or whatever its called.
Our ruling was that when you use a magic item to raise your intelligence score, you can pick one skill per modifier raised and henceforth you get max skill points in that skill. I've searched the rules and i can't find a better way than that, one that doesn't force you to keep track of what LVL you were when you gained the Magic item. Is there an official ruling? Any help would be hot.
The bonus to intelligence would in fact provide a skill point that works retroactively for levels. i.e. if at level 10, you gain an additional +1 Int, you would gain 10 skill points to show that.
Q: Do I gain retroactive skill points for when my intelligence score increases through non-magical means? I can't find a definitive answer in the rules.
A: (James Jacobs 4/13/10) All bonuses are retroactive when an ability score increases, be they bonuses to damage, to skill ranks, to hit points, to saves, to skill checks... all of them. Skill ranks not being retroactive are a 3.5 convention we specifically removed from the game because it was a weird exception to the rule, and since now there are no exceptions to this rule, there's no need to specifically state that skill ranks are retroactively granted if your Intelligence goes up.
Only permanent Intelegence boosts increase the Skill Points per level, and it is not retroactive. However, the Headband does automatically grant max ranks in a Skill per +2 bonus, (which basically compensateds for that).
Bt it isn't a bad house-rule to just grant extra skill points.
You are mistaken. The skillpoints for Inherent INT are retroactively added.
You are correct about max ranks in a skill, but your modifiers to that skill, do they stack on top?
- Relevant ability modifier does, but what of Skill Focus and Class Skill bonus and possibly Racial bonuses?
There is an official ruling on this already.
When you put on the headband you don't gain any skills because it is a temporary bonus (just as if you had cast fox's cunning on yourself). You do however gain the benefits outlined here, such as increases to intelligence-based skills.
Only when they become permanent bonuses after wearing the headband for 24 hours, do you get the full benefits of an increased intelligence score.
Note that, that does not mean you can take the headband off and give it to someone else while keeping the bonus. To do so, would cause you to lose it's benefits and you would have to start all over again when putting it back on again. (Don't ask me why they call it permanent, when it really isn't.)
Anyways, the creator of the headband chooses one skill for every 2 points of intelligence the headband grants. The wearer of the headband (after 24 hours) gets max ranks in those skills.
You can find many of these headband rules here.
It's as simple as that.
EDIT: Man. Ninja-swarmed.
Ok,
here we go...
Headband of Vast Intelligence +2 (Perception)
After putting it on, you get the following immediate benefits :
+2 INT, which grants +1 to all INT skills and INT checks.
After you have worn the Headband for 24 hours you get the following benefits :
Your level in Skill Points which must be applied to Perception. These skill points override any skill points you already have in Perception. So, if you were a 5th level character with 14 WIS and Perception was a class skill for you and had 3 ranks in Perception, then your new perception skill is 5 (Ranks) + 2 (Wis) + 3 (Trained) = 10. You lose access to the 3 skill points you already had in it, but they are not lost. If someone knocks the headband off or sunders it, then you fall back to having 3 ranks in Perception, giving you an 8 in Perception.
If instead, you had a Headband of Vast Intelligence +4 (Perception, Knowledge (Arcana))....
After putting it on, you get the following immediate benefits :
+4 INT, which grants +2 to all INT skills and INT checks.
After you have worn the Headband for 24 hours you get the following benefits :
Your level in Skill Points x 2 which must be applied to Perception and Knowledge (Arcana). These skill points override any skill points you already have in Perception. So, if you were a 5th level character with 18 INT (with headband) and 14 WIS and Perception was a class skill for you but Knowledge (Arcana) was not and had 3 ranks in Perception, then your new perception skill is 5 (Ranks) + 2 (Wis) + 3 (Trained) = 10. You lose access to the 3 skill points you already had in it, but they are not lost. If someone knocks the headband off or sunders it, then you fall back to having 3 ranks in Perception, giving you an 8 in Perception. Your new Knowledge (Arcana) skill is 5 (Ranks) + 4 (Int) = 9. If someone knocks the headband off, you have no knowledge (arcana) skill anymore.
A headband always has the skill it boosts associated with it at creation. If it boosts more than one, all skills boosted by it are specified at creation time.
If you boost Linguistics, you get a bunch of new languages, which really should be specified at item creation time (in order they are received). Note that this can get really confusing, because if you already had 3 ranks in Linguistics, and had 3 languages, and put on a headband with linguistics, it overrides your base skill and you lose those languages while you wear it, and instead pick up the languages the headband has.
Note the last part about languages has not yet been put into an FAQ, but JJ and SKR (if my memory serves correctly) both agreed that basically everything that gets a boost from INT should be assigned on the headband at creation time to avoid issues down the road.
EDIT : Ninja'd by the Dork, but I had more information and examples, so I feel vindicated. :)
as per the description of the item. You gain ranks based on your HD after wearing it for 24 hours. If your HD changes for some reason, the headband will reflect that change 24 hrs later. Neither the caster level nor character level of the creator factors into it.
After being worn for 24 hours, the headband grants a number of skill ranks in those skills equal to the wearer’s total Hit Dice. These ranks do not stack with the ranks a creature already possesses. These skills are chosen when the headband is created.
For example:
Wizo the 8th level wizard makes a +2 headband of vast intelligence and picks animal handling as the skill. Wizo wears the headband and after 24 hrs gains 8 ranks in animal handling. Later that night Remmy the 2nd level rogue steals the headband and wears it. After 24 hours Remmy gains 2 ranks in animal handling. Deciding that it isn't a useful item Remmy pawns the headband to Fifi the 10th level adventuring Fighter. After 24 hrs Fifi gains 10 ranks in animal handling. Fifi likes the headband and keeps wearing it. After a few adventures Fifi levels becoming an 11th level fighter. 24 hours after gaining that new level Fifi's ranks in animal handling become 11.