[3.5] Jack of All Trades Feat

[Thurbane]

I love the JoAT feat...

Lets you use Autohypnosis, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Knowledge, Lucid Dreaming, Martial Lore, Open Lock, Profession, Psicraft, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, Truespeak, Tumble, Use Magic Device & Use Psionic Device without ranks.

So what can you do to boost your skill checks in skills you only have virtual ranks in? Factotum and Marshal seem obvious, but what else is good for general skill check boosting?

Cheers - T

[HunterOfJello]

Bardic Knack ACF
Ancestral Knowledge feat


there are a few threads on the subject out there somewhere

[avr]

Aid Another works in some situations. Getting familiars/homunculi/cohorts/hired goons is left as an exercise for the optimiser.

Magic items (e.g. Circlet of Persuasion) and masterwork tools.

[INoKnowNames]

I've heard many good things about using Bardic Knack alongside Jack of All Trades to have effectively 10 ranks in all skills at level 20, which helps to make the Bard class even more of a... Jack of All Trades. :smallcool:

And Swordsaged by the Hunter of Jello. Dang!

[Kalaska'Agathas]

Bardic Knack ACF
Ancestral Knowledge feat


there are a few threads on the subject out there somewhere

Bardic Knack (and the Factotum's Cunning Knowledge) don't work with JoAT as written, unfortunately. Each requires at least one full rank for trained only skills (or skills in general, in the Factotum's case), which JoAT does not provide. I've played with it houseruled to work together though, and it's a lot of fun.

[Vaz]

A Bard can use it with Inspiration for two +10's to a check, while a Cleric can get +35 with Guidance of the Avatar and Divine Insight at CL10.

Charisma Based skill checks allow UMD, but BARD's MADness means it has a slightly ability to trigger outside of combat; if you're a Bard anyway, you're typically a skill monkey/party gap filler; UMD (or UPD) is pretty much a "prerequisite" for that.

Cleric's Wis based gets you access to Lucid Dreaming (the whole "instagib" thing); along with the ability to create anything you need; and this is available from 3rd level (although the bonus to skill checks is +28, not +35. Wis bonuses added on gives you +4 so, +32 is completely unbeatable).

Profession gets you effectively a +4 to checks which nets you some money, but it's not that good really.

Autohynosis has a decent chance of ignoring caltrop wounds.

Archivists have the same spells from Cleric list, but can get a +5 to Wis checks from Owl's Insight (Druid List), followed by Int bonuses to Knowledge.

Truespeak isn't much at all optimizeable, and even when it is optimizeable, it's not that good anyway as it's the basis of everything that keys off it.