Social Grace is listed among Vigilante Class Social Talents.
The wording reads:
"Social Grace: The vigilante selects any one Intelligence-, Wisdom-, or Charisma-based skill other than Perception or Use Magic Device. Whenever the vigilante is in his social identity, he receives a +4 circumstance bonus on checks with the selected skill. At 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter, he can select another skill (with the same restrictions) to gain this bonus."
Would you consider it illegal to take Social Grace for a same skill more than once (as separate Social Talents, of course; not as a secondary upgrade at the 5th, 9th etc. level as stated in the rules)?
Or, alternatively, would it be possible to take two Social Grace talents for two different skills at two different level (let's say, SG talent 1 for Skill A at the 1st level, and SG 2 for Skill B at the 3rd level), and yet, once it is due to upgrade (upon reaching the 5th level), to cross-apply the facility to the skills already boosted (talent 1 upgrade goes to Skill B, talent 2 upgrade goes to Skill A)?
I have to admit that for the PFS mechanics Social Grace seems to be the only truly applicable Social talent for a vigilante.
Taking it for the same skill more than once would have no effect, since bonuses of the same type don't stack, a rule to which I do not believe circumstance bonuses are an exception.
Furthermore, you can't take the same talent more than once unless it explicitly says you can (such as with the Combat Skill talent)
As Brew Bird says: Even if it doesn't specifically state that you can't pick the same skill twice (though it does say "another", it does not mention that you can pick the same twice), there's other rules preventing you from gaining that bonus twice. It's a circumstance bonus, which doesn't stack with other circumstance bonuses (you would gain two +4 circumstance bonuses. Not a +8 circumstance bonus as it would have to say if that was the case from picking the same skill twice).
And you can't select talents (feats and other stuff) more than once unless it's specifically noted. Not that it would matter, since it's still a circumstance bonus from the second talent as well.
I haven't played PFS, I've only seen some of the scenarios. But I don't think the Vigilante is in anyway "optimal" for most PFS scenarios. The Vigilante class, unlike the other classes, is not meant for all kinds of games. It is specifically designed for role-play heavy games and games with more intrigue.
Taking it for the same skill more than once would have no effect, since bonuses of the same type don't stack, a rule to which I do not believe circumstance bonuses are an exception.
Furthermore, you can't take the same talent more than once unless it explicitly says you can (such as with the Combat Skill talent)
Actually, the "from the same source" rule applies only to untyped bonuses, although spells have an extra rule preventing them from stacking. *
But, Social Talent says "Unless otherwise noted, a talent can be selected only once.", so you can't pick it up twice.
*:
Bonus Types: Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don’t generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus of a given type works (see Combining Magical Effects). The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one, although most penalties have
no type and thus always stack. Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source.
The only notion of something like "same source" is in that sentence that only mentions untyped bonuses. The "Combining Magical Effects" explicitly concerns "Spells or magical effects" and is thus irrelevant for the nonmagical Social Grace talent.
For the sake of completeness, the rule for spells is "Spells that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves."
Actually, the "from the same source" rule applies only to untyped bonuses, although spells have an extra rule preventing them from stacking. *
But, Social Talent says "Unless otherwise noted, a talent can be selected only once.", so you can't pick it up twice.
** spoiler omitted **
Thank you. That was just my understanding of the following:
'A circumstance bonus (or penalty) arises from specific conditional factors impacting the success of the task at hand. Circumstance bonuses stack with all other bonuses, including other circumstance bonuses, unless they arise from essentially the same source.' from d20pfsrd (not sure, though, what was their source for that specification).
I don't have a Player's Handbook, so I can't be sure where it actually originated from, but d20pfsrd.com copied that text from the 3.5 SRD. To my knowledge, that text does not appear anywhere in Pathfinder rulebooks.
Brew Bird wrote:
Circumstance and racial bonuses can stack? How on earth did I not know that?
Because the CRB is a complete mess lacking any kind of proper structure? The whole stuff is in the magic rules, and the "Common Terms" section does only mention the general rule of bonuses of a same type not stacking, without mentioning the exceptions. The 3.5 glossary where the text Timo Fey quoted comes from does not exist in the CRB (which is why d20pfsrd.com filled it in with 3.5 text, like they did for e.g. the burrow rules that are lcompletely lacking from PF rulebooks).
But don't feel bad, I only found out about circumstance and race bonuses stacking from the first discussion about the Offensive Defense rogue talent stacking with itself, where someone quoted the above ruletext. Dodge bonuses are mentioned in the armor bonus section, but as I said, the other two are only handled in the spell rules.
