Looking to enter ASAP the prestige class kensai (Complete Warrior 49-52). It looks like a fighter could enter the class except for the required skill ranks. Is there a way—maybe by using regional feats—to get Concentration and Diplomacy as a class skills? Or are there other classes that more conveniently enter kensai quickly?
[RPG] How to the requirements for kensai be met with only full base attack bonus classes
dnd-3.5efeatsoptimizationskills
Related Solutions
No, they do not.
Skill ranks refer only to the number of well, ranks that you've put into the skill.
I can't find an exact reference to back that up, but they make a big deal when referring to ranks vs bonuses:
Each level, your character gains a number of skill ranks dependent upon your class plus your Intelligence modifier. Investing a rank in a skill represents a measure of training in that skill. You can never have more ranks in a skill than your total number of Hit Dice.
And
Each skill rank grants a +1 bonus on checks made using that skill.
Since you can only have a number of Ranks in a given skill equal to your level, that means that a minimum number of ranks is effectively a level requirement.
So, when for example you have an Assassin who has a requirement of minimum 5 ranks in Stealth, you must be at least 6th level before even being able to become an assassin.
Edit:
You're doing conversions! This free PDF will cover most of what you need to do: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/v5748btpy89m6 (You do need a Paizo account to download it, but that too is free).
From the Prestige Classes section in the conversion guide:
Make sure to check the prestige class requirements (and the rest of the class) for any skills that have been altered or removed from the game and adjust them accordingly. In addition, the skill rank requirements should be equal to the 3.5 requirements – 3 (minimum 1 rank). Note that some of the core prestige classes do not follow this formula exactly and you should consider these requirements carefully.
Assuming the arcane spellcasting class has a poor Fortitude save and Bluff as a cross-class skill, you need a single level of anything that has a good Fortitude save and Bluff in-class. Then the +1 of your arcane class’s poor Fortitude save after 3 levels will add with the +2 of the good Fortitude save from the new class, and you can just dump all your skill points in Bluff (ideally, a high-skill class makes this easier, though if your arcane class is intelligence-based it may not matter).
You still need 5 overall levels to get the Knowledge (religion) and Spellcraft ranks, however, so that is a hard limit. You thus want 4 levels in whatever your arcane spellcasting class is, plus one level of something else.
Many classes fit this description, but none are likely to work as well for you as savage bard:
Good Fortitude save
Bluff, Knowledge (religion), and Spellcraft in-class; no need for any cross-class ranks
6 + Int skill points, making it trivial to get the 6 you need in Bluff
Good 1st-level class features overall
- Bardic Music means you can qualify for sublime chord, an arcane prestige class similar to ur-priest in its quick progression. You’d still (just barely) get 9ths from your typical prepared arcane spellcasting class, so this is kind of unnecessary, but it’s a neat alternative, and it does hit 9th-level spells a character level sooner.
The order of your savage bard levels and levels in the other class is going to have to be a calculation on your part. If you take savage bard first, you get to multiply its base 6 skill points by ×4, which is probably better than your other spellcasting class gets. However, you’re also limited to 4 ranks in any one skill, which means you are going to have to put cross-class ranks in Bluff to get the remaining 2 ranks – costing you two more skill points than it would otherwise. Mathematically, savage bard first is better (6 additional skill points if your other class has 4+Int skills, 14 additional skill points if your other class has 2+Int skills), but you’ll have to make sure you can get all the ranks you need with your lower-skill-point-per-level class having to pay cross-class prices. Especially if that class does not get Knowledge (religion) in-class.
Because bard is Charisma-based (as is sublime chord, if you go that route), and you only barely get 9th-level spells from a prepared arcane spellcasting class (and wouldn’t from a spontaneous one), sha’ir from Dragon Compendium might be a better choice than wizard or sorcerer. It has you prepare spells (sort of), and thus gets new spell levels “on time” unlike the sorcerer, but it’s also Charisma-based. It does get a small amount divine spellcasting, though, weirdly enough: ur-priest requires that you forsake this ability entirely, but it’s no great loss.
Best Answer
There are numerous ways to get the skills you need without sacrificing base attack bonus.
Hexblade, also from Complete Warrior, has full base attack bonus and Concentration, Diplomacy, and Ride as class skills. It’s fairly mediocre, but you get arcane resistance (like divine grace but only against spells and spell-like abilities) and you can get the dark companion (Player’s Handbook II) instead of a familiar, and those are pretty good. The 5th-level bonus feat is, unfortunately, useless, since it has to do with the hexblade’s (awful) spellcasting.
Paladins in other alignments are possible: Unearthed Arcana has the LE paladin of tyranny. Dragon vol. 310 has the LN enforcer and vol. 312 has the LE despot. All of these have both Concentration and Diplomacy, though the enforcer and despot lose out on Ride (no great loss since you can just multiclass to get that; plenty of full-BAB classes have Ride in class).
Other ranger combat styles are available, for example the Strong Arm style in Dragon vol. 326 grants Power Attack.
Dragon vol. 310 has a number of variant fighters: one of those is actually called kensai, and receives Concentration as a class skill. It doesn’t get Diplomacy or Ride, though. Many of the other variants do get those, but not Concentration.
The crusader and warblade from Tome of Battle both get Concentration and Diplomacy as class skills, and unlike everything else mentioned here, they get 4+Int skill points per level. The crusader also gets Ride. On top of that, they’re excellent classes—by far my preference among those listed here.
The Martial Study feat from Tome of Battle teaches you one of the maneuvers from that book, and also makes the skill associated with that maneuver’s discipline into a class skill for you, always and regardless of class. Concentration is the key skill for Diamond Mind, so anyone can make it a class skill by taking Martial Study and selecting a Diamond Mind maneuver—moment of perfect mind is recommended. And then Diplomacy is a key skill for White Raven, so another Martial Study could get that—white raven tactics is particularly good, though there are a lot of options. And Martial Study is a fighter bonus feat.