I'm trying to gather ideas to create a character that is the best listener ever, but I've kinda hit a roadblock. After three levels and three feats (four after grabbing quick reconnoiter) there isn't a whole lot of direction to go in terms of listening. The character so far...
Anthropomorphic Bat
Totemist 2/ Wizard 1
Feats: Mourning Mutate (warped ears), Skill Focus (listen), Keen Eared Scout, Scribe Scroll (still looking for a good fighter bonus feat to swap this for), open
Flaws: Non-Combative, Vulnerable
Bat Familiar
Soulmelds: Yrthak Mask (bound to totem chakra), open, open
Items: Masterwork Listening Item (some sort of earpiece)
All that would provide a listen check of +38 (6 ranks + 7 wisdom [18 starting, +6 for being a bat] + 3 skill focus + 3 mourning mutate + 8 competence bonus from mask + 4 racial bonus + 3 familiar bonus + 2 alertness + 2 masterwork earpiece)
I'm thinking the best way to advance would be taking prestige classes that advance my wizard casting and help along the broader idea of gathering all the information.
-Mindbender plus Mindsight gives some telepathic senses including hearing peoples thoughts
-Urban Savant gives everything anyone would want to know about a creature
-Unseen Seer grabs a few slightly out of reach divination spells (listening coin plus chain of eyes effectively lets the guy be in two places at once, and then listening lorecall being an obvious option)
-Soulcaster gets some advancement for the totemist meldshaping
-Exemplar if I really want to sacrifice a little casting for taking 10 on listen checks
I haven't found much else worth while to give to this character. Other feats I've found are either redundant because of Keen-Eared Scout or provide a tiny +1 bonus to the check. I'm open to pretty much any idea. Whenever I get around to using this guy, the people I generally play with are willing to allow pretty much anything.