wilcoxon wrote:
Like toodeep, I would have expected Encyclopedic Knowledge to apply to things like this. What is the logic for it not applying? To me at least, Encyclopedic Knowledge represents a wide breadth of knowledge in many topics (the breadth being represented by the -5 which is enough to make really obscure knowledge unknown without the actual skill).
I considered the same thing and went back and looked at the Talent. The Talent and others like it that grant bonuses to untrained skill rolls significantly increases the likelihood that at some point the character has encountered some snippet, passage or note somehow dealing with the topic. You may remember something overheard or a passing reference relevant enough to pull out a key detail.
The information presented in the Blessed Lands book is collated for the convenience of us the audience, but does not represent an equivalent tome within the world for easy reference. There's no "Blood Wars - How We Did It" anthology to reference. The knowledge represents the accumulated knowledge gleaned from the study of a wide range of sources over a long period of time. An untrained skill roll represents a check to see if the PC happens to remember something very specific on the topic applicable to the problem at hand. Think about the length of snippets within mods for knowledge checks compared against the 39 published pages of detailed history.
As Henry pointed out, should a piece of knowledge from within the book be important to a story, there would be a skill roll provided at that time with all applicable bonuses applied. You may recall an obscure reference to a second war of extinction (20 ranks required otherwise) against a race known as the Eladru. But the timeframe, length, difficulties in persecuting the war and the role the gates played in it requires a depth of knowledge that SHOULD be reflected in a lifetime of study for an obscure topic without sufficient references in existence to review.
In terms of the usefulness of the various talents, one of the approaches I've seen and used with Knowledge checks is if you have the various feats and your untrained roll would be better than trained, you can do it untrained. You just add one set of bonuses or the other, not both. Basically the untrained roll reflects knowledge gained outside of your core focus. "Well, I've spent a lot of time studying the history of the Coryani Empire, but I do recall coming across a treatise on the Second Gift of Althares written by a famous Coryani scholar who wrote..." Taken n that way you get a balance of the two approaches.
With a sweep of his hat,
Paul