Intelligence Increases and Retroactive Skill Ranks?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Is it true that if you increase your Intelligence, you retroactively gain enough skill ranks to bring a new skill up to max right away?

For example, my Solarian has just reached 5th level and his INT has increased from 11 to 13, and selects Culture as a new skill. Does he then get 5 ranks in Culture, equalling the skills he's previously been putting ranks in from 1st level, or does he only get 1 rank in Culture and 5 ranks in the other skills, meaning his Culture will continue to trail behind his other skills?

[Ellias Aubec]

You will get retroactive skill ranks for all the previous levels, yes. However you don’t have to stick them all in the same skill, you could put 3 in CUlture and 2 in Profession (Cook) say.

[Garretmander]

He should go from 16 skill points total to 25 skill points total. Meaning 9 skill points to spend anywhere at all as long as the total in any one skill is not higher than 5.

However, most times keeping a few skills maxed is most efficient.

[Wingblaze]

The rule book is pretty clear on this - page 26:

Note that ability score increases
are effective retroactively; when your character’s ability
score increases, it increases his total number of ability-based
statistics—things like Resolve Points, Stamina Points, or skill
ranks—as if he had the higher value at previous levels as well.
For example, a mechanic with an Intelligence score of 17 has
a modifier of +3, and thus gets 7 skill ranks to spend at each
level (see Chapter 5). If at 4th level he increases his Intelligence
score to 18, he’ll have a modifier of +4, and thus get 8 skill ranks
to spend from this level forward—but he’ll also get 3 additional
ranks to assign, reflecting the ranks he would have received if
he’d had an Intelligence score of 18 at his first 3 levels.

[Lethallin]

Yes, you get the retroactive skill points. Effectively getting another +1 modifier to your int instantly grants you a number of skill points = to your character level.

Also any time you have skill points you can distribute how you see fit.

So even if your solarian was in the middle of level 12, and you plug in a mk 1 int enhancer, you can shove all 12 of your newly acquired points into culture, put 1 in 12 different skills, or however you want to do it, as long as none of your skill ranks go over 12 in this case.

[breithauptclan]

Yes. Which is a mighty nice improvement over D&D 3.5 where bumping intelligence would make your character really hard to validate the skill allotment later.