Had a fascinating conversation with someone about this racial ability. And, I'd like to start a conversation here, because I see three options on how it works and all seem to be possible.
The text
"Comprehensive Education: Humans raised with skilled teachers draw upon vast swathes of knowledge gained over centuries of civilization. They gain all Knowledge skills as class skills, and they gain a +1 racial bonus on skill checks for each Knowledge skill that they gain as a class skill from their class levels. This racial trait replaces skilled."
Option 1
+100 skill points at lvl 1
* +1 racial bonus on skill checks for each knowledge skill that they gain from class skill from their class levels
- It just says "skill checks", so it means that the +1 for each knowledge skill.
- As the racial ability gives all knowledge skills as class skills, this means that each of those knowledge skills gives +1. For a total of +10 to all knowledge skills.
Option 2
* "...as a class skill from their class levels."
- Class levels is key here.
Now, a druid gets Knowledge (geography) and knowledge (nature). These are his class skills that he gains from his class levels, so he gets +2 to all skill checks. However, he also gains 8 class skills. So for him, he gets a flat +20, but because he has new class skills, they eventually become +24 class skills and the ability to roll more than 10. Still not as good as the bard/wizard, but then again, getting 8 class skills is pretty damn big.
On a more level playing field...an inquisitor gets:
Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int),
That's 5 class skills, for a +50 bonus. He also gets 5 new class skills, which will end up being +15. A total of +65 skill points.
On the highest end of the spectrum are wizards and bards. They get the straight +100 skill points.
Option 3
* "they gain a +1 racial bonus on skill checks for each Knowledge skill that they gain as a class skill from their class levels."
- This means that each of those class skills gets a +1.
So to use an inquisitor again, he gets +1 to Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int).
That's the equivalent of getting +5 skill points.
- He also gets 5 extra knowledge skills as class skills. That's like getting 15 extra skill points, plus the ability to roll over 10.
- Put together, that is +20 skill points by lvl 5.
Compare this to "skilled" which is being replaced. That gives +20 skill points by lvl 20.
"Skilled" might be seen as being "better" in that you can put all 20 into one skill, making it really high. But that only happens by lvl 20. With "comprehensive education", you get a straight +5 at lvl 1, and can get the full +20 benefit by lvl 5. You also get to be much more rounded.
So in effect, both "skilled" and "comprehensive education" give very similar 'amount' of skill points, and both have arguments on why they are better.
In my opinion, option 3 seems to be the most balanced. But the wording of the racial ability seems to work for options 1 and 2.
What are your opinions on this?