Knowledge: Arcane Lore for Well Informed?

[Nyrath]

Well, as the title says; Would it be possible/permissable (likely through an application of the Benefit feat) to use Arcane Lore in conjunction with the Well Informed feat?

[Sandman XI]

What's the reasoning behind it?

[Nyrath]

Through a mixture of scrying, reading of signs and omens, summoning and questioning supernatural entities, the occasional tidbit slipped in from his liege, and actual use of mundane sources* Exile (in this case) keeps himself appraised of important individuals, whether natural, supernatural or just plain super. One never knows just who will cross ones path after all, and knowledge is power.

(*Gather Information +10 isn't too bad, not used straight in this example but mentioned since not everything he knows comes from supernatural sources)

Not everyone he encounters is going to be covered by this though, so at times he'll have to fall back on just plain Gather Information. And he can't substitute Arcane Lore for Gather Information in any other situation, just the use of the Well Informed feat.

[Dr Archeville]

I'd be disinclined to allow it. "Summoning and questioning supernatural entities" would be a use of Gather Information (you're interacting with them, so it'd fall under Interaction skills), and "occasional tidbit slipped in from his liege" would be akin to the "overheard rumors" version of Gather Info.

[Nyrath]

Very well, it's not a major issue. Since I've already invested some points into Gather Information I might as well keep going down that route.

[N/A]

What people often seem to forget is that Well-Informed is basically a Benefit feat that allows you to substitute your Gather Information skill for information that would normally be gained with a relevant Knowledge subskill check. Instead of having a specific background in a given field, the Well-Informed character just has contacts who do. Substituting one of those Knowledges for Gather Information misses the point and moves backwards.

If you look at the new format for NPC writeups, in Paragons and Freedom's Most Wanted, you'll see that most of the characters have two charts indicating what PCs might know about them - a specific Knowledge check, and a Gather Information check.