Faerie Lore - How Far Does It Go?

[SaxBasilisk]

I'm thinking about how to balance Faerie Lore with some of the other creatures in Pendragon.

My feeling is that it should extend to other human-like supernatural creatures, such as giants and ghosts. I don't think I'd use it for unicorns and dragons and the like.

How do you use it in your games? Admittedly, it seems closer to the source material for the knights to be given advice in such matters instead of knowing something themselves, but I don't want Faerie Lore to become useless.

[Morien]

I use it for pretty much all fantastical, supernatural things. Totally for unicorns and dragons and giants too.

Ghosts might be more religion although I have allowed Faerie Lore on occasion too. I'd have to check the Whispering Path to see what it uses.

[Alex]

1 hour ago, SaxBasilisk said:

My feeling is that it should extend to other human-like supernatural creatures, such as giants and ghosts. I don't think I'd use it for unicorns and dragons and the like.

In my personal experience it doesn't necessarily extend to ever getting a roll to see if you realize another PC in a long-running game is themselves Fae, so I'd say your mileage may very much vary on that. 🙂

[Voord 99]

Given that being good at a purely knowledge skill is an investment with a significant opportunity cost in Pendragon, I’m pretty generous and let Faerie Lore apply to pretty much anything marvelous about which a story might be told, if it is not obviously connected to the divine.  In fact, I often also let Read Latin apply to various kinds of knowledge as well.  

After all, what is the downside of letting these skills be capacious?  They often make life easier for the GM, and it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling that Faerie Lore is too overpowered and letting one character outshine the others. 🙂

[Morien]

1 hour ago, Voord 99 said:

Given that being good at a purely knowledge skill is an investment with a significant opportunity cost in Pendragon, I’m pretty generous and let Faerie Lore apply to pretty much anything marvelous about which a story might be told, if it is not obviously connected to the divine.  In fact, I often also let Read Latin apply to various kinds of knowledge as well.  

After all, what is the downside of letting these skills be capacious?  They often make life easier for the GM, and it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling that Faerie Lore is too overpowered and letting one character outshine the others. 🙂

Yep, fully agreed.

I just checked the Adventure of the Whispering Path, and Faerie Lore is used constantly there, including on how to lay ghosts to rest, which technically might be more Religion than Faerie Lore. But I wouldn't mind using either where they potentially overlap.

[MylesC]

On 10/12/2021 at 3:26 AM, Alex said:

In my personal experience it doesn't necessarily extend to ever getting a roll to see if you realize another PC in a long-running game is themselves Fae, so I'd say your mileage may very much vary on that. 🙂

Half-fae, to be fair.