So somehow during my quest to build my first kensai magus I slipped on the slope of wanting to incorporate intimidate in her possible strategies, and I've put in a few feats towards that. Namely dazzling display, violent display and shatter defenses, and then a cruel weapon because why not. (I know that violent display isn't PFS legal, it's a home game).
However, I can't really claim to have used intimidate much in that past, and I'm a bit unsure how much of a bonus one needs to be decent at it.
I'm building at lv15 to get an overview and so far she's got the following:
+15 skill ranks
+3 class skill bonus
+8 ability modifier (int because of bruising intellect trait)
+5 competence bonus from a glorious gorget.
I might also go for obtaining the spell "raiment of command" for an additional +5, though the spell seems a bit odd as its entry says that it's a sorcerer/wizard spell but it's not on the wizard/sorcerer spell list.
So at level 15 that would be +31 intimidate, +36 if I can get the spell. Is that decent enough for in-combat useage of intimidate? or should I try to fit in a skill focus or get the memorable trait for a bit more duration on affecting enemies?
If you're not using one of the options where it really matters how much you beat their HD +10 + wis mod by (thug rogue, skill unlock for intimidate) then that's plenty. There's very few cases where the intimidate DC is higher than that, and +36 is enough to intimidate a 20 HD creature with 20 wisdom every time.