Our DM is running a "brand new" campaign setting, so there's undoubtedly tons of lore written for this game. But even when using an established, official setting like Eberron or Forgotten Realms, it's best for the DM to have the most relevant lore on hand in case the players start getting curious. The last thing a DM needs is for the players to ask a question that he or she can't even improvise an answer for.
I like it when my players carefully avoid all the dialog possibilities I've prepared for and ask completely unexpected questions, forcing me to stumble into ad-hoc roleplaying. The horror!
I feel for Fluttershy here. Getting a low knowledge roll makes me feel like a derp. I always imagine my poor character focusing all of their attention on wracking their brain for information, and what do they get for their effort? "Cave bears live in caves."
Well, if the group's good-natured about it, out-of-combat failures can be pretty funny. The first party I played with contained a druid who had the most awful luck outside combat.
"We've been ambushed in the dead of night! What do we do? *roll Initiative* ......The druid falls back to sleep."
"It's snowing? *roll Nature* ......Thanks to your 'innate druid senses,' you know it's not supposed to snow in Spring."
I would usually play as a Dragonborn warlock who would have the worst time ever with anything unrelated to setting fire to stuff.
"I search the wall for a key" (our rogue was dead at that point) "A rock falls on your head."
"I lob a fireball into the darkness to light a path." "It hits a sleeping Red Dragon."
I hate posting stuff like this, but is Alicorn used in the right context her? Because I think that Alicorn is just a unicorn's horn, the the unicorn itself... Sorry >_< I love the comic so far though :D
While it does generally refer to the horn, Alicorn is also the word MLP:FiM uses for winged unicorns. So, maybe not technically the right word, but definitely the right word in context.
Actually, for all we know, the Amulet's name refers to a unicorn's horn, maybe because it adds to/amplifies its power - it could just as easily refer to granting a mortal unicorn an Alacorn's godlike power, though. Seems it'll be left to headcanon.
Seriously? You're going to ignore the canon and label it headcanon? Especially since your post is from October 2013 and the first direct reference to their species as Alicorn (yeah, that's how it's spelled in the series, get over it) is from Feb of that year (the end of Season 3).
Well, look at it this way. Religion would be pertaining to the laws and lore surrounding a godlike figure. But Princess Celestia doesn't have a church, or any religion dedicated to her. She's a current monarch, alive and interacting personally with the populace. So learning about her, the pony/alicorn/physical god would be more suited for a History check instead of Religion.
*roll*
-Woot, natural 20! What do I know about the ursa?
*checks book*
-Okay...you know that they attack with their claws and fangs.
-...Really? I wasted a critical hit for that?
"We've been ambushed in the dead of night! What do we do? *roll Initiative* ......The druid falls back to sleep."
"It's snowing? *roll Nature* ......Thanks to your 'innate druid senses,' you know it's not supposed to snow in Spring."
"I search the wall for a key" (our rogue was dead at that point) "A rock falls on your head."
"I lob a fireball into the darkness to light a path." "It hits a sleeping Red Dragon."