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Bellmaethorion
2008-02-09, 01:37 PM
I was wondering, what kind of Knowledge's people have used, beside the standard ones, if you have any interesting Crafts or Professions, please list those as well.

things like,
Knowledge (taxidermy),
Knowledge (Quantum Physics)
Craft (Origami)

AKA_Bait
2008-02-09, 01:44 PM
My players have taken to putting ranks into:

Knowledge (What We Did Last Session)
Knowledge (That NPC's Name)
Knowledge (What That Guy Said 4 Sessions Ago)

The last two tend to be used at the same time.:smallwink:

Kurald Galain
2008-02-09, 01:44 PM
Knowledge (What the Hell you're Talking About) :smallwink:

Morty
2008-02-09, 01:49 PM
Knowledge(Where the hell did you throw this d20).

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 01:50 PM
Craft (Lucky Dice). :smallbiggrin:

Raider
2008-02-09, 01:51 PM
Knowledge(skills)

One session I couldn't figure out what skill I was thinking of so I [ut points into it

Squash Monster
2008-02-09, 01:51 PM
Never seen a weird Knowledge, but a few characters in my old group had Perform (Drunken Brawl) and one of the characters in the group I DM is going to pick up a few ranks in Perform (Uncle Magic).

Bellmaethorion
2008-02-09, 02:18 PM
Knowledge (What We Did Last Session)
Knowledge (That NPC's Name)
Knowledge (What That Guy Said 4 Sessions Ago)



Craft (Lucky Dice). :smallbiggrin:

I can see how these would be of paramount importance...


Perform (Uncle Magic).
Pull my finger?:smalleek:

Chronos
2008-02-09, 02:51 PM
I think "uncle magic" is things like pulling silver dollars from behind a kid's ear (except with inflation, it's probably just quarters, now). Simple tricks that absolutely astound nieces and nephews under about eight years old, and are transparently obvious to anyone else.

I've heard of folks taking ranks in "Craft: MacGuyver", but most of the games I've played in, everyone has been treated as having full ranks in that anyway.

The most creative one I've come up with is "Knowledge: Criminology", for use in statting out Sherlock Holmes as a D&D character.

hippie_dwarf
2008-02-09, 03:20 PM
My current character has Profession (Drug Dealer).

On a completely unrealted note, he is now going insane :smalltongue:

kamikasei
2008-02-09, 03:36 PM
I think "uncle magic" is things like pulling silver dollars from behind a kid's ear (except with inflation, it's probably just quarters, now)

Actually, and confusingly, that's what "prestidigitation" means in RL.

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 03:38 PM
Actually, and confusingly, that's what "prestidigitation" means in RL.
...how is that confusing? That's what the prestidigitation spell is for.

sonofzeal
2008-02-09, 03:40 PM
My master Rogue had Skill Mastery: Perform (Harmonica).

kamikasei
2008-02-09, 03:44 PM
...how is that confusing? That's what the prestidigitation spell is for.

Prestidigitation lets you do a lot more than just prestidigitate, but what I meant was that rendering Knowledge ("uncle magic") as Knowledge (prestidigitation) would be confusing due to namespace collisions.

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 03:44 PM
Prestidigitation lets you do a lot more than just prestidigitate, but what I meant was that rendering Knowledge ("uncle magic") as Knowledge (prestidigitation) would be confusing due to namespace collisions.

Ah. Misunderstood.

John Campbell
2008-02-09, 07:47 PM
My players have taken to putting ranks into:

Knowledge (What We Did Last Session)
Knowledge (That NPC's Name)
Knowledge (What That Guy Said 4 Sessions Ago)

The last two tend to be used at the same time.:smallwink:

Oh, gods. I'm quite certain that I'm the only player in our group with ranks in any of those. In our last campaign, I was basically the face of the party. My character was a 7-Charisma dwarven fighter/wizard who wasn't real fond of people in general, and who had no ranks in any social skill except Intimidate. Everyone else in the party had a Charisma of at least 16, and, in one case, 27 Cha plus max ranks in Diplomacy. But still, I had to do all the talking, because I was the only player who knew what we were supposed to be talking to the NPCs about.

The new campaign we just started looks to be going the same way, but this time at least I'm playing a rogue with a decent Charisma and social skills. However, I've been turned evil by an artifact I picked up, which also grants me the ability to mask my alignment from anything short of epic-level magic. And I have max ranks in Bluff. Things are going to get very interesting if the party continues to blindly follow my lead on the assumption that I've been keeping track of what we're supposed to be doing, so they don't need to.

VanBuren
2008-02-10, 03:07 AM
Knowledge (Outwit the DM)

Everyone should max that stat.

Except, y'know, the DM.

LibraryOgre
2008-02-10, 04:24 AM
Reminds me of 3rd edition Shadowrun, and a neat trick that could be pulled with Adepts. Adepts who were Initiates could use Centering to reduce their penalties for skills. Now, in Shadowrun, it's theoretically possible for any character to use any skill, but with increases to the Target Number for having to "default" to your attribute. A suggested tactic was to make a "savant" character who used his centering skills for Knowledge skills, and regularly made tests against Knowledge skills like "Things Mr. Johnson Doesn't Want Us to Know" and "What's in that Briefcase". Get enough successes on your centering test (which would have a TN of 4), and you could drop the TN of your obscenely hard "obscure knowledge" skill.

Irreverent Fool
2008-02-10, 05:08 AM
I know it's against the spirit of the thread, but shouldn't 'uncle magic' just fall under 'slight of hand'?

I have eTools and I always get a giggle when I see 'Craft: Flower Arranging' and 'Craft: Basketweaving' on the list.

Bellmaethorion
2008-02-10, 08:11 AM
There's been some funny entries, but how about any actual (IC) useful skills?

Darkantra
2008-02-10, 10:16 AM
I had to point blank refuse to let a character for an upcoming game take Knowledge (BBEG plans), but I just ran across an interesting Flaw that lets characters see into the future somewhat, but no one will ever believe them. I think I may just allow that skill now...

<-- Off topic but I had a kobold with maxed out ranks in Perform (Puppetry) and Profession (Puppeteer). I only had him for one session before he was killed by Sahaugin but he managed to get the party a space on one of the last ships leaving a costal town. Ahh, a natural 20 with puppets will get you anything :smallbiggrin:.

Bellmaethorion
2008-02-10, 11:24 AM
<-- Off topic but I had a kobold with maxed out ranks in Perform (Puppetry) and Profession (Puppeteer). I only had him for one session before he was killed by Sahaugin but he managed to get the party a space on one of the last ships leaving a costal town. Ahh, a natural 20 with puppets will get you anything :smallbiggrin:.

I wouldn't say perform skills were offtopic.
and now I totally want a puppeteer...

Chronos
2008-02-10, 02:12 PM
and now I totally want a puppeteer...Careful, they have a racial -10 penalty on all saves vs. fear effects.


but I just ran across an interesting Flaw that lets characters see into the future somewhat, but no one will ever believe them.How would you enforce that? It's easy enough for the NPCs to ignore him, but sooner or later, the other PCs are going to catch on.

horseboy
2008-02-10, 11:20 PM
I know it's against the spirit of the thread, but shouldn't 'uncle magic' just fall under 'slight of hand'?

I have eTools and I always get a giggle when I see 'Craft: Flower Arranging' and 'Craft: Basketweaving' on the list.I had a character with flower arranging once. Other fun skills include calligraphy and Dragon Poker.

Jack Zander
2008-02-10, 11:37 PM
How about Knowledge (Monster Manual) or Knowledge (DM Notes)?

Or possibly Knowledge (Everything).

Voyager_I
2008-02-10, 11:55 PM
Knowledge (Metagame) is key, obviously.

Knowledge (CharOp Boards) for when you want to be really nasty...

Admiral Squish
2008-02-11, 12:24 AM
I had a dude with knowledge (adventuring). We worked it like a bardic knowledge check, with a -5 penalty for not being a bard.

On a side not, I also had a warforged with craft (journal). He wrote everything we did that day when everyone else was asleep. Coupled with Knowledge (memory), and he was a great cartographer.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-02-11, 01:14 AM
There are plenty of people working for the wizards with ranks in Craft [Cheese], IMO.

Blessed are the cheesemakers!

kamikasei
2008-02-11, 01:18 AM
Or possibly Knowledge (Everything).

Knowledge (It All).

Chronos
2008-02-11, 01:22 AM
Other fun skills include calligraphy and Dragon Poker.Remember to take a -5 penalty to your Dragon Poker check on Wednesdays when you're sitting in a south-facing chair and the moon is waning gibbous, though. Unless, of course, there are exactly six people at the table, in which case it's a +3 bonus, instead.

Blessed are the cheesemakers!Well, that's clearly metaphorical. It's obviously meant to apply to all manufacturers of dairy products.

SoD
2008-02-11, 03:07 AM
On a side not, I also had a warforged with craft (journal).

Geez, I can just see it:

Warforged: *rolls a craft check* ''Damn! Natural 1!''

Years later: ''What??? When did I do that?! We actually killed a giant dragon at third level, and then went on...to turn it into a giant puppet and sold it to a bugbear wizard?...how odd.''

And, on topic, I'm always so tempted to make a guy with knowlege (the future).

mabriss lethe
2008-02-11, 03:23 AM
I've used some entertaining professions from time to time.

My goblin warlock had a few levels in Profession (hedge wizardry) (Cha). it covered minor forms of fortune telling, making little charms that might or might not work, love potions, crap like that. The kind of semi worthless trinkets and advice you'd expect to get from a "gypsy" fortune teller. The only thing was, on a natural 1 or 20 something magical would happen. fortune telling with a natural 20 would get a true glimpse into the future but a natural 1 would make you say the one piece of advice that would lead the other person to some sort of ruin or mishap. trinkets would recieve some minor blessing or curse... it also covered the use of the Evil Eye. a successful check would utterly convince a person that they'd been cursed, a natural 20 would actually give them some minor curse.

Rutee
2008-02-11, 04:41 AM
I had a Gestalt Monk/Shugenja with Profession: Ecdysiast, because the whole point was to break as many of these rules (http://theglen.livejournal.com/16735.html) as humanly possible. I think my favorite is "Profession: Sci-Fi Writer" though. Create myths of rocketships in Medieval knowledge..

As for Knowledge, I think the one I need most as a player would be Knowledge: Why are we doing this?

Newtkeeper
2008-02-11, 11:23 AM
Well, that's clearly metaphorical. It's obviously meant to apply to all manufacturers of dairy products.

Now you're just being silly. If God says "cheese", God means "cheese".

When God says "with extra cheese", god means "of or pertaining to the CharOp boards".

Theli
2008-02-11, 11:41 AM
I've seen Knowledge(Treasure) before... Pretty odd that one. Never actually saw it used.

MorkaisChosen
2008-02-11, 12:02 PM
I might actually try Knowledge (Quantum Theory) sometime...

Knowledge (Games Workshop) in D&D or Scholastic Lore (D&D) in Dark Heresy would allow the character to complain that the other system's better...

Brawls
2008-02-11, 12:23 PM
My current character has ranks in Knowledge: Military Tactics & History, reflecting the fact that he served as an aide de camp for a general in the last war.

Brawls

Bellmaethorion
2008-02-11, 02:01 PM
My current character has ranks in Knowledge: Military Tactics & History, reflecting the fact that he served as an aide de camp for a general in the last war.

Brawls

Now THAT is actually useful:smallwink:

mostlyharmful
2008-02-11, 02:16 PM
Kowledge (Composers of the Silver Age of Netheril)
Knowledge (Banking Systems of Antiquity)
Knowledge (Clown Masks of Ahnk-Morpork)

MorkaisChosen
2008-02-12, 04:50 AM
In a Horror style game:

Knowledge (What you Did Last Summer)

Swordguy
2008-02-12, 04:57 AM
My current character has ranks in Knowledge: Military Tactics & History, reflecting the fact that he served as an aide de camp for a general in the last war.

Brawls

That's a favorite of mine as well.

I've seen Knowledge (DM's dirty secrets) on his ex's character sheet.

egg_green
2008-02-12, 11:16 AM
One of my players has a char with Knowledge (Girl Stuff). Come in handy sometimes! ;)

RTGoodman
2008-02-12, 11:39 AM
My current character has ranks in Knowledge: Military Tactics & History, reflecting the fact that he served as an aide de camp for a general in the last war.

Star Wars Saga Edition actually has a Knowledge (Tactics) skill, and after seeing that I sort of stole it for use in D&D. It's a class skill for Fighters, Marshals, Paladins, and maybe some others (the three I mentioned are the only ones I've used it with - otherwise it's just up to DM's discretion). I don't recall using it much, since no one ever puts ranks in it when I allow it as a DM. As a player, I see if DM's will allow it based on character, and they usually do, but I don't think I've ever actually rolled a Knowledge (Tactics) check.

Burley
2008-02-12, 12:21 PM
I have a fellow player who apparently put ranks into Knowledge (what MY character should have done)...:smallmad:
Anyways, Knowledge (Shiny) was something I had seen...somewhere. I guess it give you history and use of...shiny...stuff? I dunno.

FatherMalkav
2008-02-12, 12:56 PM
In one of our games the Half-Fiend Wild Elf Barbarian has Craft (WTF food) becasue he goes beyond the stareotype of eating what he kills, and instead uses it to feed the entire party. The DM uses this, as well as his descriptions of what parts are used for waht, to hide the nature of the food from theparty, since he normally cooks while on watch.

What about Craft (Knowledge)?

Burley
2008-02-12, 01:18 PM
What about Craft (Knowledge)?

That's what we call "Bluff". :smalltongue:

Hal
2008-02-12, 01:31 PM
Heh, I took Profession(Brewer) once with my Paladin.

The funny thing was, we later disrupted a smuggling ring, only to find out we'd seriously screwed over the liquor trade in town.

I briefly toyed with the idea of starting it back up myself, but my GM decided that wouldn't be "Lawful Good."

Apparently Paladins are supposed to be paupers. :smalltongue:

Frosty
2008-02-12, 03:01 PM
Need moar Knowledge (Limits of my own sanity)
and of course ranks in Ride (my ass) :smallwink:

Chronos
2008-02-12, 08:01 PM
Heh, I took Profession(Brewer) once with my Paladin.Hey, I've gotten real use out of Profession (Brewer) once, myself. It enabled my character to recognize the drink he was being offered by the dwarf in the tavern, and to know that he probably didn't want to drink it (it was Dwarven Rock Wine, if that means anything to anyone else. Think something along the lines of a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster).

And I don't see why it wouldn't be Lawful Good to restart the liquor industry. It's a perfectly legitimate business undertaking, and it's not like you would have been smuggling your goods.

Idea Man
2008-02-13, 12:03 AM
A few I use regularly.

Profession (adventurer tormentor)
Knowledge (how far is too far and doesn't look it)
Craft (adventure of doom)

Naturally, I've maxed all these skills, but the DCs keep getting higher...

streakster
2008-02-13, 12:10 AM
And as no one else has yet:

Craft(Disturbing Mental Image)

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-02-13, 12:13 AM
And as no one else has yet:

Craft(Disturbing Mental Image)My group gets 10 ranks in that as a regional bonus.

Bellmaethorion
2008-02-13, 12:27 AM
Need moar Knowledge (Limits of my own sanity)
and of course ranks in Ride (my ass) :smallwink:

donkeys are of course great animals:smalltongue:

CrowSpawn
2008-02-13, 12:30 AM
One of my warforged players has max ranks in Craft(Graphic Novels). Every night while he's on watch, he draws a graphic novel of their adventures so far. Really creative, actually. I've rewarded his creativeness recently by setting up a storyline where he gets to work side-by-side with a famous playwright in Sharn.

Funny story: One of the players in a game made a cleric with Perform(Miracles). He somehow managed to skate it by the DM until level 15 or so when they had a total party wipe minus said cleric. He asked to use his skill, to which the DM sputtered and railed him. In the end, he let him use the skill to rescue the party, but made him reapply his ranks into something more normal afterward.

Still, awesome, though. :smallbiggrin:

osyluth
2008-02-13, 12:36 AM
A perfect skill for your BBEG mastermind: Knowledge (the PCs). "Yes, he knows everything about you. He has knowledge for you."

LotharBot
2008-02-13, 12:41 AM
The party wizard took each of these:

Knowledge (tactics)
Knowledge (anatomy)
Knowledge (monster cultures)

He could only roll these if he succeeded on his knowledge (one of the PHB categories) check to recognize the creature.

This let him know things like:
- does this creature type fight in groups?
- does this creature type like to play wounded or otherwise use tricks?
- is this creature especially weak and/or strong to certain types of attacks, chemicals, or spells?
- would there be an "alpha" creature in this group that the others would follow?
- if we kill a goblin tribal leader, would the tribe come looking for revenge, or just select a new leader?
- can we bluff them into trading with us?

Brawls
2008-02-13, 01:29 AM
My current character has ranks in Knowledge: Military Tactics & History, reflecting the fact that he served as an aide de camp for a general in the last war.

Brawls

Star Wars Saga Edition actually has a Knowledge (Tactics) skill, and after seeing that I sort of stole it for use in D&D. It's a class skill for Fighters, Marshals, Paladins, and maybe some others (the three I mentioned are the only ones I've used it with - otherwise it's just up to DM's discretion). I don't recall using it much, since no one ever puts ranks in it when I allow it as a DM. As a player, I see if DM's will allow it based on character, and they usually do, but I don't think I've ever actually rolled a Knowledge (Tactics) check.
My character tends to use it most when questions arise to the rank, regulations, or reputations about the kingdom comprised from the invading army, since that is who he was serving prior to taking up adventuring. It also came in handy with knowledge about how patrols and garrisons whould be manned. While it may not make as much sense as some knowledge skills, it really fits the flavor of the character, which is important for me.

Brawls

BlackandGold
2008-02-13, 06:45 AM
I have a Character, which was designed as something like a medieval Darwin. So he got Knowledge (Natural philosophy), which allows me to simulate medieval Natural science. It's really not useful, except for correctly RP'ing my Character.