Reading the D&D rules in a strict-constructionist-to-a-fault manner. For instance, we have the rules for Knowledge checks.
"In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster."
"An untrained Knowledge check is simply an Intelligence check. Without actual training, you know only common knowledge (DC 10 or lower."
So, let's take a Half-Orc Commoner who was lucky enough to wind up with the Elite array. Relevant to this is that he winds up with an Intelligence score of 7, and no ranks in any Knowledge check. He works on a bison farm, since D&D's strict rules lack cows. If we first grant that "monsters" refers to anything in the Monster Manual (this seems like a reasonable definition), then we note that our Commoner cannot identify a bison and its special powers or vulnerabilities, since that rule is more specific (applying only to a subset of Knowledge checks).
However, he can identify a bison OR its special powers or vulnerabilities with a given roll, provided that they are common knowledge, thanks to the use of the "and" operator in the specific rule. Unfortunately, he works as a day laborer on a farm with a very overbearing supervising farmer, so he's always stressed and must roll, rather than take 10. He also makes a Profession (farming) check to milk it. He succeeds at milking the bison. Let's be fairly generous and say that knowing what a bison is is DC 0. Nevertheless, he rolls a 1 and gets a -1 as a result - he has no idea what the hell he just milked, but he rolls a 12 on his check to identify its special powers or vulnerabilities. He's pretty confident that, whatever it is, it has no special powers, but it is vulnerable to axes and other weapons (even if vulnerabilities need to be special, which is ambiguous, there are many creatures that are not, making this vulnerability arguably special).
Let's move on to an educated wizard in a pitched battle with a young adult red dragon. This fellow is trained in Knowledge (arcana), and has a high Intelligence modifier. He handily beats the DC of 39, getting a 50. He learns that the dragon is vulnerable to cold, and also to magic weapons, but that is the only information he can seem to recall. Unfortunately for him, red dragons are not psionic, and thus have no powers (much less special powers) to identify.
There's also room to define "monster" as having a moral definition, rather than anatomical. This would suggest that a Paladin's detect evil ability must compete with trained scholars who can instantly identify whether or not somebody is Evil, and with additional information on what they're capable of, to boot.
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Topic: [MILK] There were 12 eggs here what did you do with them? (Happy thread?!) (Read 16309447 times)