the true definition of Control and any topic related to the Ninjas, except their history. Using this skill, the character is able to identify certain elements of the ninja life, such as summons.
Philosophy: Liberal arts, ethics, philosophical concepts,
Physics: The scientific study the interaction of matter and energy
Politics: Knowledge of governmental institutions, processes, and policies
Popular Culture: Popular music and personalities, genre films and books, urban legends, comics, science fiction, and gaming, among others.
Religion: gods and goddesses, mythic history, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, the undead and forsaken
Streetwise: Knowledge necessary to survive and successfully interact in an urban environment
Tactics: The scientific study of disposing and maneuver forces in combat
Technology: Current developments in cutting-edge devices, as well as the background necessary to identify various technological devices.
Wilderness Lore: Knowledge of surviving in a wild, untamed area
World Lore: Knowledge of the cultures, life, and physical makeup of specific planets in the galaxy
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).
Retry: No. The roll represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something you never learned in the first place.
Special: An untrained Knowledge check is simply an Intelligence check. Without actual training, a character only knows common knowledge about a given subject.
You can take 10 when making a Knowledge check, but you can’t take 20.The GM may alter the DC of a Knowledge check, or apply a modifier to the check, to reflect a character’s familiarity (or lack thereof) with a specific aspect of the skill category.
For example, a GM may allow a character with the Knowledge (Jedi Lore) skill to recall information about the Sith with a +2 or +5 or higher modifier to the skill check DC.
Also, the GM may decide that having 5 or more ranks in a specific Knowledge skill provides you with a +2 synergy bonus when making a related skill check.
For example, a character with 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Medicine) could get a +2 synergy bonus when making a Treat Injury check in certain situations.
Synergy list: (pending development)
A character with 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (ninja lore) gains a +2 bonus to Learn checks when mastering a technique.
Time: A Knowledge check can be a reaction, but otherwise requires a full-round action
Forbidden Knowledge:
Vorlon
Shadow
Entropy
Etc
You know That Which Should Not Be Known. You have had horrible supernatural experiences and read forbidden tomes, learning truly dark secrets that have challenged everything you thought you knew. Since these revelations defy logic or commonly accepted fact, it does not matter how intelligent or wise you are when using this skill—only how much exposure to these dark secrets themselves you have experienced.
Check
Answering a question about the horrible deities and secrets that lurk at the edges of reality has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for elementary questions), or 20 to 30 (for difficult or really tough questions). Unlike in other fields of study, there are almost no really easy questions associated with this dark knowledge.
You can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. 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, the GM can give another piece of useful information.
The GM can decide which monsters are subject to the Knowledge (forbidden lore) skill and which monsters are subject to one of the standard Knowledge skills. For example, the GM may rule that Knowledge (the planes) is still the relevant skill for learning or knowing about outsiders, rather than allowing them to be iedntified by Knowledge (forbidden lore). However, in most campaigns that use the Sanity variant, aberrations and oozes should be able to be identified by Knowledge (forbidden lore) rather than by Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (dungeoneering) respectively.
Action
Usually none. In most cases, making a Knowledge check doesn’t take an action—you simply know the answer or you don’t.
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.
Special
You cannot gain ranks in this skill by spending skill points. You can only gain ranks by reading forbidden tomes or having experiences with horrible creatures. Each rank you gain in this skill permanently reduces your maximum Sanity by 1 point:
The more you know about the horrible truths underlying reality, the less capable you are of leading a normal life.
A character’s first episode of insanity [that is caused by a supernatural source,(that is, an occurrence of temporary or indefinite insanity)] bestows 2 ranks in the appropriate forbidden knowledge skill, thereby lowering his maximum Sanity by 2 points.
Each time a character fails a Sanity check and endures another episode of insanity that is caused by a supernatural event, he gains an additional rank in the appropriate Forbidden Knowledge skill
For example, Caldark has 1 rank of Knowledge (forbidden lore) after reading a strange manuscript. She then steps outside, sees a chaos beast, and goes indefinitely insane, her raving mind failing to understand the strange creature she has encountered. Since she has never gone insane before, her player adds 2 ranks of Forbidden Knowledge (Path of Entropy) to Caldark’s character sheet. Now Caldark’s Maximum Sanity is 87 (90 minus 3 ranks of Knowledge [forbidden lore]).
You cannot take the forbidden Knowledge skill during character creation. However, the skill has no maximum rank; your level does not limit the number of ranks in forbidden Knowledge that you can acquire.