How bad/good is just one level of bardic knowledge ?

[CyberThread]

Just curious, how is just a one level dip of bardic knowledge, if you gain it from a PRC?

[JoshuaZ]

Just curious, how is just a one level dip of bardic knowledge, if you gain it from a PRC?

Assuming 3.5: It depends on the context and how many ranks in knowledge skills you already have. If you don't have a lot of knowledge then this can be substantially useful. If you already have a lot of knowledge skills then the bardic knowledge isn't likely to often matter much.

Assuming PF: This reverses to some extent in a weird way in Pathfinder. For a bard or other high int character, bardic knowledge is sort of meh. For a one level dip it is quite nice because one gets to treat all those knowledge skills as trained.

[prufock]

Still pretty good, I'd say. Bonus = 1 level + Int bonus + 2 from having 5 ranks Knowledge (history), so it depends on your intelligence bonus more than anything else. Note: Paragnostic Apostle levels count for double (I think the ability is called "lore" though), so it would be 2 + Int + 2.

Editing to say: try to get it to at least +10, so you can make a DC 30 check (the max for bardic knowledge).