Recall Knowledge

Concentrate, Secret
Actions: Special
Required Proficiency: Untrained
Applicable Skills: Arcana, Lore, Medicine, Nature, Theology, Investigation

To remember useful information on a topic, you can attempt to recall knowledge. You might know basic information about something without needing to attempt a check, but recall knowledge requires you to stop and think for a moment so you can recollect more specific facts and apply them. You might even need to spend time investigating first. For instance, to use Medicine to learn the cause of death, you might need to conduct a forensic examination before attempting to recall knowledge.

You attempt a skill check to try to remember a bit of knowledge regarding a topic related to that skill. The GM determines the DCs for such checks and which skills apply.

Critical Success: You recall the knowledge accurately and gain additional information or context.

Success: You recall the knowledge accurately or gain a useful clue about your current situation.

Critical Failure: You recall incorrect information or gain an erroneous or misleading clue.

The following skills can be used to Recall Knowledge, getting information about the listed topics. In some cases, you can get the GM’s permission to use a different but related skill, usually against a higher DC than normal. Some topics might appear on multiple lists, but the skills could give different information. For example, Arcana might tell you about the magical defenses of a golem, whereas Crafting could tell you about its sturdy resistance to physical attacks.

  • Arcana: Arcane theories, magical traditions, creatures of arcane significance and arcane planes.
  • Lore: Local history, key personalities, legal institutions, societal structure and humanoid culture.
  • Medicine: Diseases, poisons, wounds and forensics.
  • Nature: The environment, flora, geography, weather, creatures of natural origin and natural planes.
  • Theology: Divine agents, divine planes, theology, obscure myths and creatures of religious significance.

The GM might allow checks to Recall Knowledge using other skills. For example, you might assess the skill of an acrobat using athletics. If you’re using a physical skill (like in this example), the GM will most likely have you use a mental attribute (typically Intelligence) instead of the skill’s normal physical attribute.