Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Thoom 01-21-07, 11:10 PM	Is there a way for a human PC to gain the feat Mark of Nessus? Also how can one bump up a skill rank or two with a feat or a racial trait? Particularly Knowledge planes?
alangriffith 01-22-07, 07:50 AM	Mark of Nessus requires Brand of the Nine Hells. Brand of the Nine Hells has pre-requisite devil, but does say non-devils can get it if they perform a service for an archduke of Hell, but also that this is not an option for PCs (unless the DM rules otherwise). So you have two options: 1) OOC convince your GM to permit a PC to gain this feat, and IC perform a task for an archduke of Hell. 2) Become a devil. The problem here is that it is 'devil' not 'lawful evil outsider'. I can think of no way offhand to become a devil legally (Acolyte of the Skin only turns you into an evil outsider, even if you bind to a devil), so you are probably back in the realms of DM fiat/flange. Possibly polymorph (if your game still uses it) might work, particularly a permenant polymorph (Polymorph any Object being the only one I can think of). Remember that becoming a devil is half the battle, you still need to convince an archduke of the nine hells (Asmodeus himself, if you want tjhe mark of Nessus) that you are worth his time, and not a jumped up pissant mortal trying to play devil who should be crushed. Bear in mind that the reason these feats are so restricted is because they are overpowered compared to other feats (especially some of the Marks). Your GM is hardly being unfair to not give them you, and may compromise by giving you the somewhat powerful Brand while denying you a heinously powerful Mark. If you could find a way to become a devil by whatever prestige class, the GM is still perfectly within his/her rights to ban the feat, so check with the DM before you waste time and levels becoming one. As for improving skills, do you need skill ranks or just a higher skill total? If just a total, the Feat Skill focus and the various feats which bost two skills are good bets, alternatively you could use things from fiendish codex I (the spell demoncall for a one-use +10 to a skill, the spell Extract Gift to gain permenant item-like boosts, the feat Keeper of Abyssal Lore to gain permenant bonuses to various skills). The FCI things do not all work for all skills, but all work for knowledge planes as far as I recall. If you need ranks (i.e. to qualify for a prestige class or a feat) the only way to improve skill ranks is through spending skill points as you level. If you don't have enough skill points, the feat Open-Minded from Complete Adventurer gives you an extra 5 skill points. If it is a cross-class skill and you are still talking about your human PC, Races of Destiny has the feat Able learner which lets you by cross-class skills as cheap as class skills. I can't remember if its first level only though. You could also multiclass into a high-skill class like rogue, and depending on your class there may be prestige classes to get more skills (a wizard can go into Loremaster and keep full caster progression while gaining 4+int skills instead of 2+int, for example).
Thoom 01-22-07, 09:24 AM	Thank you :D