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bugsysservant
2007-09-09, 03:40 PM
What is the highest level you can get diplomacy to by level 20?

My highest is +86 for a half elven Marshal 1/ Bard 18/ Exemplar 1 (no reason to multiclass, I just prefer bard.)

Anyway, after activating the minor aura motivate charisma, souping up your cha. to 34 (18 to start+5 level increase, +5 tome, +6 cloak), taking five ranks in sense motive, and making a custom item of +30 on diplomacy, you get

23 skill ranks+24 cha. (the marshall aura doubles the bonus)+30 magic competence bonus+2 synergy+3 skill focus+2 for negotiator+2 racial= 86

With +86 you auto succeed at turning a hostile foe to helpful, even when rushed (-10 penalty) The level of Exemplar also grants you the ability to take ten on a skill check, which negates the -10 penalty, meaning you can automatically succeed at a DC of 86 or lower. The +4 competence bonus granted by Exemplar doesn't stack with the magic item, but it helps if you ever have it stolen.

Anyway, thats the best I can do, can it be topped?

Indon
2007-09-09, 03:41 PM
I'm pretty sure an item that grants +30 to a skill is qualified as epic.

bugsysservant
2007-09-09, 03:43 PM
I'm pretty sure an item that grants +30 to a skill is qualified as epic.

Actually, I am pretty sure epic starts at +31.

Edit: found the reference: here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/magicItems/basics.htm).

"Grants an enhancement bonus on a skill check greater than +30."

Mewtarthio
2007-09-09, 03:46 PM
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/magicItems/basics.htm

+30 is the maximum, true, but it's still allowed. Allowed by item creation guidelines which are notoriously abusable albeit, but non-epic nontheless.

Ulzgoroth
2007-09-09, 04:05 PM
There's a warlock invocation, beguiling influence, that will only need a one-level dip. Some cheese-crafters will attempt to claim a masterwork tool. There are probably some unwisely written magic items out there with non-competence bonuses. Some cleric domains. At high cheese intensities, aid another from a cohort.

Google diplomancer, you'll get results...

Sornjss Lichdom
2007-09-09, 04:49 PM
binders get a nice bonus to diplomancy and you can even rush it with no penalty, the low lvl vestige is named Naberious I think.

The_Snark
2007-09-09, 06:43 PM
Half-elf bard 10/warlock 1/half-elf paragon 3/human paragon 3/binder 1/marshal 1/exemplar 1.

Assume a starting Charisma of 18. Necessary feats: Skill Focus (diplomacy)*, Persuasive, Complementary Insight (Races of Destiny, increases synergy bonuses to +3), Sociable Personality (re-roll all Diplomacy checks and Gather Information checks at least once), Sacred Vow (+2 perfection bonus to Diplomacy)

*Provided for free by the marshal.

Class abilities: Beguiling Influence (warlock, +6 untyped to Diplomacy), Motivate Charisma (add your Charisma bonus to skill checks again), persuasion (half-elf paragon, racial bonus on Diplomacy increases to +3), ability boost (half-elf paragon AND human paragon, +2 Charisma), soul binding (Naberius) (binder, take 10 on Diplomacy and make rushed checks without penalty), skill artistry (exemplar, +4 compentence to Diplomacy).

Spells: Voice of the Dragon (bard 4, 10 min/level, +10 enhancement to Diplomacy).

Charisma: 18 +5 (level boosts) +5 (tome) +4 (class abilities) +6 (cloak)=38 (+14 bonus).

23 (ranks) +14 (Cha) +14 (Motivate Cha) +10 (Voice of the Dragon) +9 (synergy from Bluff, Knowledge (nobility), Sense Motive) +3 (Skill Focus) +2 (Negotiator) +3 (racial) +6 (Beguiling Influence) +4 (skill artistry)= a +98 modifier.

The creepy thing about this isn't the level 20 modifier (there's most likely better ones on the Wizards boards), it's how quickly it can mature. A half-elf bard 2/warlock 1 can have a Diplomacy of +26 with little effort (4 skills on the bard side, 1 feat, 1 invocation). A half-elf bard 2/warlock 1/marshal 1/binder 1 easily has a Diplomacy of +34, with the ability to take 10 and do it as a full-round action without penalty.

Kurobara
2007-09-09, 07:47 PM
Here (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-371519)'s the usual build pointed to for absurdly high diplo. The record's been beaten a couple times since, though all I could find quickly was this one (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-526536) which is lower but without buff spells, etc. up.

Though any sane DM would probably smack you if you actually tried to use one of those builds. Or find RP ways out of it like the friend running one game I'm in where another friend made a Bluff-monkey. (Formian soldiers who will follow orders not to leave their posts even if given god reasons too is the one that we met up with that I remember best offhand.)

Chronos
2007-09-10, 12:35 AM
The_Snark, you missed three more easy points to Charisma: Make your character venerable in age. Though odd points don't help, and Venerable gives you a pretty harsh hit on your physical scores, so you might just settle for Old.


(Formian soldiers who will follow orders not to leave their posts even if given god reasons too is the one that we met up with that I remember best offhand.)Oh, you can bluff your way through that one, too, albeit with difficulty. You don't have to convince them to disobey their orders; you just have to convince them that you're bringing them new orders. With a merely sane bluff modifier, that'd still be tough, since you'd have to explain why the new orders are coming via messenger rather than through the hivemind, and why the messenger is human, but with Glibness and all the other standard diplomancer cheese, and possibly augmented by a Disguise Self to make the bard look like another formian? Maybe.

OneWinged4ngel
2007-09-10, 02:08 AM
First off, Diplomancy is ranked as one of the most broken things *in the game, ever,* listed *right next to Pun-Pun himself* on the "Campaign Smashers: Things that completely break the game" list on the CharOp boards. You should never, ever use diplomancy in a real game, just like you shouldn't use Pun Pun in a real game. The diplomacy skill itself is broken with its easy synergies and flat DCs, and even the most basic bard can be makin' 30s at low levels without really trying. The whole skill should just be dumped in favor of a more reasonable houserule.

That said... here's the old diplomancy world record (Think it's somewhere around +199, though I also think it has been beaten since and am too lazy to check):

http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-526536