| LarryLarry |
Mostly just for fun I'm interested in learning all the best ways to boost skills and designing characters with obscenely high total +skill bonuses, either in a specific set of skills or just any skill.
For the character I made below I gave each skill equal weighting, so +1 to Perception and +1 to Profession are both worth +1 to the total despite one obviously being more useful than the other. Any bonuses to Profession or Craft only count once despite the possibility of them applying to multiple sub-skills within those skills. No consideration was given for combat viability.
Level 5 Half-Elf Empiricist Investigator, 20 point buy, 12000g budget.
Stats: 22 Int (with headband), 16 Dex, 14 Cha, 8 Wis, 7 Str/Con
Half Elf: Favored class bonus adds 1/4 to inspiration checks (+22), Skill Focus (+3) Keen Senses (+2). Probably a few more minor alternate racial trait swaps that could be made.
Empiricist: Four and a half skills made int-based.
Traits: Student of Philosophy (Bluff checks to lie and all Diplomacy checks except gather information become int-based), Precise Treatment (Heal becomes int-based and +1 trait bonus).
Gold Spent: +2 Int Headband (4000g), 35 Ioun Stones that give +1 competence bonus to every skill (7000g), Heroism Potion (750g)
Feats: Elongated Cranium: Ovoid Compression (+2 untyped bonus to all int-based skills, -1 penalty to cha and wis based skills)
Deific Obedience: Magdh (+4 untyped bonus to all int-based skills),
Dilettante (+2 to knowledge skills if 1 to 5 ranks invested)
Investigator Talents: Expanded Inspiration (5 more free inspiration use skills),
Underworld Inspiration (5 more free inspiration use skills)
Adding Everything Up
I made the slight simplification of counting Bluff as entirely int-based, even though only about half of it is due to the trait. So some numbers are slightly overstated. 21 of the investigator's skills are int-based.
Ability Scores: Int (+126), Dex (+18), Cha (+8), Wis (-2), Str (-2)
Inspiration (assuming average roll): +99
Ioun Stones: +35
Dilettante: +20
Elongated Cranium: +36
Deific Obedience (Magdh): +84
30 class skill bonuses: +90
Skill Ranks to freely* distribute: +55 (*this build assumes 1 put in each class skill, 3 in Knowledge Religion, and 2 in 4 other knowledges)
Int Headband Skill Ranks: +5
Other Minor Bonuses: Skill Focus (+3), Keen Senses (+2), Precise Treatment (+1), Trapfinding (+2), 1 FCB in skill (+1)
Total Skill Bonus: 581
Also for 5 hours a day the Investigator can use extracts to maintain Heightened Awareness (+2 competence bonus, so only +1 due to ioun stones, to all knowledge skills and perception), and for 3 hours and twenty minutes a day he can maintain Heroism using Alchemical Allocation (+2 morale bonus on all skills).
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On a more practical note this build could be made reasonably combat viable without even losing very much of its skill bonus. Swap out Dilettante for Power Attack, Underworld Inspiration for Quick Study, shuffle ability scores around so Int only starts at 18, and spend the ioun stone money on standard gear. After all that the skill bonus still should be nearly +500.
Anything I miss? Items, feats, traits, class dips, things that could make this build, or any other, even more insanely good at skills? I considered the Breadth of Experience feat but as a Half-Elf being 100+ years old is nearly Venerable.
I'd also like to see how other classes can be built to maximize their skills.