[3.5] NPC Ur-priest

[Thurbane]

What's the best way to get into Ur-Priest using only NPC classes as a base, and still get there by 6th level? Is it possible? Is there a way to cheese it before 6th level?

Expert 4/Warrior 1...

[sreservoir]

it's skill 8 ranks, so you'll have to do HD cheese to early entry it. anyway, optimal would be for levels 1 and 5 to both be in expert, and one of the levels between to be warrior, because warrior doesn't really have enough skill points to increase two cc skills without good intelligence.

1st and 3rd level feats will be the prerequisites, of course, though if you can get iron will from the otyugh hole, do that, and use the 1st level feat on something else.

incidentally, it's possible to enter gnome stoneblessed, though you'll have to get your knowledge (religion) cross-class if you don't drop back into expert at 5. you lose 1 point of BAB (you don't care; divine power) and seven skill points (12 int or human makes this not a problem).

[Urpriest]

You rang?! Wait, I'm not an NPC...

Anyway, I'd advise getting some Magewright in there, since they've got Arcane caster level to fuel your Ur-Priest CL. They get all Knowledges and Spellcraft as class skills, so with a high enough Int you only need Bluff. A human could do it with Apprentice:Criminal. As you've noticed, the Warrior dip is crucial for the Fort save. So I might do something like Magewright 4/Warrior 1 as entry. Without the Warrior dip 12 Int would get you there, with it you'll want 14 want to put your Warrior level in the middle and use all its skill points on Bluff. It does power your casting as a Magewright, so it's not a total waste.

[Halae]

there's a certain feat in Cityscape that allows you to increase the limit of a single skill by 1, so at level 4 you could have 8 ranks instead of having to wait until level 5. This is the only way I know of to bypass that restriction, and it carries quite a bit about roleplaying