Knowledge (nobility and royalty)

Knowledge (nobility and royalty) deals with the nobility and those of royal blood, even those who were once noble but have fallen on hard times, or who were stripped of their titles for whatever reason. Those knowledgeable in this field can name off lineages, heraldry, family mottoes, who's related to whom and how, how to address people of a given rank, and even know a bit about individuals in the great houses. A PC can specialize in heraldry in general, or a noble house in specific.

Heraldry

The PC knows all the symbology used in heraldry - common, uncommon, and obscure.

On a DC 5 check, the PC can identify the house for which a given coats of arms belongs, or describe (and draw) a house's heraldry, if the house is one that is currently in existence and personally known to the PC. The DC increases to 10 for houses that are not directly known by the PC (read about them in a book or heard of them, but never seen them personally), and 15+ for minor or obscure houses, or those that are no longer in existence (+5 DC for each 100 years since the house disappeared).

On a DC 10 check, the PC can draw a coat of arms from a description.

Noble Houses

The PC knows all the members of a given noble or royal house, past and present, and many of their personalities as well. There is a chance he even knows some secrets of the house. People specialized in this subskill are often genealogists or historians retained by the house to keep track of its history and settle disputes or answer questions of lineage and relationships with other houses.

This skill is difficult to assign DCs to, since there is such a broad range of items that pertain to it – who belongs to the house, their relationships to each other and other houses, their personalities, habits, and mores, and even the dirty little secrets every house has. A good rule of thumb here is to use the bardic knowledge chart and assign DCs on a case-by-case basis.

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