Scholar

Time Taken: One round to several days.

Specialization: Particular field of study — archaeology, Jedi lore, history, geology, physics.

This skill reflects formal academic training or dedicated research in a particular field. Scholar also reflects a character's ability to find information through research. Characters often choose a specialization to reflect a specific area which they have studied. Specializations are subjects often taught at the great universities throughout the galaxy, including archaeology, botany, chemistry, geology, history, hyperspace theories, and physics. Specializations can also be topics a character can research on his own.

Scholar represents "book-learning," not information learned from practical experience. A character can know the various hyperspace theories inside and out, but this doesn't qualify him to fly starships through hyperspace (that's covered by the astrogation skill).

He might know the physical principles which make a blaster fire, but that doesn't make him a better shot. Gamemasters can choose to allow players a limited benefit under certain circumstances — the character is applying theory in a real-world situation. For example, a character with scholar: military tactics (the history of tactics) normally doesn't get a bonus to tactics rolls, but under certain circumstances, a good scholar: military tactics roll might merit a small (+ ID or so) bonus to tactics.

Gamemasters should allow players to choose their own scholar specializations — new ones can be created at the gamemaster's discretion. When determining a character's background, players should explain why and how they gained such academic training in a field.

Like many other Knowledge skills, the difficulty is based on the obscurity and detail of the information sought.