Sorry...there is no "class" guide here.
Skill Monkeys should be combined with another class, the most usual option being
Bard or
Precision Fighter but many other classes (especially Dwarf Magic classes) work as well.
There are 3 primary roles a skill monkey can fill (they can technically fill all of them), and it is good to make sure you don't overlap too much with the rest of your party. Those roles are the party face (primarily Bluff, Persuation and Insight with CHA as the usual Stat), the B&E expert (stealth, disable device, sleight of hand), and the knowledge and crafting expert (the Craft skill and all three science skills). Once you know which groups of skills you need to focus on you can figure out how to increase them.
There are (essentially) 3 basic ways to improve a skill bonus; the Stat that impacts it, Focused Skills (4 at CL 1 and feats to gain additional ones or improve the existing), and abilities or spells that temporarily improve the Skill, Skill Group, or Stat.
Improving Stats
The most basic way to improve Stats is through XP, but you can only choose so many Stats to focus on before your character gets spread thin. The
Smart,
Agile,
Strong,
Wise,
Tough, and
Charming feats are another way to improve Stat bonuses.
Another important method of improving Stats for a specific skill check is the
Unique Perspective feat. It can only be taken once, but it allows a character to change the Stat used for 3 different Skill Checks or Stat Saves.
Focused Skills
Focused Skills can be gained through three feats (after character creation).
Focused Skills grants three skills of the player's choice,
Master of Weapons grants 4 Combat Skill Group skills (but you may no longer practice Spellcasting), and
Favored Arms grants 2 Combat Skill Group skills.
The
Focused Skills feat can be taken at any point, but it is usually smart to take the
Favored Arms or
Master of Weapons feats either at or near CL 1. There are limited Combat Skill Group skills and most characters, including Skill Monkeys, only need a couple.
Knowledge Specialist improves a Sciences check within a specific subfield (such as Anatomy for Life Sciences) by 3 as well as granting a +3 bonus to another skill that can be argued to be at least tangentially related (GMs please be REALLY lenient on this). This additional bonus from
Knowledge Specialist can be either spent on gaining another Focused Skill or improving the bonus to an existing one.
Temporary Skill Bonuses
Buffs and bonuses to combat and magic skills will be ignored here due to being unrelated to the usual skill monkey role.
Patron of Intellect is the best Skill Bonus feat in the system. It grants a gradually increasing with CL number of d6s as a bonus to Skill Checks in exchange for a PP. This is fantastic for Crafters since there is no time limit on the check.
Patron of Shadows is probably the second best Skill Bonus feat in the system. It grants both
Animal Affinity and
Heightened Skills spells which can also be taken by casters.
Animal Affinity grants a flat buff to Stat Mods.
Heightened Skills grants a d4 (increases in size with CL) bonus to all checks in a specific Skill Group.
The
Nerd and
Jock feats each provide a d6 to Social SKill Group and Exploration Skill Group checks respectively.
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