Skip Williams' Polymorphing Revisited article -- Alternate Form

[Noumenon]

I was comparing the Wildshaped Druid-as-Leopard in Skip William's polymorph article to the SRD leopard to make sure I understood the alternate form rules. The only change I didn't understand was that the SRD leopard's skills are

Balance +12, Climb +11, Hide +8*, Jump +11,
Listen +6, Move Silently +8, Spot +6​

and the Wild Shaped leopard's skills are

Balance +12, Climb +19, Concentration +9, Handle Animal +7, Heal +10, Hide +8, Knowledge (nature) +12, Listen +5, Move Silently +8, Ride +6, Spot +5, Survival +14 (+16 above ground), Swim +12​

The base druid's skills are as follows. It has the Athletic feat.

Climb +4, Concentration +8, Handle Animal +7, Heal +10, Knowledge (nature) +12, Listen +5, Ride +4, Spot +5, Survival +14 (+16 above ground), Swim +1​

Alternate form says "Except as described elsewhere, the creature retains all other game statistics of its original form, including (but not necessarily limited to) HD, hit points, skill ranks..."

So why is this druid gaining +12 to Balance, +15 to Climb, and +11 to Swim? Balance might be getting a +8 racial bonus and +2 Dex bonus, and Climb a +8 racial, +3 Str and +2 feat bonus, but that leaves both of them two points short. And the +11 to Swim has no basis at all.

I'm sure this question was asked at the time, but the comments link on the article is broken. Thanks, WotC web team...

 

[Starbuck_II]

I was comparing the Wildshaped Druid-as-Leopard in Skip William's polymorph article to the SRD leopard to make sure I understood the alternate form rules. The only change I didn't understand was that the SRD leopard's skills are

Balance +12, Climb +11, Hide +8*, Jump +11,
Listen +6, Move Silently +8, Spot +6
​

and the Wild Shaped leopard's skills are

Balance +12, Climb +19, Concentration +9, Handle Animal +7, Heal +10, Hide +8, Knowledge (nature) +12, Listen +5, Move Silently +8, Ride +6, Spot +5, Survival +14 (+16 above ground), Swim +12
​

The base druid's skills are as follows. It has the Athletic feat.

Climb +4, Concentration +8, Handle Animal +7, Heal +10, Knowledge (nature) +12, Listen +5, Ride +4, Spot +5, Survival +14 (+16 above ground), Swim +1
​

Alternate form says "Except as described elsewhere, the creature retains all other game statistics of its original form, including (but not necessarily limited to) HD, hit points, skill ranks..."

So why is this druid gaining +12 to Balance, +15 to Climb, and +11 to Swim? Balance might be getting a +8 racial bonus and +2 Dex bonus, and Climb a +8 racial, +3 Str and +2 feat bonus, but that leaves both of them two points short. And the +11 to Swim has no basis at all.

I'm sure this question was asked at the time, but the comments link on the article is broken. Thanks, WotC web team...

Funnier, check out the viper. swim gains + 16 points. Eagle gains +8. Leopard only gains +11 more.

I think the Skip was adding 1 +1 without the + sign and thought it was 11.