How about a feat for more skill or action points?

[neoanderthal]

/not signed.

They already have skill focus feats, and the trend since academy training is to not give out too many skill points in any one enhancement. Plus, feats and enhancements are supposed to stack on top of current skills. This new feat would not be able to work that way.

The fact that someone would use a feat in order to get more APs says to me that enhancements are getting too powerful.

Skill Focus isn't the same thing as giving you additional skill points. You are limited to a maximum of (level +3) points in any skill that is a class skill, and a maximum of ((level +3)/2) in any skill that is a cross-class skill. Aside from item/spell bumps and your stat modifier for a skill, the only way to persistently increase a skill above and beyond this is to take Skill Focus. This grants you a +3 bonus to one skill, with no regard to the maximum ranks you can have in a skill.

Take, for example, everyone's favorite - UMD. If you have a 1st - level bard or rogue, maximum ranks at 1st level are 4. With an 18 charisma, your total skill check is going to be 8. The same Bard or Rogue with Skill Focus (UMD) would have a total skill check of 11. Your other skills are unaffected, and you still can't put more ranks in UMD than level+3, but you get to add a +3 bonus on top of that.

Adding skill points doesn't change the maximums of class or cross-class skills, it just lets you broaden your character's knowledge a little bit.

As far as the AP/Feat balance, insomuch as the AP Enhancements have essentially replaced prestige classes, and to a lesser extent cleric domains, I don't think they're too powerful. I wouldn't hand out a whole bunch for a feat; something like 2 seems balanced. Trading an inherent extraordinary ability you get every three levels for something you get every two levels otherwise doesn't sound particularly overpowering to me.

And, btw, just because some of us have dragonmarks, it doesn't mean we have 'feats to burn'. Not all of us who play this game are zerging min-maxers.

[neoanderthal]

It's fine until they respec the feat. Kind of hard to remember which point was a cross-class skill, and which wasn't.

Better would be 3 full skill points (disregarding cross-class skill). *edit - this doesn't work either* If you respec you have to remove 3 full skill points. And, unlike skill focus, it would not allow you to exceed the maximum rank.

*honestly, I can't see this being implemented without a skill respec system in place.*

Ahh, I see what you mean. Took me a second - you mean what happens when someone uses Fred to pull the feat and replace it with something else? well, there has to be some way of keeping track of what skill points the user has spent per level, and what their class was, as class/cc skills change, depending on what class you are at the time you get your skill point allotment. it wouldn't be too much additional trouble to deduct the 5 points spent at character level 'x' when the user originally took the feat.

[MysticTheurge]

Well, it doesn't change the way you assign your skill points, or the list of class skills, right? So when the user spends his feat for something like this, he adds 5 to the current number of skill points available for that level. it's not a +5 per level, it's just a one-time +5. I don't think that would be hard at all to implement.

Like Krud points out, it works as long as you can only take the feat at level up (and not even really then since without some tweaking skills come before feats in the leveling sequence) and you can't ever respec the feat in or out.

Until there's a skill respec, a respec'able feat that grants skill points just can't work.

[MysticTheurge]

Ahh, I see what you mean. Took me a second - you mean what happens when someone uses Fred to pull the feat and replace it with something else? well, there has to be some way of keeping track of what skill points the user has spent per level, and what their class was, as class/cc skills change, depending on what class you are at the time you get your skill point allotment. it wouldn't be too much additional trouble to deduct the 5 points spent at character level 'x' when the user originally took the feat.

Yeah, but assume that you're a rogue with a 14 intelligence and you take this feat. You're going to spend 15 skill points at that level.

Now when you respec out the feat, how are you going to know which 5 of those the person wants to lose?