Lore vs Spellcraft

[Kaybrie]

Seen it happen a couple times now and I figured I'd make a simple post here to clarify things so I don't have to see this much anymore as a player.

Lore is not spellcraft, it does not identify spells for you, it'll let you know what a scroll or magical item does, but off spell description or casting it's spellcraft that lets you know as to whether or not you can identify a spell, Lore is more akin to knowledge, as in History, arcana, the planes, religion etc... It sucks big time that they aren't counted as individual skills like they should be.

None the less, a high lore, means that you'd have a lot of knowledge about history surrounding magic, as in, events in history that occurred to do with the arcane, but it does not give you wizardly understanding of how spells are cast or what the effects are. Sure you can tell that it's a lightning bolt after it's come screaming out of their fingertips and electrified several targets, but by no rights should a character with no actual spellcraft use lore instead (A dumb skill IMO) to determine spellcraft-specific skill things.

Okay, that's my rant... *Meanders off to RP once again*

[Machiavelli]

Bravo! A good distinction, though I woudn't agree that lore is a 'dumb skill'... but it certainly doesn't allow, well, the things you said it doesn't

[Kaybrie]

I think it should have been scattered into the half a dozen or so general knowledge skills rather then being put under one universal category that even fighters can take... In that sense, I think it's dumb.

[Kendaric]

Yeah, the Lore skill seems just... wrong without subskills. It falls into every player's responsibilty to use it in appropriate situations only (such as a scholar type character using it to identify a certain creature for example).
Seeing it as catch-all skill to roll on whenever a character wants to know something is just plain wrong, especially when trying to use it as a substitute for another skill whether it is Spellcraft or Survival.

[Machiavelli]

I think it should have been scattered into the half a dozen or so general knowledge skills rather then being put under one universal category that even fighters can take... In that sense, I think it's dumb.

In that case, I reckon we can agree! But I don't think the skill system is really up to that unfortunately. I try to RP that my charcters lore is in areas that they'd reasonably know about... maybe a subject for another thread

[GodBeastX]

Personally I think lore is fine. I think it should have been named "General Knowledge" though.

[KimKandor]

Even the most devout fighter might have personal or family knowledge of history. No one needs devote a lifetime to book study like a wizard might to learn history from storytellers or family background.

[Machiavelli]

Personally I think lore is fine. I think it should have been named "General Knowledge" though.

Sooo, someone with a high lore skill is the Faerunian equivalent of a kick ass trivial pursuit player?