Hi,
I'm playing a human druid, and I was wondering why anyone would care to ever take the favoured class option presented in the Advanced Race Guide.
It says:
Druid: Add a +1/2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to change a creature's attitude.
Now why would anyone take this FC option twice, just to gain a +1 in Diplomacy and Intimidate checks for the sole purpose of changing a creature's attitude?
Why wouldn't you just take two skill points for your FC option, and put them into Diplomacy and Intimidate separately. Those bonuses wouldn't just count for changing attitude only, but for every use of those skills...
The only reason I can think of is to get a higher total bonus by circumventing the maximum ranks rule, since those bonus skill points wouldn't count as ranks, but as miscellaneous bonuses...
Am I missing something...?
In the right campaign, this could be pretty valuable, but usually, this is just a waste.
The favored class options aren't really balanced amongst each other, but I don't think they're big enough to really worry about optimizing - aside from the human Sorcerer/Oracle option, anyway.
You are correct. The advantage to selecting this boon is that it stacks with skill ranks and other abilities, namely wild empathy.
That said, this favored class bonus falls into the very large bin of, "too terrible to be worth considering" in my honest opinion.
Well the only situation I can see is if you are going to max diplomacy and intimidate anyway and then get the bonus on top of that.
Though yes, it's still rather pigeonholed
Hi,
I'm playing a human druid, and I was wondering why anyone would care to ever take the favoured class option presented in the Advanced Race Guide.
It says:
Druid: Add a +1/2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to change a creature's attitude.
It stacks on top of an already maxed skill. Theoretically useful. But I've got better options in other classes for that kind of thing.
I think the supposed attraction is that the ability boosts Wild Empathy. However, the intersection of "people with system mastery to shop for favored class benefits" and "people who give an actual f$*+ about Wild Empathy" is probably zero.
Create an Urban Druid. Maximize Diplomacy and Intimidate. Apply favored class bonus. At 10th level you'll have 10 ranks, +5 favored class bonus, +3 class skill bonus to Diplomacy, +2 class bonus to Diplomacy from 2nd level feature. And Charisma modifier at the top of that. Plus feats and magic items.
Very-very situational, of course. You are right that it's rarely worth taking unless one wants to make a Diplomacy/Intimidation-focused character.
Thaks all. I was wondering whether I'd missed something, but, apparently, I hadn't.
And by the way, in another campaign, I am indeed playing a human oracle. The Favoured Class Option for those rocks...
