Apprentice/Mentor Feats

[Yogibear41]

Is it possible to go through the apprentice ship feat as normal, then upon reaching level 5 trading it out for mentor as listed in the feat, but then NOT gain an apprentice, and still get the +2 bonus on two skills?

Working on a theoretical build where the character will have absolutely no spell-casting ability, but I want to get UMD as a class skill and taking dips is not an option. So I figured he could be an apprentice to an actual spellcaster and pick up on the knowledge of spell-craft and UMD but never actually learn spells. So by this token the character would eventually finish out his apprenticeship but would probably make a pretty crappy mentor considering he himself cannot actually cast spells.


Alternatively are there any other feats that can add skills to any class/race as class skills? I think I remember one but it was specific to a certain race.

[jedipilot24]

Is it possible to go through the apprentice ship feat as normal, then upon reaching level 5 trading it out for mentor as listed in the feat, but then NOT gain an apprentice, and still get the +2 bonus on two skills?

Working on a theoretical build where the character will have absolutely no spell-casting ability, but I want to get UMD as a class skill and taking dips is not an option. So I figured he could be an apprentice to an actual spellcaster and pick up on the knowledge of spell-craft and UMD but never actually learn spells. So by this token the character would eventually finish out his apprenticeship but would probably make a pretty crappy mentor considering he himself cannot actually cast spells.


Alternatively are there any other feats that can add skills to any class/race as class skills? I think I remember one but it was specific to a certain race.

No, it doesn't work like that; and here's why:

"Spellcaster mentors are not as useful as the other seven mentors for characters who cannot cast spells themselves. A spellcaster grants her apprentice a +2 competence bonus on Spellcraft checks. The tutelage of a spellcasting mentor grants additional benefits only if the apprentice shares the same class as his mentor. The apprentice only gains these benefits when he gains a level in this class."

[Yogibear41]

I'm not sure what you mean no to. A non-spellcaster can still be an apprentice to a spellcaster and gain UMD and Spellcraft as class skills, he just doesn't gain the other benefits, if that is what you mean.


However, it never says that a person can be a spellcasting mentor if they can't cast spells themselves(then again it doesn't say they can't either)

It just seems silly to think a person would remain an apprentice forever, after learning all they could from the mentor, in this case only about spellcraft and UMD but not enough to cast spells themselves, perhaps they lacked any sort of talent with said spell casting ability and tried but just could not grasp it.