Skill Annoyance

[JNAProductions]

So I've got a character who rocks knowledge skills. DFA with Draconic Knowledge and max ranks in knowledge, for a total of +18 to the big four.

I'm playing with another character who has a good Int modifier, but no knowledge ranks.

I rolled a 3 on a Nature check (for 21 total) when asking about the travel habits of some deer. I was told nothing.

The untrained guy rolled a 20 (for 24 total) on Knowledge (Geography) and got info on local animals.

Am I wrong to be irked by this?

[Malimar]

Deer are low HD, so a 11 or 12 would have been enough to know a thing about them; 21 should have told you two or three things.

Knowledge is Trained Only, so the other guy shouldn't have gotten to roll at all.

Your DM doesn't know the rules and should feel bad.

[JNAProductions]

Your DM doesn't know the rules and should feel bad.

That's a little excessive. It's a game-making mistakes isn't a big deal.

[Malimar]

That's a little excessive. It's a game-making mistakes isn't a big deal.

The Playground doesn't have have a "hyperbole for humorous effect" text color I should have used, does it?

I mean, uh, nonsense! D&D is a matter of life and death and imperfect DMs are literally the worst thing in the world.

[Segev]

You should probably at some point just mention the rules for Knowledge to your DM.

[OldTrees1]

I rolled a 3 (for 21 total). I was told nothing.

The guy rolled a 20 (for 24 total) and got info.

There are details I am omitting, but others have covered those parts quite well. For this post presume the DC was appropriately set and that the other guy was also trained(1 rank, +3 Int).

So your higher skill reduced a 17 point gap to a 3 point gap and you just barely missed the binary cutoff point for the skill check.
1) Despite your skill you were not skilled enough to be off the RNG. This may be a criticism of a d20 RNG or it may be perfectly fine.
2) The skill had a binary success/failure point. Again this might be perfectly fine or it might be a criticism of binary cutoff points.

[Sliver]

I think your DM simply ignored the actual results and the invested resources. He saw a low roll and so it failed to give anything, even though it should have, and when he saw a high roll, a nat 20 even, he felt that it should be rewarded, even though Knowledge doesn't work that way and that nat 20 should mean nothing for skill checks in general.

[ekarney]

The Playground doesn't have have a "hyperbole for humorous effect" text color I should have used, does it?

I mean, uh, nonsense! D&D is a matter of life and death and imperfect DMs are literally the worst thing in the world.

How about we use a reaaally dark grey?

Blue was sarcasm wasn't it?

On topic: It's probably justifiable, though there's even a chance your DM knew what he was doing and just freaked a little bit, I personally do this all the time cause I usually don't have knowledge DC's on me, and end up not sure on how much to reveal.

So whilst this might not be an applicable fix, this is what I did; I gave them a book, which can't be moved so they have to spend 3 rounds performing a ritual to get transported to the plane where the book is, that gives them a flat +20 untyped bonus to any knowledge check they can roll, so that way I can just reveal everything.

[Honest Tiefling]

Is the DM or the group new? Could just be an honest mistake. However, if it continues to happen, I'd approach the DM about rebuilding the character stating that his skills aren't affecting the game.

I admit, it is an irk of mine to invest resources into things like skills and then be ignored. The times I've seen it where the DM wasn't being an *** on purpose was usually them getting overwhelmed or not knowing the rules well. Simple mistake, approach them out of character and gently remind them. The other times tend to be a reaction to a perceived overpowered character, and trying (ham-fistedly) to balance the characters. If this is the case, also approach the DM about the perceptions of your characters power and ability to hog the spotlight.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Deer are low HD, so a 11 or 12 would have been enough to know a thing about them; 21 should have told you two or three things.

Knowledge is Trained Only, so the other guy shouldn't have gotten to roll at all.

Your DM doesn't know the rules and should feel bad.

Almost.

Knowledge has special rukes for untrained use. You can't get info for a result higher than 10. If you do roll higher than 10, the info is truncated to what you would get for rolling 10.