Ways to increase skill ranks past the traditional cap at that ECL?

[Doctor Despair]

What ways are thereto increase your skill ranks past their standard maximum at your ECL? I know a few, but I'm not sure if there are any I'm not privy to.

Bloodline levels grant 1 per level. While you can only take up to three bloodline levels from any given major bloodline, iirc there is nothing stopping you from taking as many different bloodlines as you want, though it is implied you should only take one.

Primary Contact feat from Cityscape grants +1 for 1 level, though it has a prerequisite. I'm not sure if retraining this feat would cause the skillrank to re-proc at your current level or if it literally is only useful at the level you initially took it.

Temporary HD + Psychic Reformation or, for more cheese, just get the HD immediately prior to leveling up. The only source of this I know offhand is the temporary hitdie from Inspire Greatness (2, 3, 4, or 6, depending on if the Bard has Song of the Heart and/or Words of Creation).

I seem to recall there being a trick with lycanthropy that might work, but my googling is yielding that lycanthropy only grants LA, so I might be misremembering that.

I think energy drain has text describing that you lose the skillranks you invested from the lost levels, so that might be a wash as well.

[Zanos]

Lycanthropy grants the HD of the animal form, so you use those HD to inflate your skills then cure the Lycanthropy.

Getting access to a Barghests Feed(Su) ability will also give you HD, although I think they're permanent. You might be able to retrain them. You can get it's Supernatural abilities with metamorphic transfer or assume supernatural ability.

[Doctor Despair]

Ah. Do multiple forms of lycanthropy stack, or does it count as the same source?

Edit: And is there a source on eligible were animals? The highest HD one provided by the SRD is the Dire Wereboar at 7 hitdie, but I'm always skeptical of the SRD.

[Zanos]

"This animal can be any predator, scavenger, or omnivore whose size is within one size category of the base creature’s size (Small, Medium, or Large for a Medium base creature)." No other restriction. I believe multiple forms of lycanthropy stack.

You can also use vermin with Entomanothropy. (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040621a)

[Doctor Despair]

While we're on the subject of were-creatures, I have another query for you: do you know anything about the dark chaos shuffle technique to swap feats around seemingly freely? Could a character UMD the two requisite spells to remove a racial feat like Dragonwrought that would prevent a character from becoming infected with Lycanthropy, then become infected, use psychic reformation to raise skills, cure the lycanthropy, and then chaos shuffle the racial feat back into their level one spot?

[ryu]

While we're on the subject of were-creatures, I have another query for you: do you know anything about the dark chaos shuffle technique to swap feats around seemingly freely? Could a character UMD the two requisite spells to remove a racial feat like Dragonwrought that would prevent a character from becoming infected with Lycanthropy, then become infected, use psychic reformation to raise skills, cure the lycanthropy, and then chaos shuffle the racial feat back into their level one spot?

You can only chaos shuffle into feats for which you qualify. Unless you still level one, you no longer qualify to take level one feats and thus can't get back in.

Edit: Actually worse. Character creation. You just straight can't shuffle back in.

[Doctor Despair]

You can only chaos shuffle into feats for which you qualify. Unless you still level one, you no longer qualify to take level one feats and thus can't get back in.

Edit: Actually worse. Character creation. You just straight can't shuffle back in.

Is there a way to perform that trick? Would polymorphing into a humanoid, getting infected, then changing back work?

[ryu]

Is there a way to perform that trick? Would polymorphing into a humanoid, getting infected, then changing back work?

I think you'd have to go even deeper with true mind switching and even then I'm a bit shaky if it actually works. There's also the fact that once you're doing that you've way better things to be concerned about than skill rank buffing.

[Doctor Despair]

I think you'd have to go even deeper with true mind switching and even then I'm a bit shaky if it actually works. There's also the fact that once you're doing that you've way better things to be concerned about than skill rank buffing.

Actually, now that I look at it, don't you lose the prerequisites for Dragonwrought once you reach level 2 and therefore lose the benefit? Or is the benefit applied once, at feat creation, and then need not apply again? In that case, it seems more like a template than a feat...

If the feat continually grants you the dragon type, and you polymorph into a humanoid non-kobold, don't you no longer meet the prerequisites for the feat and then become naturally humanoid until you revert to your Kobold shape, meet the prerequisites, and become a dragon again?

Likewise for true mindswitch, although simpler and more complicated at the same time. You true mindswitch into a humanoid first -- if Dragonwrought checks your current body (mind switch says "you gain the type of your assumed body"), then the feat is null and you can afflict yourself with lycanthropy, train up with psychic reformation, heal up, and then switch back.

If it checks your "natural" body, then you true mind switch a second time, this time back to your normal body. You no longer proc Dragonwrought, even though you are in your own body, since your natural body is the humanoid, so you can do the shenanigans. Then, true mind switch one last time, and revert back to your original and now natural body.

That should work fine, right? I'm just not sure which is most appropriate. If you are always a dragon by Dragonwrought regardless of prerequisites, then we have an awkward situation where you can make any creature a dragon by mind switching with them which could have some... Interesting consequences.

As for why I'm doing it, I'm trying to see if you can take Music of the God's as early as level 12 along with making bardic fascinate and suggestion supernatural. Hitting 30 skill ranks is tough, heh.

[ryu]

Actually, now that I look at it, don't you lose the prerequisites for Dragonwrought once you reach level 2 and therefore lose the benefit? Or is the benefit applied once, at feat creation, and then need not apply again? In that case, it seems more like a template than a feat...

If the feat continually grants you the dragon type, and you polymorph into a humanoid non-kobold, don't you no longer meet the prerequisites for the feat and then become naturally humanoid until you revert to your Kobold shape, meet the prerequisites, and become a dragon again?

Likewise for true mindswitch, although simpler and more complicated at the same time. You true mindswitch into a humanoid first -- if Dragonwrought checks your current body (mind switch says "you gain the type of your assumed body"), then the feat is null and you can afflict yourself with lycanthropy, train up with psychic reformation, heal up, and then switch back.

If it checks your "natural" body, then you true mind switch a second time, this time back to your normal body. You no longer proc Dragonwrought, even though you are in your own body, since your natural body is the humanoid, so you can do the shenanigans. Then, true mind switch one last time, and revert back to your original and now natural body.

That should work fine, right? I'm just not sure which is most appropriate. If you are always a dragon by Dragonwrought regardless of prerequisites, then we have an awkward situation where you can make any creature a dragon by mind switching with them which could have some... Interesting consequences.

As for why I'm doing it, I'm trying to see if you can take Music of the God's as early as level 12 along with making bardic fascinate and suggestion supernatural. Hitting 30 skill ranks is tough, heh.

Dragonwrought applies exactly once at character creation to one body. You don't just become a humanoid. The humanoid becomes your old self. Honestly if you want shenanigans it would probably be simpler to start humanoid, do lycanthropy tricks for the appropriate ranks, then switch with your draconic kobold target. Gonna warn you though, dragonwrought kobolds intelligently built are annoying to fight/capture and you aren't high enough level to reliably access ice assasin to obviate the point. I suppose that's the benefit of starting as the kobold. You can just find any sucky human you want to switch into before switching back after doing your business.

[Doctor Despair]

Dragonwrought applies exactly once at character creation to one body. You don't just become a humanoid. The humanoid becomes your old self. Honestly if you want shenanigans it would probably be simpler to start humanoid, do lycanthropy tricks for the appropriate ranks, then switch with your draconic kobold target. Gonna warn you though, dragonwrought kobolds intelligently built are annoying to fight/capture and you aren't high enough level to reliably access ice assasin to obviate the point. I suppose that's the benefit of starting as the kobold. You can just find any sucky human you want to switch into before switching back after doing your business.

Idea: play a different race (something fun), but take a Dragonwrought Kobold with all the racial/inherited templates you want to have as your cohort. When you reach level 11, UPD or have a Psion Psychic Reformation you with your shenanigans to get the desired rank. Then, UPD or have a Psion do a true mind switch triangle to switch you and your cohort. Adventure and just be a little "careless" with your cohort and have him die; for best results, try to have a temporary hitdie when the DK dies. Attract the artificer cohort (your leadership score will be bonkers so the death shouldn't matter), take level 12 Music of the Gods. That should work, right? Leaves your level 1 feat open, too.

Although, if we don't value the level 1 feat, we could avoid slaughtering the cohort by just doing a regular mind switch with a humanoid cohort, infecting, psychic reformation-ing, curing, and switching back right?

[Vaz]

Polymorph into Dusk Giant, gain HD. DCFS the Open Minded feat as much as you need (with familiar or magic item granting a feat as per certain items or customs from AEG) or PsyRef your other skill points into the new higher cap

[Ruethgar]

Some Awakened Animals have ECL 0 despite having a minimum of 3 HD. Of course it is 3.0 so in the update to 3.5 rules your DM may say it gets LA +0 instead. But in a vacuum, ECL 0 is ECL 0 so you start at level 1 with 4 HD and are of course three above the cap for other level 1 characters.

[Anthrowhale]

The Illithid Savant "Acquire Skill" class feature explicitly allows exceeding the skill level cap by any amount.

There are also funky things you can do with the rebuild rules in PHBII. These do not allow breaking the cap, but they can effectively nerf PRC skill requirements.

[Thurbane]

Edit: And is there a source on eligible were animals? The highest HD one provided by the SRD is the Dire Wereboar at 7 hitdie, but I'm always skeptical of the SRD.

The Consolidated Lycanthropy Guide (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4398)

If you're willing to go thrid party, there's a feat in one of the Ravenloft supplements (Laborious Training) that allows you to exceed the cap on selected Int based skills by 2.

[daremetoidareyo]

get possessed by a quori. (only works on humans, chosen, inspired, or kalashtar) They blend their skill ranks with the person.