Getting the most out of Extract Gift

[Jowgen]

The Extract Gift spell can add a permanent enhancement bonus to any ability score, but you need a Demon with double the bonus you want as their modifier.

Here's (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=2421.0) a handbook on the spell.

What the handbook doesn't cover is how to boost your gifting Demon's scores effectively.

So lets say you've planar bound or greater planar ally'd your chosen Jarilith (Str), Kelvezu (Dex), Sorrowsworn (Con), Sibriex (Int&Wis), or Lilitu (Cha).

As their service, you got them to fail their save against a Sepia Snake Sigil, so you now have a few days to do your thing.

How do you go about beefing up their relevant stat for the purose of letting you get a better bonus out of your spell?

First thought, use the cursed ability boosting items from A&E. They each give a +6 enchancement bonus to a stat for a mere 1300 gp, till of course the curse is triggered and it becomes a -6; but being in suspended animation none of the curses can activate.

What else?

[Anthrowhale]

There's the recursive solution of using Extract Gift to boost the relevant ability score.

[Jowgen]

There's the recursive solution of using Extract Gift to boost the relevant ability score.

I think the designers might have anticipated this route, as the output bonus being half of the input bonus rounded down and all being Enhancement types causes this to taper off rather quickly.

Pairing each of the highest score demons with another of their kind, only in the case of the Jarilith can we get an enchement bonus higher than +6 (i.e +8 after 3 recursions). All the others taper out at +6 at best.

[redking]

It would seem that only an epic spell using the fortify (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/seeds/fortify.htm) seed would work. You can use this tool (http://pfwr.info/dnd/spells/epic.php) to quickly create the spell.

[Anthrowhale]

There are many other ways to get a bonus to stats discussed here (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=176). At a glance, several are applicable but there is some question about how much you want to invest.

[AvatarVecna]

1) Use gate instead of Planar whatever; this is a bit more expensive, but has deal-making built in and gives a much higher HD limit. Use *mumble mumble Sadism shenanigans mumble mumble* to get an arbitrarily-high Knowledge (The Planes) check to spontaneously know the specific demon you're looking for. What you want is a demon who is using an array instead of straight 10s/11s (probably elite array, so +4 to whatever their normal stat was there) who has advanced their HD into epic as far as they can, using all attribute bumps and epic feats to boost the same stat. Get some CL-boosting shenanigans and you can summon some awfully-advanced demons...just as a Core example, there are probably elite 60 HD Balors somewhere out there in the multiverse that have Str 63, Dex 53, Con 59, Int 52, Wis 52, or Cha 54. Use super-knowledge to know the names of each of those 6 Balor, find a way to get your Gate to CL 30, and you're in the clear.

2) An item of "+2 enhancement to one attribute" that can only be used by an Evil Outsider with X ranks in Y skill will cost 1000gp on the market, or 500gp to make. Artificer 8 is capable of using Item Alteration to change an item's bonus type for 10 minutes/Artificer "CL". The new type could be, as some examples, circumstance, racial, or dodge (well, not dodge if it's an AC bonus), all of which are of the self-stacking variety. With enough artificers, or enough bonus infusions, you could spend 1000 gp and one 4th lvl infusion to get +2 stacking bonus to the attribute of your choice for 80 minutes. If you're lacking in an abudance of artificers, I recommend abusing Acorn Of Far Travel shenanigans for making the Infusion last as long as it needs to - that way the Artificer can create the item, alter the item for "10 minutes per CL" (but effectively indefinitely), and then once you've got a giant stack of +2 circumstance bonuses to Str or Int or whatever, you can give them to the demon in preparation for the ceremony.

3) With a similar method to trick 1, Gate in and utterly control a specific Lilitu who's gone down the "Cleric 7/Vermin Lord 10" path. Have your new slave hivemind a Hoard Scarab Swarm; the Lilitu won't benefit from the hivemind's enhanced Intelligence directly, but the Lilitu has 31 HD and just gained 3038 bonus feats; have her spend feats such that all her attributes are now 192. Have the hivemind take Arcane Thesis (Extract Gift) and get to work for 6 hours performing the rituals (bonus points: hiveminds don't pay material components, and the XP component is directly proportional to the material component required). Now you've got a handy-dandy +46 enhancement to all your attributes. Either make long-term deals with your new minions, or off them so you don't have to worry about competing with an Int 200 spellcasting swarm with a grudge.

[RatElemental]

Make a bunch of fortify spells to grant an inherent, alchemical, enhancement, luck, morale, insight, profane, sacred, and racial bonus to intelligence. Each a different spell, and as big a bonus as you can manage (though the inherent one caps out at 5).

Extract Gift to make yourself smarter. Repeat step one now that you have a higher spellcraft bonus and can make even better fortify spells. Repeat until intelligence is arbitrarily high, then make spells for the rest of the attributes and use extract gift to make those arbitrarily high too.