You possess a specialized area of knowledge, generally narrower than that of a full-fledged scholar. Lore acts as a catchall skill for information, similar to how Craft handles artisanal skills and Profession handles professional skills. Lore is always considered to be a class skill for all characters.
The category of a Lore skill can vary widely from that of another Lore skill. It could be regional (such as a city or country), about a discipline (such as cryptography), or related to a narrow set of people (such as famous musicians). The scope of region-based Lore skills can also refer to specific subcategories, such as taverns in a particular region.
A Lore skill must be narrow—far narrower than the most relevant Knowledge skill. The broader the scope of a given category of Lore, the shallower your knowledge is on that topic. If you know about taverns in a wide region, you know less about each of them than you would if you had Lore in taverns of a specific city. Lore skills normally can’t be used to identify monsters the way Knowledge skills can, unless they refer to a specific type of monster (such as owlbears or vampires). If Lore involves a common, broad category of race or monster, it needs to be more specific. Lore (elves) would be too broad, as would Lore (dragons).
Check: Lore skills use the same DC scale as Knowledge skills: DC 10 to answer easy questions, DC 15 for basic questions, and DC 20 to 30 for really tough questions. In many cases, the Lore skill can be used in place of a Knowledge skill if the subject in question belongs to that Lore's subject. The DC to answer that question is reduced by 10. For example, if the question is related to elven history, you can use Knowledge (history) to answer it, but if you use Lore (elven history), then the DC is reduced by 10. In most cases, the Lore skill cannot be used instead of a Knowledge skill if the question is not within the Lore's subject.
The table below describes some examples of Lore skills alongside examples of skills that would be too broad. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and the GM has final say on whether a particular Lore skill is appropriate.
Table: Lore Skill Examples
| Appropriate Lore Skills | Inappropriate Choices |
|---|---|
| A particular small city | Settlements (or smaller settlement) |
| One district of a large city or metropolis | An entire large city or metropolis |
| A particular monastery | Monasteries |
| Taverns in a region | Taverns |
| Bandits in a region | Banditry |
| Famous battles in a region | Famous battles |
| The spice trade | Commerce |
| Cats | Animals |
| Drow matriarchs | Drow |
| Dwarven history | Dwarves |
| Frost giants | Giants |
| A particular deity | Gods |
| Dagon | Demon lords |
| Phlegethon | Hell |
| Military commanders | Warfare |
| Famous singers | Music |
| Infernal contracts | Devils |
| Evocations | Spells |
| Silver and mithral | Metals |
| Tea | Beverages |
| Trees | Plants |
| Tattoos | Art |
Bards: Lore is treated as a Knowledge skill for the purposes of bardic knowledge and lore master, as well as similar abilities found in other classes, creatures, and archetypes. This applies only to Lore skills in which a character is trained. In other circumstances, use the more relevant Knowledge skill.