Skills - How many points?

[Caliburn]

Hi,

I know some skills e.g. Intimidate/Religion/History/Diplomacy etc. have equipment that have a characteristic that is "enhanced" by a particular skill. Xoti's hatchet is a good example. My first question is this . Is there a level where adding extra points is suffering diminishing returns? My second question relates to such skills as Mechanics/Alchemy/Arcana. I do not think I have seen traps or locks that requires more than 14 mechanics (some of which can be supplied by lock picks, thief's putty etc.), so there is little point going above (say) 12 mechanics. Similarly I do not think I have seen a scroll that requires more than around 7 or 8 points in Arcana.Also I am not sure the worth of putting too many points to Alchemy because I am not really fully sure what benefits are received!!

 

Any input would be useful!

 

Thanks

[Enoch]

I'm pretty sure all skill-scaling items scale in a linear fashion.  You'll frequently see builds recommending max History for the Giftbearers Cloth or max Metaphysics for the Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff (etc.).

 

As to the second question, see thelee's excellent guide here and here.  (In particular, high Arcana boosting the PL of scrolls can be very powerful.)

[Caliburn]

Many thanks! Not sure I fully understand attachments but I will work on it!

[msyoung]

There are some scrolls, the really powerful ones, that require 15 arcana. I know because I have several I can't cast because my arcana is only 10.