Wandering bards learn more mundane skills and less esoteric knowledge on their travels. If you select this class feature, you have done a little bit of everything; maybe you spent a few months as a wilderness guide, and you also had a cousin in an ambassador's retinue who regaled you with tales of courtly intrigue.
The bardic knack class feature makes you more capable of accomplishing simple tasks with a wide variety of skills. You don't need to dabble in noncritical skills (unless you want to be considered trained in their use), freeing up your skill points to focus on a small range of crucial skills.
 
Level: 1st.
 
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain bardic knowledge.
 
Benefit: When making any skill check, you can use 1/2 your bard level (rounded up) in place of the number of ranks you have in the skill (even if that number is 0). For example, a 5th-level bard would have the equivalent of 3 ranks in Appraise, Balance, Bluff, and so on (but only for the purpose of making skill checks).
 
You can't take 10 on checks when you use bardic knack (to take 10 you have to use your actual ranks). If the skill doesn't allow untrained checks, you must have at least 1 actual rank to attempt the check.