Diplomacy +23 at 3rd level??? Help, my player must be wrong!!!

Help, we've got a player who dun' git' himself a Diplomacy skill of +23 for a 3rd level without magic items:

* 6 ranks
* 5 ranks in each of Bluff, Knowledge (nobility) and Sense Motive gives +2 synergy each - +6
* Half-elf gives +2
* Negotiator feat gives +2
* Charisma 18 gives +4
* Skill Focus feat gives +3


Are there any stacking limitation errors here?

jh

Taking a gander at my PHB, it seems perfectly legit to me. Wow.

Q

It's correct by my understanding.

All I can say to that is wow.

The ONLY way I could see this not working is if Synergy bonuses didn't stack...

While it works, its really not as gamebreaking as one might think.

Yup. Dead Straight. All unnamed bonuses, so they stack.

However, it's not much different from the guy who makes a 20 STR 1st level half-orc barbarian, who has a +8 to hit when raging, and doing 1d12 +10 damage with his greataxe. It's maxxed out to the frame.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a curb to such monumental bonuses, you can house-rule that the skill synergy bonuses are named - circumstance bonuses or the like. Do that, and he drops about 4 to 6 points. On the other hand, it takes TEN ROUNDS of talking to change someone's reaction, so it's not that unbalanced. If the enemy is attacking you, most combats are done and over with in one minute anyway.

With help from the BoED, you can get higher... +29 on level 3 is possible.

If the character is a bard, then there's nothing wrong with it...

:\

AR

Hey, the player has focused the character to the max.

I hope your game has good intrigue and social plots so that he can make good use of all of that, and it wasn't just a "hah, look what I can do!"

john

It certainly seems like your player is correct. There are many options to keep in mind, however. Points 1 and 5 are the ones I recommend.

1) Do your best to adjucate the diplomacy skill "correctly" (or at least consistently.) In order to use the skill, the opposing party or parties must be willing to at least listen. If someone simply attacks on sight, diplomacy won't have any use. I'm not saying that you've adjucated the skill in that fashion, but I've seen GMs give diplomacy too much power.

2) I would recommend against this since your player is obviously attempting to make his or her character a skilled diplomat, but per page 66 of the PHB, "Your DM may limit certain synergies if desired."

3) I doubt this argument is valid. Even if it is, I would not recommend it for the same reason as above. Do synergy bonuses grant "synergy bonuses" or "unnamed bonuses." If they grant synergy bonuses, then they should not stack. However, from my understanding, the bonuses are unnamed (and stack).

4) Reading the Diplomacy description to the letter:
Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Since this is one statement instead of three separate statements (according to grammar rules), you only get one +2 bonus. However, if everyone starts looking at the grammar of the core rule books, the game is pretty much unplayable (thus, this argument is even worse than the one made above.)

5) Is this breaking your game? If it is, work with the player to allievate the problem. If it isn't, let the player have fun.