Identification rolls for mundane foes

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

I don't see why the GM wouldn't have such latitude. Rule Zero exists for a reason.

Beyond Rule Zero. I don't think it's a case for an exception to the rule as much as a bad ruling. Unless it's assumed in your game that all characters went to an Adventurer's School where they were blackboarded information about trolls in a classroom, then their non-occultism or Non-Naturalist knowledge of them wouldn't make much sense unless communities are attacked by trolls often enough that more people know about the ecology of a troll than know the seasonal weather patterns. And if that's the case anyone who didn't come from one of these troll-siege regions wouldn't have any special background in understanding them.

I mean we live in a world with wild predators that are large and dangerous. If you were attacked by an elephant, would you know anything useful to take it down? Would you know how to move close to one without aggravating it into violence?