Does the Clever Critter feat give extra skill ranks automatically?

Question

This is about a feat primarily destined to animals. Clever Critter makes a creature of animal intelligence significantly smarter, increasing its Intelligence by 2, giving it understanding of simple sentences in one spoken language (if it has a trainer), and some basic understanding of other humanoid stuff.

Then there is the Note that really bugs me :

Note: This feat effectively grants the animal an additional skill point when it gains HD and allows it to learn any feat it can physically perform.

The part about removing the choice limitation for feats is mentioned in the Animal Companions rules as well, and that's exactly what I was expecting from an Intelligence increase, but the one about the extra skill point per HD really needs clarification :

Does this mean that an animal with this feat will automatically gain 2 skill points per HD, or does it just remind the reader that the Intelligence bonus is taken into account in the calculation of skill points ?

Answer 1

That note is actually wrong. Unless the animal has enough Intelligence to earn more than one skill point, they should earn the minimum skill point per hit die (one point). Even with 4 Intelligence the modifier is still -3.

Animal Type Skill points equal to 2 + Int modifier (minimum 1) per Hit Die.

The animal should have at least 10 Intelligence to earn 2 skill points per HD.

But the intent seems to be to grant an additional skill point regardless of the animal's Intelligence Score, thus you are correct, they obtain 2 skill points per HD, unless they have enough intelligence to earn more than 1 (ignoring the feat) skill point per HD, in which case you simply add another skill point to the total earned per HD.

So at 10 Intelligence, the animal will gain 3 skill points per HD.

The author simply should have written that additional clause under the Special part, instead of a note. Notes are usually simply reminders of rules.