UMD, Diplomacy, or CMD? A dilemma

[Extra Anchovies]

I'm currently building a Brawler (Snakebite Striker archetype, in case you were wondering), and have reached the stage where I'm allocating skill points. Race is Human and Int is 12, so I have six skills to invest in (seven if I use my favored class bonus for ranks). So far I know that I'm maxing the following skills:

Perception
Stealth
Intimidate (to fuel Cornugon Smash for lotsa demoralizing, plus some out-of-combat uses)
Bluff (to fuel Greater Feint for lotsa sneak attack, plus some out-of-combat uses)
Acrobatics (for lotsa tumblin')
Sense Motive (because it's worth having someone in the party max it out)

I'm using one of my two allowed traits to get Intimidate back in-class (I traded it out via Snakebite Striker). My question is, which of the following should I do:


Take the Dangerously Curious trait to get UMD back in-class, and max it
Take the Affable trait to get Diplomacy in-class, and max it
Take an initiative-boosting trait, and use my favored class bonus to gain CMD bonuses

In other words, is the Brawler-specific Human favored class bonus worthwhile (maybe for +20 vs grapple, and +10 vs dirty trick and trip), compared to either Diplomacy or Use Magic Device? And is UMD better than Diplomacy in PF, or is it the other way around?

[BlackDragonKing]

If you have high strength, BAB, and Dexterity, and as a lightly armored melee character you should probably have all three in spades, CMD is not a huge priority for you to invest in. Generally speaking your main worries would be about escaping grapples when it comes to monsters using combat maneuvers, in my experience, and grapples aren't that hard to get out of if you've got some assists or just take grapple-related abilities.

UMD greatly increases the versatility of your character if you have good enough charisma and access to some excellent utility wands, while Diplomacy is a take-it-or-leave-it sort of thing; it's invaluable if your GM wants a lot of info-gathering and you guys need to win NPCs over rather than just tricking them like you do with your Bluff, but if someone in the party is really good at Diplomacy already you might be better off just being the group's go-to liar who happens to have learned his way around a magic wand as well as how to hit things.

TL;DR, option 1 is probably going to see the most bang for your buck by giving you some nifty options that let you occupy a very different niche from the party face, and some GP-fueled "casting" and being able to use the wands you guys scavenge is never going to feel useless. Option 2 is good if you guys don't have anyone good at Diplomacy and you don't expect that the campaign will mostly be wandering around killing things. Since you have excellent Sense Motive instead of Escape Artist, I assume that's so for you guys. Option 3 is just going to disappoint you. Every time a monster remembers that tripping you or pushing you around is a worse option than KILLING YOU, you're going to feel like you wasted an opportunity, and the times it will save your life are fairly rare if you think a little outside the box and work with your teammates. It'll also pigeonhole you a lot more in terms of your contributions when "punch it" isn't a viable solution. Diplomacy is useful when lies aren't, and magical devices are ALWAYS useful.