Skill bonus
Charachters in Hökaland are skilled and versatile. In game terms this means that you get a bonus to skills this on top of skill ranks (It's not a skill rank bonus), synergy bonuses, enhancement bonuses and any other bonuses you can think of. The reasoning behind this bonus is that as the campaign is pretty skill-heavy and this will benefit non-skill-monkeys more and make the game interesting for everyone.
NOTE THAT THIS ONLY APPLIES TO 3.5 ATM
Bonus Point Rules
Each level you get a +1 bonus to a particular skill of your choice. If you take a bonus to a skill with no ranks, that skill can now be used untrained as long as you have a bonus for that skill. The bonus can be allocated to the same skill the next level (making it a +2 bonus) or an entirely different one. The maximum bonus you can allocate differs from class-skills and cross-class skills.
Class skills can have a maximum bonus on one skill equal to 3 + 1 per 3 levels. So a level 3 Rogue would be able to get +4 to Move silently, and a level 8 Rogue would be able to get +5 to the same skill.
Cross-class skills can have a maximum bonus on one skill equal to 3 + 1 per 2 levels. So a level 4 Barbarian could get +5 to Diplomacy and a level 10 Barbarian could get +8.
Modifying Specialisation
It's also possible to change the bonus. This can only be done when you gain a new level and only a bonus of +1 can be changed per level.
Universal skills
You as characters simply come across certain skills easily. If Bluff, Diplomacy and/or Sense Motive are not class skills, you can *treat them as class skills* when putting ranks in them, but the max number of ranks for cross-class skills still applies.
Classes With Social Skills
You get a flat +1 bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive skills that stacks with all other bonuses unless specifically noted.