Jack of All Trades?

[shadow_archmagi]

I seem to recall there being a feat which allowed you to treat all skills you had no ranks in as if they were cross-class skills that you did have ranks in.

(IE: If I never put any ranks into Swim, and I'm a 10th level character, then I have the same number of ranks as a character who did not have Swim as a class skill and put as many ranks into it as they could)

[Human Paragon 3]

It sounds kind of like you are combining a few feats in your head.

There is Jack of All Trades which just lets you use all skills untrained regardless of ranks.

Then there is Able Learner which is human only and lets you buy cross class skills at the non-cross class rate (1 for 1)

There is also the Bardic Knack alternate class feature that replaces Bardic Knowledge and lets you use 1/2 your level instead of ranks in skills you're trained in. This combines well with Jack of All Trades.

[BRC]

It's in Complete Adventurer (I think). Essentially, it means you are capable of doing things that cannot be done untrained. For example, you could use Open Lock (Only with your Dexterity Bonus+1d20) without putting ranks into it.

[shadow_archmagi]

Hmm. I am somewhat disturbed by this. I shall have to re-question my friend who has been using this feat for three campaigns

[~LuckyBoneDice~]

It sounds kind of like you are combining a few feats in your head.

There is Jack of All Trades which just lets you use all skills untrained regardless of ranks.

Then there is Able Learner which is human only and lets you buy cross class skills at the non-cross class rate (1 for 1)

There is also the Bardic Knack alternate class feature that replaces Bardic Knowledge and lets you use 1/2 your level instead of ranks in skills you're trained in. This combines well with Jack of All Trades.

Which leads many "skillmonkey" builds into Human Bard, which is almost a trap

[Doodleface]

Which leads many "skillmonkey" builds into Human Bard, which is almost a trap

Why is it a trap?
I'm playing a Bard in my weekly group now (Gnome, albeit).

I have tons of skill points to work with (14 INT). Those skills that can be really useful sometimes but useless most of the time (eg, Balance, Decipher Script, Forgery, Sleight of Hand, Use Rope,) I don't need to put ranks in. I still have have effectively 5 ranks in all of them. With all my actual skills ranks going to what Bards care about most.

Also, I am able to make EVERY knowledge check decently.
I've even saved the group with Profession Sailor checks a few times.

[Pluto]

Before someone posts that Jack of All Trades doesn't work with Bardic Knack by RAW (BK requires at least 1 full rank in trained-only skills to use them), I'd just like to point out that Jack of All Trades does nothing by RAW (half a rank in a trained-only skill doesn't allow a character to use that skill).

Interpretation on how JoAT's intended function combines with BK is going to vary wildly by DM.

That said, Bards with the Improvisation spell from SpC and JoAT/BK are some of my favorite do-anything characters.

Also, Harmonizing Crystal Echoblades + Melodic Casting makes straight-classed Bard a pretty nifty gish, even if it misses out on Warblade maneuvers or Sorcerer spells or whatever. Definitely better than most classes.

[gorfnab]

Why is it a trap?

Because Factotum is the better skill monkey.

[Bavarian itP]

Because Factotum is the better skill monkey.

Yeah, and wizard, druid or cleric do everything better than everyone else. So everybody who plays not one of this classes is an idiot. I call this the Only Gandalf fallacy.

[Draz74]

Also, Harmonizing Crystal Echoblades + Melodic Casting makes straight-classed Bard a pretty nifty gish, even if it misses out on Warblade maneuvers or Sorcerer spells or whatever. Definitely better than most classes.

Misses out on Warblade maneuvers? Why? There's still feats and items to give you maneuvers!

I have a favorite Bard build that buys a Crown of the White Raven (3k gp), learns some worthless maneuver with it, takes the Martial Stance (Leading the Charge) feat, then uses the stance as the prerequisite to change the Crown's maneuver to White Raven Tactics. Not a bad payoff for 3000gp and a feat, at least if there are any charge-happy characters in your party.

[Frozen_Feet]

*Ahem* I doubt you can get much clearer than that.

[Pluto]

*Ahem* I doubt you can get much clearer than that.

The 3.5 version isn't so straightforward:

trained: Having at least 1 rank in a skill.

Benefit: You can use any skill as if you had 1/2 rank in that skill.