Getting PrC's early?

[Rossebay]

So, I wanted to become a Radiant Servant of Pelor as quickly as possible, and I was wondering, would it be possible for me to gain 9 ranks of Knowledge: Religion without being level 6? Because I need the class features at a lower level, if possible. :[

[LaughingRogue]

As far as I know there is no way to gain Ranks past your max ranks for your level --- I'm pretty sure you're going to need to be level 6, sorry

LaughingRogue

[Moginheden]

Some DMs will let you count feats that give bonuses to skills, (like skill focus) as if they were ranks in the skill for exactly this purpose. But it's up to the DM and not RAW.

This way you end up wasting a feat in exchange for getting in early.

[Urpriest]

There is one very limited and annoying way (Favored+Primary Contact feats from Cityscape will let you have one more rank in a skill than the cap at just the level you take it, so you need to get a bonus feat at level 5 to qualify then), and a few extremely cheesy ways (if you reassign your skill points while you have bonus hit dice from something like Inspire Greatness or being polymorphed into a Dusk Giant and eating chickens, you can overcome caps, and the skills aren't lost when you lose the bonus hit dice since the points themselves come from your former hit dice). But in general skill points are a big part of the whole hit dice system that underlies how D&D 3.5 characters are built, and screwing with it is unwise and undesirable.

[Zaq]

It's hard to break the cap for skill ranks. It can be done, but it requires some pretty heavy shenanigans, usually involving Polymorph and its ilk. (Alternatively, Inspire Greatness + Psychic Reformation, but again, heavy shenanigans.)

[Silva Stormrage]

Here is a handbook on getting early entry into classes.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7061.15;wap2

[Psyren]

So, I wanted to become a Radiant Servant of Pelor as quickly as possible, and I was wondering, would it be possible for me to gain 9 ranks of Knowledge: Religion without being level 6? Because I need the class features at a lower level, if possible. :[

Assuming you're a cleric, you really don't need the help :[