highest spellcraft check for a non caster.

[sideswipe]

hi playground. i need some help.

essentially i am going to be running a campaign at level 3 and one of the main aspects of it (not known to the players) is a ritual that is emulating an epic type spell.

i haven't read much about rituals but what i have read is that basicly this is how they work. giving spells or effects (within a story) that would normally be out of reach of normal casters out of their level.

i'm not here to debate weather this is RAW legal, what i would like is a way to get a mundane character who has no spellcasting abilities the highest possible spellcraft check. i want him to be ECL 7-10 and have spellcraft of at least 50. but is this possible? it is essentially a guy who has studied spells his whole life but has no ability to cast.

less cheese the better. but if cheese is needed then cheese is needed.
you can break WBL, but try not to go stupid with it.

thanks in advance guys.

[Jack_Simth]

Hmm...

Expert-7. Gray Elf (Racial +2 Int), Venerable (+3 Int/Wis/Cha, -6 Str/Dex/Con). Base 18 Int, base 16 Cha, puts all level boosts into Int, leaving an Int of 24 before items.
Skills: Max out Spellcraft and Use Magic Device, get 5 ranks in Decipher Script and Knowledge Arcana. 10 ranks in Spellcraft, so we're up to +17.
Kn(Arcana) Synergy for +2 (so +19)
Skill Focus(Spellcraft) for +3 (So +22)
Magical Aptitude for +2 to UMD and Spellcraft (so +24)
Headband of Intellect +6 (So +27)
Skill Focus(Use Magic Device) (to be explained later)


UMD a scroll or wand of Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a) for a quick +20 Insight.
Use that bonus to UMD a scroll of as high a caster level as you can manage of Improvisation (Spell Compendium)
UMD another scroll or wand of Guidance of the Avatar.
Burn both the luck bonus (+ 1/2 CL of the scroll) and the Insight bonus (+20) on the spellcraft check you're after.

That should do the job nicely. The headband of intellect isn't needed f you just go higher on the Improvisation, and you can drop a level or two of expert if you like.

[Snowbluff]

With an Apprentice feat, I think you can pick up Spellcraft as a skill. Skill Knowledge would do the same. This would give 14 Spellcraft at level 10.

It may be considered cheesy, but an item familiar would double it to 28.

Exemplar would let you take a 10 at level 4. I don't know if it would help or if there's a specific DC you are trying to make. It also gives +4 to a skill.

Skill Focus is +3. I only mention it because it's a prereq for exemplar.

Incarnates are Meldshapers. They get spellcraft and access to mage's spectacles, which give 4 spellcraft +2 for each essentia point invested. They have +1 to their soulmeld capacity by level 10, making that +10. You can pick up the soulmeld through a feat, but you would only get to spent 2 essentia.

That would give you 14 + 14 + 3 + 10 +4 = 45. ~10 from a d20 (or taking a 10), you would get 55 before items (other than the 2kgp item familiar) or int.

EIDT: Forgot the +4 from exemplar.

[sideswipe]

a bunch of good ideas from the start. a few i had already thought of.

instead of expert i was going to take human paragon 3. since that would both get the +2 i would lose for being human not grey elf and get the necessary skills.

im not looking to hit a particular DC per say, more for the fact that he would have a statistic high spellcraft. able to understand magic completely even without knowing how to cast.

the guidance of the avatar will be if he starts the ritual. which is useful, thanks.

i have never read the incarnum rules at all. and have no idea of essentia. but i like the idea of an item familiar. possibly a book that is an intelligent item, teaching him the secrets of magic.....

damn, exemplar requires 13 ranks in a skill. so if that is knowledge arcana and i take the feat that ups the skill ranks of knowledges.... it can be their 10th level as exemplar 1.

i don't really understand bloodline cheese so none of that.

[Gildedragon]

Factotum is good as it gives access to spellcraft, access to some arcane spell-likes, and class-level to spellcraft 1/day

[sideswipe]

Factotum is good as it gives access to spellcraft, access to some arcane spell-likes, and class-level to spellcraft 1/day

i considered that. but i really don't want any form of spells or supernatural abilities that emulate spells. just good old grinding books.