Questions of Synergy.

[cullynthedwarf]

3.5 question. I've come to the realization that the synergy bonus granted just doesn't track later in the game.

What I mean is at L2 you can pick up a +2 to a skill you have 5 ranks in, but that's it. What if I get even better at it, shouldn't that new knowledge carry over as well? If I faithfully level my Handel animal to 20 ranks shouldn't my ride gain something for my expertise here? Or even just 10 ranks?

I purpose keeping the 5/+2 but adding 10/+3 and 20/+4. If my players mange to double that again I would consider the +5 as well.

I acknowledge there is a skill that this could be abused on but in this case I would have to apply the goose/gander ruling. (If it works for all the other synergies, it works for the one that can be abused)

[Mr Adventurer]

Complete Adventurer has the rules you're looking for. IIRC it's an additional +1 at 15 ranks and every 10 ranks thereafter.

[Crake]

Complete Adventurer has the rules you're looking for. IIRC it's an additional +1 at 15 ranks and every 10 ranks thereafter.

I had a look through complete adventurer and didn't find any rule like that. Deities and demigods however stated that for every 20 ranks above 5 you get +2, so I imagine +1 for every 10 ranks is just a simplified version though there is a distinct difference in that 15 ranks is sub-epic, and 25 ranks is post epic. Skills already stack up pretty quickly, so adding more bonuses all over the place isn't really necessary.

If you think about it in real life terms, knowing about two similar things helps a lot at the start, because they share similar fundamentals, but as you get deeper and deeper into a topic, they diverge. Consider handle animal and ride. Knowing how to handle an animal certainly would help in riding, but being better at handling an animal has diminishing returns in aiding your ability to ride, because riding is also about the skill and finesse of being able to control your mount in heated situations (hence why it's dex based), wheras handling an animal is more about directing and training them (hence cha based).

[Mr Adventurer]

Whoops, you're right, those are for Aiding Another and the like.