Bestiary and the lore system

1/4 - you get it when you first start a fight with a creature, it reveals the name and size of the creature

The rest of the entries are gained after finishing a fight with a creature present, after a successful identification check but no more than once per fight - it doesn't matter how many enemies of one type you fight or how many characters are proficient with a check, you only get maximum of one step at the time (except for the first step you get automatically when the battle starts and you can get the second step after the battle ends).

2/4 - reveals the challenge level, experience gained for defeating, the difficulty rating of the enemy, AC and HP and senses of significance they possess (like darkvision). You can get it after the first fight with the creature present,

3/4 - reveals move ranges of the creature, attributes, attack types/bonuses/special properties, skill proficiencies, saving throws (ex. Str+5, Dex+4) and languages known,

4/4 - reveals immunities (to status effects), resistances, vulnerabilities, powers and treasure (I'm not sure if the treasure works) of the creature.

You can also find out what enemy type does the creature represent as soon as you get 1/4 (useful for checking if ranger's favourite enemy applies) but you see this information in the bestiary list, before accessing a specific entry.

4/4 is incredibly helpful, but general knowledge of the Monster Manual, coupled with fantasy common sense (e.g. undead are resistant to necromancy damage) get you about 75% of the way there.  :) 

4/4 is incredibly helpful, but general knowledge of the Monster Manual, coupled with fantasy common sense (e.g. undead are resistant to necromancy damage) get you about 75% of the way there.  :) 

It sure is but getting there when you need to fight the monster on 3 different occasions risks that you will know what to expect from an enemy before you get to 4/4. I wouldn't mind if there were encyclopedias to be bought/lore checks in the world to be passed that would automatically get you to 2/4 or 3/4 (or 4/4 in case of bosses) or +1 to knowledge about an enemy after a passed lore check (like successfully using animal handling on a dead wolf you find somewhere).

But I doubt we'll get that due to release being just around the corner.

There is a spell your wizard can learn at high level that will unlock full knowledge of all monsters in the target area.

Seems like the Survival check plays a significant role in what is gained. Even though any 10+ roll says 'Success', it seems like a 15+, or 20+ roll might give more than one level. Trying to confirm the numbers...or maybe one success adds one knowledge level and two adds 2 levels. Definitely only seems to consider the character with the highest Survival modifier though which seems a tad unfair from a realism standpoint but hey its a game mechanic. Wish it was clearer how it works. I have definitely got 2 levels in a first encounter, but not sure that I ever added more than one after that...