Psicrystal skill checks

Question

Psicrystal equipment page says:

Use the statistics for a psicrystal, but make the following changes.

Skills: A psicrystal has the same skill ranks as its owner, except that it has a minimum of 4 ranks each in Perception and Stealth. (Even if its owner has no ranks in these skills, a psicrystal has 4 ranks in each.) A psicrystal uses its own ability modifiers on skill checks.

Psicrystal in the bestiary says:

Skills Climb +10*, Perception +6, Stealth +6.

1. Do these bonuses apply to my psicrystal?
2. Does using my ranks apply my class skill bonuses (+3 if I have ranks)?

Answer 1

Those "bonuses" from the bestiary are not a racial bonus or the like that the psicrystal gets for being a psicrystal, they are the baseline psicrystal's total skill modifier in those skills (the final number that actually gets added to the die roll to determine the check result). It's not clear where they got those numbers, as the lack of a static number of HD makes it difficult to even attempt to reverse-engineer that part of the stat block, but best I can tell, the only components in it that carries over to an actual psicrystal with a psionicist master are the racial bonus to climb (+8), and the use of Dex instead of Str to determine climb modifiers, both of which are mentioned under the "psicrystal granted abilities" section.

As for the class skill bonuses, that is covered on this page: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/equipment/psicrystals It only mentions the psicrystal inheriting ranks from the master (note that they also have at least 4 ranks in Perception and Climb, even if the master does not), not other sources of bonuses, such as class skills, so by RAW, they would not gain the +3 bonus for the master having it as a class skill. They do have their own set of class skills, but unless they somehow manage to obtain their own class levels or some other source of class skills, as constructs, their set of class skills is the empty set (all skills are cross-class for them). Having them inherit the master's class skills would be a perfectly reasonable houserule, but would be just that: a houserule, not RAW.

Answer 2

Those bonuses don't "apply" to your psicrystal. Like all monster listings, they're the total skill check modifier used when rolling for that skill, so they are replaced with the new calculated modifier. The only bonus that applies is the Climb racial bonus when using self-propelled. So when calculating your own psicrystal's skills, you mostly just use your ranks + psicrystal's ability modifiers.

Constructs do not have class skills, and the psicrystal makes no exception to this rule. Ranks and class skill bonuses are two different things, and don't automatically go together.

Answer 3

1. Do these bonuses apply to my psicrystal? No. But let's calculate, what bonuses apply. I have calculated psicrystal skill check bonuses (with no ranks in anything except Perception and Stealth, 4 in each of those):

   • Perception +4 from skill ranks (and only);
   • Climb +8 racial, +2 DEX (+10 total);
   • Stealth +4 ranks, +2 DEX, +12 diminutive size (+18 total).

2. And psicrystal gains no +3 class skill bonuses.