Knowledge (local) deals with a small geographical area – up to about 50 square miles. As with Knowledge (geography), the PC knows something of the terrain, the inhabitants, and the locations of points of interest; this skill goes into more detail, however – the PC knows about local laws, legends, customs and traditions, and groups and organizations, including tribes of humanoids or other creatures in the area (the large green dragon lairing in the nearby swamp, for example). Since Knowledge (local) is such a focused skill, it is hard to specialize further in it.
On a DC 5 check, the PC can recall one piece of basic information about the area that is commonly known – laws, customs, the name of a group operating in the area, etc. For each 5 points above the DC, he can recall another piece of information. The following is a guideline for groups and organizations, but can be applied to any of the above.
On a DC 10 check, the PC can recall one of the following bits of information about a well-known group, like the local city watch, a famous mercenary company, or a major religious order: leader, general race of members, any famous members, the group's goal(s), their method(s) of operation (to include signature weapons), their symbol (if any), and any groups that are allied/opposed to them. For each 5 points above the DC, the PC can recall another piece of information. Finding out anything besides this increases the DC by 10 or more, depending on the specificity of the information (the name of the local watch captain's wife, for instance, is +10; the name of the captain's pet dog when he was a child is +20).
The DC increases according to the relative obscurity of the group, as well as how long ago they existed:
DC 15: City watch in another major city, the order of a lesser god, an openly-operating class guild, or a well-known illegal organization (thieves' guild, etc.)
DC 20: Small mercenary company (up to 500 members), famous adventuring groups, orders of demigods.
DC 30: Lesser adventuring groups, less well-known illegal organizations.
DC 40: Secret organizations (most assassins' guilds).
A good rule of thumb is to increase the DC by 5 for every 100 years since the group last operated.
