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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1689105" data-attributes="member: 3146">Your analysis is flawed because it doesn't take enough factors into consideration.Now, starting out, lets admit that skill focus (anything) is not and probably never will be a power feat. If you want to be a powerhouse, spell focus, weapon focus, quicken spell, spirited charge, divine might, et al, are far more useful than skill focus (spot). So what good is skill focus?1. It is useful for NPCs who are not high level but wish to be good in their core competency areas. If the middle-aged merchant is a 5th level expert with a 12 intelligence and a 13 wisdom, how will he able to figure out how much things are worth and avoid being cheated? Skill Focus. If he maxes out his sense motive and appraise, takes Diligent and Negotiator as his 1st level feats (he's human) and takes Skill Focus: Sense Motive as his 3rd level feat, he can have a +14 sense motive skill and a +11 appraise (more in specific areas of his expertise). That may not be enough to make him invulnerable to scams but he's likely to see through your typical 16 charisma 6th level bard's bluff (+12) and still has a good shot if that bard is wearing a circlet of persuasion (+15).Similarly, an experienced safecracker in the thieves' guild might not be particularly high level but he still needs to be able to open DC 40 locks? How will he manage? Well, he can get masterwork tools for +2, Nimble Fingers, Skill Focus Open Locks, an 18 dex (he's got to have some natural talent) and take twenty. That's only DC 31 so he needs nine ranks. Now we know that the safecracker's minimum level is Rog or Expert 6 (which one will depend upon whether he's good at sneak attacking people or not--if he isn't, he's an expert).2. It's useful for some skills to remain ahead of the curve. Traps in the DMG don't go much past CR 10 but they go up to DC 34. So, if one assumes that traps are supposed to track roughly the party's CR, then that means a 10th level rogue should be able to have a chance at beating the DC 34 trap. So, how does our tenth level rogue do? 13 ranks of disable device is a good start. Masterwork tools gives another +2. A 14 int brings him to +17. A Guidance spell brings him to +18 and a heroism spell brings him to +19. But he still needs to roll a 15 in order to disarm the trap. Since rolling a 9 or less sets the trap off, he has a 30% chance of disabling it and a 45% chance of setting it off on the first roll. By the second attempt, he has a 51% chance of having disabled it and a 70% chance of having set it off at least once (assuming these aren't mutually exclusive results, he could have set it off on the first round and disabled it on his second attempt). Not particularly good odds.But, give the rogue skill focus and now he has +22 and only needs to roll a 12 to disable the trap and needs to roll a 6 to set it off. So his chance to disable is 45% and his chance to set it off is only 30%. Now his odds of disabling it in two attempts are 70% and his odds of setting it off at least once in two attempts are only 49%. That's a lot better.Contrary to Green Slime's contention, skill increasing spells and items actually make skill focus more valuable in such cases rather than less. If we assume that the rogue has the tools from a vest of escape (+4 bonus instead of +2) or Greater Heroism instead of Heroism, the rogue's bonus goes up to +24 (+26 with both) and he can now take ten to disable the trap. Without skill focus, he needs to roll and that makes it a much riskier business.Concentration can be similar. At low levels, skill focus makes the checks for casting defensively, etc easier and it makes the point that they become trivial come three levels sooner. At high levels, it makes checks for casting while grappled easier and can make the check for concentrating while damaged possible. (By 14th level, being struck for 25 points of damage while casting a spell is hardly inconceivable and the +3 makes a significant difference when rolling a DC 35 check--it's sometimes the difference between usually failing and succeeding as often as not).For skills that are regularly needed at the top end of their game like search and disable device, skill focus is a good way to make situations that would otherwise be challenging trivial and situations that would otherwise be impossible doable.3. Skill focus is sometimes useful as a substitute for skill points.This is true of cross-class skills. The fighter who wants to be decent at spotting can be decent by wearing eyes of the eagle, maxing his cross-class ranks, and taking Alertness and Skill Focus: Spot. At 13th level, with a 12 wisdom, he'll have +19 to his spot score--about what a normal 13th level elven ranger might expect to have or what a 13th level rogue with eyes of the eagle and a wisdom penalty might have.A cleric with a low intelligence who wants to be good at anything other than concentration will need to use skill focus--either to substitute for concentration skills or for the other skills he wants.So, while it's quite true that there are often better choices in terms of raw power than skill focus, it doesn't follow that skill focus is a worthless feat.</blockquote>

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