Perfect memory?

[Braininthejar]

I have been tasked with making an NPC. Her definig feature is that she has perfect memory - all she experiences sticks in her head - great for learning stuff by heart, not so much for traumatic experiences.

Anyway, I figured eidetic spellcasting wizard / loremaster would be the way to go.

But how can I get her as much skills as possible? I could substitute autohypnosis for remembering information but it would eat into her skill points even more ( I don't think its a class skill for wizard?)

Sadly, the most important factor is against me here - at this stage it is not clear what exactly she is but definitely not a human.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Omniscificer trick with Autohypnosis sounds good, but ...

Memorize
You can attempt to memorize a long string of numbers, a long passage of verse, or some other particularly difficult piece of information (but you can’t memorize magical writing or similarly exotic scripts). Each successful check allows you to memorize a single page of text (up to 800 words), numbers, diagrams, or sigils (even if you don’t recognize their meaning). If a document is longer than one page, you can make additional checks for each additional page. You always retain this information; however, you can recall it only with another successful Autohypnosis check.


This seems more about facts, figures, data or books.
Not quite like having a semi-permanent Video camera.
And you'd have to do it over and over.
Maybe a small toned down H.I.V.E. could work.

[Braininthejar]

What is a H.I.V.E?

[phaedrusxy]

What is a H.I.V.E?

HAH! Oh boy...

Not the H.I.V.E., but nano-bots could help with what you want.

Here is a reinvention of the H.I.V.E. with mention (but no links that I saw) to the original. Basically, you create a Hivemind (from the BoVD, IIRC the Verminlord PrC might have been involved, and/or Dark Speech and/or Warlock levels), which you then "commandeer". This gives you control of an insanely powerful sorcerer caster, who can have arbitrarily high skill ranks, etc.


Both of these things are insanely powerful TO exploits, and likely not what you're looking to use with an NPC in a real game...

[Maat Mons]

Half gnome (Races of Ansalon) could get you autohypnosis as a class skill for all classes and ability adjustments of +2 int, -2 wis. 

[Empirate]

Shining South has the Jordain Vizier PrC, which has a class ability called Eidetic Memory. It allows you to recall even minute details of whatever situation you have formerly been in with a check that resembles Bardic Knowledge (but is more powerful). You can also commit a conversation to memory so thoroughly you can reproduce it word-for-word.
Apart from that, the class screams "NPC" since its powers are neither very synergistic, nor very useful to most PCs. It's also rather hard to wriggle into (Expert/Monk is the easiest to qualify, I kid you not!). Very flavorful and interesting, though!

[awaken_D_M_golem]

  ... yeah, I overshot the mark with a hivey idea, sry.


Custom Item of Autohypnosis would do, and not all that dangerous to game balance.
Bard as above, fits real life historically and fluff and descriptive.

[SorO_Lost]

CS I believe has a Skill Trick to record and say any form of speech, even if you don't understand it.

If you need a huge skill boost, Changling Rogue gives you a starting Skill Point pool of (10+Int_Mod)*4 with a rather impressive Class Skill list (it includes speak language as well). No Int boosts as a Changling, but it's kind of hard to beat starting with 56 Skill Points with anything else.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

There's a feat in Dr#349 that adds Autohypnosis to your skills, and a +2.
It has a quirk, that pretty much gets rid of other psionics.

Plenty of BG hits on Jordain Vizier, basically it is not a caster, Rogue base though.

Rogue 1 / Wizard X ... is a standard build.
Changeling = Doppelganger, isn't much of a stretch / 4e does this.

[Tonymitsu]

CS I believe has a Skill Trick to record and say any form of speech, even if you don't understand it.

Listen to This, page 87 of CS.

You can describe perfectly anything you hear with a successful Listen Check to others, who are treated as if they had heard the sound themselves.  It does include speech.
But you can only do it for up to an hour after you initially heard it.  Seems off for a perfect memory somehow.

You are describing something extremely similar to Thane.
Any chance you'd be allowed a homebrew race that is essentially him?

[Maat Mons]

Expert/Monk is the easiest to qualify, I kid you not!

Really?  Looking at the requirements, I'd think human paragon / hexblade. 

[Empirate]

...yeah, yeah. But you had to think about it for a bit, right?

EDIT: Also, might be I remembered flavor text there, for which I profoundly apologize, since it really has no place on this forum.

[tuesdayscoming]

Just for completeness's sake, I believe there is one more PrC that has not yet been mentioned.

The Cerebrex from Dragon Compendium is a half casting class that, at level 6, gets an ability called Eidetic Memory (not to be confused with the Jordain Vizier ability of the same name). It explicitly gives perfect sensory recall of events in all of your senses, and comes with a bonus to various intelligence related checks.

It's really a mediocre class, but the ability is precisely what you are describing. Plus, you still pick up a few spellcasting levels on the way.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Found this ... Scholars Touch level 1 spell:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20041210b&page=2

You could be an Illithid Savant and eat
a Jordan Vizier and a Cerebrex.

[Braininthejar]

Oh I know this one - it allowed me to pretty much make a medical degree without breaks in adventuring 

I couldn't make that girl the way the GM imagined her (I have a DM with lots of creativity but too poor English to use most of the books, so I keep getting tasked with stating npc's for my own campaign  ) so she was finally homebrewed as getting some extra skill points per level that can only be used on int-based skills.

[nijineko]

Oh I know this one - it allowed me to pretty much make a medical degree without breaks in adventuring 

I couldn't make that girl the way the GM imagined her (I have a DM with lots of creativity but too poor English to use most of the books, so I keep getting tasked with stating npc's for my own campaign  ) so she was finally homebrewed as getting some extra skill points per level that can only be used on int-based skills.

Mnemonic crystals would have done the trick for you perfectly.