Synergies

[LordBOB]

ok folks I have a question thats been bugging me for quite some time.

through out the time I have been on EnWorld I have noticed one thing over and over. People keep talking about how they can get + ( insert an Insane #) on any of their checks as soon as they start off.

On a recent thread in the "General" portion of EnWorld there was a player who got a check up to +36 ( or 33 or 39) and he was only lv. 3 ( i think)

By 3rd level the max ranks you can have is 6.....now even if you had an INSANE modifier of +5 that would STILL only be an 11. Now i know that there are feats and familiers that can add to your checks but i dont see HOW you can possibally make it all the way to +36 or more by 3rd level!!!!

I know that if you have 5 or more ranks in a certain skill than it increases other certain skills by +2......now does this only work once, or does the bonuses continue to add for each 5 ranks you have in that particular skill?

I basically need to know HOW this is being done.....am i TOTALLY missing something or am I just dumb?

Thanks to all who can relieve me of my headache.

 

[fafhrd]

You can only get synergy from a given skill once, at 5 ranks, however some skills have multiple synergistic skills. If you have 5 ranks in several skills that grant synergy to the same primary skill, you can pick up +2 from each. IIRC 3.0 called them synergy bonuses which caused some confusion since most typed bonuses don't stack. 3.5 got around that by calling them bonuses from synergy, hence they are untyped and can stack.

Not sure any of that was intelligible but I still need my coffee.

 

[LordBOB]

Not sure any of that was intelligible but I still need my coffee.

Yes that did make sense and it answered part of my question...the other part i need to know is HOW, if possible, you are able to get +30 or more on a check by lv.3

 

[glass]

I know that if you have 5 or more ranks in a certain skill than it increases other certain skills by +2......now does this only work once, or does the bonuses continue to add for each 5 ranks you have in that particular skill?

It works more than once, but you need 25 ranks for the second +2, and 45 for the third, and so on...

However, if you have different skills that all give bonuses they all stack.

By 3rd level the max ranks you can have is 6.....now even if you had an INSANE modifier of +5 that would STILL only be an 11. Now i know that there are feats and familiers that can add to your checks but i dont see HOW you can possibally make it all the way to +36 or more by 3rd level!!!!

The recent example uses diplomacy. For some reaon, diplomacy is esier than most skill to boost up. There are at least 3 skills that get you synergies (so that's +6 there), halfelves get a racial bonus (another +2), and a psicrystal can get you another +3 so there's another +11 to match the +10 you can get from a stat and ranks.

One of the warlock invocations gives quite a bit, and skill boosting items are cheap. And of course, that's not even considering Skill focus and whatever the +2/+2 feat is.

I'm sure someone with there books with them (or a better memory than me) can explain the build in detail.


glass.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Consider Jump, 3rd-level, and with your given +5 base modifier (call it a half-orc with base 18 stat, even point-buy, and +2 racial STR bonus).

Ranks: 6
base STR: +5
Tumble, 5 ranks: +2 synergy
potion of bull's strength: +2
acrobatic feat: +2
skill focus (jump): +3
potion of haste (speed of 60): +12 (+4/10ft above 30)
Run feat: +4
ring of jumping: +5

That's a total of +41 just off the top of my head. It could be higher with a ring of improved jumping or other specialty items.

 

[Enamel_32]

If you read a post later in that thread, the character was a warlock, using an invocation to gain a bonus to a few different checks.

 

[Cabral]

Artificers also have an infusion to make an item give a bonus on any (chosen at casting time) skill.

 

[diaglo]

some items give a bonus to skill checks too.

+5, +10, + X... cloak of elvenkind, boots of elvenkind, eyes of the eagle, and so on...


some spells bump things up really quickly...

glibness +30 edit: bluff not diplomacy
disguise self + 10 disguise


some other things to consider too are bonuses from allies. bard songs for instance. or aid another..

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Marshall is a typical fodder for diplomacy cheese.

Half-elf Marshall:
6 ranks +6
18 Cha +4
Motivate Cha (minor aura--all affected allies add the marshall's charisma bonus to all charisma based checks.... like diplomacy) +4
5 ranks sense motive +2
5 ranks knowledge: nobility and royalty +2
Half-Elf +2
Skill Focus Diplomacy (bonus feat) +3
---------------------
+23 at third level with minimal investment.

You could add on persuasive and negotiator to get another +4

Perhaps a circlet of persuasion for another +3

Cloak of Charisma +2 for another +2 (+1 ability and +1 motivate charisma)

And I'm sure that there are a couple other skills that give synergies to diplomacy.