Making Spot Checks

[MrGoodCat]

Does anyone know of a feat or a spell that increases spot other than the obvious. I have low wisdom and only a few ranks but I really want to start actually being able to make my spot checks. I am a gnome illusionist and at 10th level. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Keen Intellect, from one of the Dragons, replaces Wis with Int for a few things, including Spot and Will saves.

Magic items to boost Spot are available at your level. You can probably afford +5-+10 without spending a feat.

[kjones]

Is your name a reference to "Lucky Number Slevin"?

Aside from Skill Focus and Alertness in Core, there's a nice little skill trick in Complete Scoundrel called Quick Reconnoiter. (Or is it a feat?) I don't think it improves your spot check, but it lets you make them as a free (swift?) action.

[Malacode]

Quick Reconnoiter is a feat. A really useful feat, if you're a scout-type character. As in, you'd be dumb not to take it. But for an Illusionist, not so useful. If you go the magic item route, pay for Unslotted items. I wouldn't use up a body slot on bonuses to skills, as its fairly cheap to upgrade to unslotted.

[Grail]

Does anyone know of a feat or a spell that increases spot other than the obvious. I have low wisdom and only a few ranks but I really want to start actually being able to make my spot checks. I am a gnome illusionist and at 10th level. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Go for Magic Items, best way to get a real boost to the skill.

[Person_Man]

Item Familiar: Let's you have your level + 3 to any one Skill. (It's convoluted. But basically you can invest your Skill Points in your Item Familiar.

Obtain Familiar: Hawk or Owl gives you +3 in light/darkness. I'm sure there's got to be a variant somewhere that just gives you a flat +3. You can have more then one familiar.

Polymorph into something with a racial bonus to Spot. (Or did they change that when they updated the Wildshape rules? I can never remember.)

[Burley]

Quick Reconnoiter is a feat. A really useful feat, if you're a scout-type character. As in, you'd be dumb not to take it. But for an Illusionist, not so useful. If you go the magic item route, pay for Unslotted items. I wouldn't use up a body slot on bonuses to skills, as its fairly cheap to upgrade to unslotted.

What book is that from? One of my players may want that...

[Fax Celestis]

What book is that from? One of my players may want that...

Heroes of Battle. May've been reprinted in Dungeonscape or Complete Scoundrel.

[Eldariel]

Heroes of Battle. May've been reprinted in Dungeonscape or Complete Scoundrel.

Complete Adventurer IIRC.

[Darrin]

Does anyone know of a feat or a spell that increases spot other than the obvious. I have low wisdom and only a few ranks but I really want to start actually being able to make my spot checks. I am a gnome illusionist and at 10th level. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Spells:
Hawkeye. Dru/Rgr 1. +5 to spot. Easily obtained in potion form.
Improvisation. Bard 1. Gain up to 1/2 caster level on attacks, skill checks, or ability checks.

There are also several soulmelds (Magic of Incarnum) that give you a bonus on Spot checks. The best would be Keeneye Lenses for +4 on Spot checks, and you could pick it up with the Shape Soulmeld feat.

[Tacoma]

Obtain Familiar: Hawk or Owl gives you +3 in light/darkness. I'm sure there's got to be a variant somewhere that just gives you a flat +3. You can have more then one familiar.

I thought you could have just one familiar ... or do you mean you can spend a second feat to get a second familiar?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

I thought you could have just one familiar ... or do you mean you can spend a second feat to get a second familiar?

Right, Obtain Familiar gives you a Familiar based on your Arcane class level, with no mention of previous Familiars. Of course, you could just take Skill Focus at that point.

[Darrin]

I thought you could have just one familiar ... or do you mean you can spend a second feat to get a second familiar?

Extra Familiar. Dragon #280.

Same issue, Token Familiar and Enspell Familiar are also quite handy. The first one allows you to command your familiar to shrink down into a diminuative statuette, like a figurine of wondrous power... handy if you want to get it out of combat in a hurry, since most enemies stop attacking inanimate objects. The second allows you to share spells with your familiar so long as it stays within a 1 mile radius.

[Moriato]

There's a spell in BoED called something like "Eyes of the saurial" (sp?) That gives a rather large bonus to spot iirc. I don't have my books handy

Edit: Ahh, Avoral, thanks Hamish

[hamishspence]

1st level: Eyes of the Avoral, +8 to Spot, lasts 10 min per level.

[Curmudgeon]

Alter Self (duration: 10 min./level) will let you pick a new humanoid form, and you gain that form's racial bonuses. An Avariel (Races of Faerun) will give you a +4 bonus to Spot, and 50' fly speed.

[ericgrau]

eyes of the eagle, +5, 2500gp.

[Xyk]

eyes of the eagle, +5, 2500gp.

Honestly, this is what that item is made for. Do that.

[Douglas]

I'm not sure about the durations, since the party I assembled this list for just made them all Persistent, but it's possible to stack quite a few spells that boost spot checks.

+4 morale (Greater Heroism)
+1 luck (Prayer)
+1 circumstance (Focusing Chant)
+5 competence spot (Hawkeye)
+5 competence listen and spot (Primal Senses)
+8 racial spot (Eyes of the Avoral)
+10 insight spot and listen (Wild Instincts)
+2 untyped listen and spot (Embrace the Wild)
+8 untyped hide, jump, listen, spot, survival (Essence of the Raptor)
+4 untyped spot and search (Tojanida Sight)