As my present character (a wizard) moves his way up the levels, for now there are a few skills I'm maxing out at every level, but I found myself wondering whether that's always a good idea, even for the skills my character depends on most. For instance, obviously as a wizard I'm maxing out Spellcraft. But at what point can I say, "Enough, I'll be able to make every check I might reasonably ever need to make"? For instance, if my main uses for Spellcraft will be crafting and identifying magical items and spells, it looks like there's not much point in having more than a +23 modifier for identifying spells (so I'd be guaranteed to identify a 9th-level spell being cast, a DC 24) or a +34 for identifying items (like a CL 20 item, a DC 35). Since most of the time identifying items is something you can take 10 on, really that means you need a +25 max. So, doing the math, I figure by the early teen levels I'll have the following modifiers when I identify an item: +3 Class skill, +2 elf, +5 Intelligence (I expect to have a 20 Int by then), +2 for the Headband I intend to have by then, so +12 before I factor in the actual ranks. So I figure I need 13 ranks in Spellcraft to cover all bases, and anything after that is a waste. (If I factor in the use of the identify spell, I can probably make the +23 for identifying spells my target, and stop at 11 ranks.)
On the other hand, if I were investing in skills like Stealth or Bluff, there isn't really a ceiling to the investment, since they're usually involved in opposed checks, and so you never know how high the other guy's check might go. So for those, it looks like you might want to max it out forever.
So my question: What, for you, are the caps you put on skills you take? When do you say "enough" for the skills you care about?
The easy way is to just look at the listed DCs for the regular skill attempts, and stop at 1 less than that. For opposed checks, you're right, you probably want to keep it maxed out. So, really, you have the gist of it.
I'd keep Spellcraft maxed out, though, in case you decide to make magic items.
Typically, I just pick (X) skills (where X is how many skill points I get a level) and keep them maxed out.
If you ever make magic items, depending on the items you make, you might still need more Spellcraft. That depends on if you try to make something while missing a bunch of prerequisite spells. Just something to consider.
Otherwise, you have to look at each skill on its own. Knowledge skills need to be maxed out if you want info on monsters. Some skills have uses that involved opposed rolls, so those get maxed out. But others you take for flavor or just don't have high DCs (Linguistics perhaps, unless you're doing forgeries).
Craft/Profession can just be very low but the rest of them it depends on what you want to do with it.
But at what point can I say, "Enough, I'll be able to make every check I might reasonably ever need to make"?
It definitely depends on the skill in question. For checks that involve opposed rolls the answer is "never" since your enemies will continue to grow stronger as you do.
For other skills with set DCs, there can definitely come a time when you'll either automatically succeed at most of what you want to do, or have a chance of failure so small you're willing to live with it.
My PC is currently level 4, and I don't see him not maxing out most of his core skills for a while, but we'll see how things stand at level 10. :)
Most of the "Core Survival" Skills can make do with a 5 in them, most others will as well.
Really Perception is the only skill you need to Max out consistently...
Core Survival: Acrobatics, Climb, Perception*, Survival, Swim. *This is one that you need Maxed out.
Craft, Profession, and a few others, the ones that you only use against Commoner 1s and the like, can be fairly low. Again those skills are special cases for the individual build.
Anything with scaling DCs (acroabatics, perception) would be the ones I'd consider maxing.
Climb/Swim etc though, get mostly replaced by spells later on. Why make DC 25 swim checks when you can get swim speed (no need for swim check) for all day long?
Acrobatics it depends on what you are using it for. Basic Jumping you can get by with 5-10 Ranks based on Stats. Tumbling... Well that might need to be higher...
In the low investment category are half the knowledges, climb, swim, acrobatics, and linguistics.
I disagree regarding Acrobatics. It's very valuable to adjust positioning for any melee, and tumbling's DC is your foe's CMD, which will only become higher as you level. I suppose for caster's it could be considered low investment, but for melee it's definitely one to max.
I have never really used Acrobatics for anything other than clearing a Gap while Exploring or Chases...
In addition, you can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics. ... You cannot use Acrobatics to move past foes if your speed is reduced due to carrying a medium or heavy load or wearing medium or heavy armor. If an ability allows you to move at full speed under such conditions, you can use Acrobatics to move past foes.
You can't tumble if your speed has been reduced due to load or armor, which means that only certain characters (dwarves, fighters w/ Armor Training, those who wear light or no armor, etc) benefit from max ranks in Acrobatics. Everyone else just needs enough to beat the static DCs.
Wow...
Let's be honest, we've all been there!Wow...
My group combines Jumping, Climbing, and Swimming into a Skill called Athletics. We have gotten up to a 35 with that and it was mainly to dive into a lake from a crashing ship that went over a water fall.
Fly is surprisingly situational in my experience...
Fly is actually a skill I'm going to need to invest in a bit; my character is an air elementalist who will be able to fly at will at level 10, so I expect to spend a fair amount of time flying and want to be able to easily manage the more demanding DC's even in high winds. Situational or not, I want that particular base covered.