Looking for a "Diplomat" class...

[TheRinni]

So, the story goes something like this...

Me: Hey, DM, do you think my Pirate Captain character should take a few levels in Bard? You know, Inspire Courage on the entire crew. Do you think I can use Perform: Oratory in place of another Perform skill when accessing my Bardic Music abilities?

DM: No. That's silly. It's Bardic music.

Me: Poetry can be used as a supplement, according to the class.

DM: It's Bardic music. What you want is the Diplomat class.

Me: I've never heard of it.

Dm: My brother used to play it occasionally. You're required to talk for one minute straight, but the bonuses you dish out last hours.

Does anyone have any idea where I can find this class? The brother mentioned is extremely against homebrew, but sometimes mixes Pathfinder into 3.5. I also believe my DM screwed up the name, as it doesn't appear in the Character Class Index, or Prestige Class Index.

[maximus25]

Diplomancer.

[Retech]

I am not aware of one in Pathfinder either.

[TheRinni]

Diplomancer.

I can't seem to find this one in the class index, or the prc index. Is it from Pathfinder? If you don't mind, would you mind telling me which book it's from?

[Geigan]

It's not actually a class, your DM is being silly. What he described is essentially just the diplomacy skill as written. Bards can do that extremely well actually, and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to use oratory for bardic music. I guess you could use perform (sing) instead, but it just doesn't feel the same.

[Yora]

I think a diplomancer is just a bard with lots of feats and abilities that improve the diplomacy skill.

[maximus25]

I can't seem to find this one in the class index, or the prc index. Is it from Pathfinder? If you don't mind, would you mind telling me which book it's from?

I'm sorry, I thought it was a prestige class, but it is not. It's a build that lets you be crazy.

[Hazzardevil]

You see if you can get good enough Diplomacy checks, you can make allies be enthralled (I think that's the name), they will literally die for you to save you, but better still they gain all the bonuses of a barbarian's rage, without any penalty's sans the AC penalty, makes a group of level 1 Warriors more dangerous.

[TheRinni]

Anyone know where I can find the rules for this? It's not in the SRD under the Diplomacy page.

[Hecuba]

There are a couple classes that this might be.


Righteous Zealot from Dragonlance: Legends of the Twins.
Evangalist from Complete Divine
Dread Pirate from Complete Adventurer

[Urpriest]

Anyone know where I can find the rules for this? It's not in the SRD under the Diplomacy page.

The enthralled stuff is in the epic Diplomacy rules.

One possibility is that your DM is thinking of d20 Star Wars (not SAGA, the one before it), which had a Noble class that had a little of that functionality.

But really, your DM is just being an ass.

[marcielle]

Any class with Diplomacy that gives 6 or more skill points will be a good start for diplomancy. I like Factotum because it gives you ALL the skills but you can NEVER go wrong with musical pirates...Okay, maybe you CAN (http://eqcomics.com/2009/07/10/a-musical-ambush/)

Quote from the Alexandrian on hitting DC 50 for Diplomacy:

And how difficult is it to achieve that DC 60 check? Not very. Consider an 8th level character with Diplomacy as a class skill:

+6 Charisma (18 starting, +2 ability increases, +2 ability boost item)
+11 skill ranks
+3 Skill Focus
+2 Negotiator feat
+2 synergy bonus from Bluff
+2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (nobility and royalty)
+2 synergy bonus from Sense Motive
+15 skill boost item

That's a total +43 bonus to Diplomacy checks

Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a). For if you don't have that many skill ranks in your build. Also, the +15 item is a tad expensive. Just pay a cleric to cast this on you cos you can then use diplomacy ON HIM. He will give you free spells FOREVER.

[ranagrande]

It is in the SRD. Follow the link for "epic usages of Diplomacy."

You can turn a friendly creature into a fanatic with only a 60 DC diplomacy check, which is easily doable.

The real power of the diplomancer doesn't even require the epic rules though; it only takes a DC 35 Diplomacy check to change an opponent's attitude from Hostile to Friendly. That takes ten rounds to do, but the DC only increases by 10 to cut it down to one round. (And the DC only increases by 5 for an Evangelist.)

Good Diplomancers can automatically succeed at that check, and so avoid any encounter with intelligent opponents.

My own preferred build for a dedicated diplomat would be something like

Half-Elf Paragon 3/Marshal 1/Psion 1/Evangelist 4

Get Motivate Charisma for the Marshal's Minor Aura and get a Friendly Psicrystal with the Psion's bonus feat.

Unbuffed at level 9, you have a diplomacy score of 30 plus your charisma modifier plus your charisma modifier again, which is enough to work every time.

[TurtleKing]

Well if going a diplomat type character here is another option. The Marshal. A non magical buffer with auras that affect all oh his allies including himself out to 60ft. Marshal also has Skill Focus: Diplomacy and Grant Move Action X/day. Marshal can command with two auras at a time with swift actions to activate by encouraging, cajoling, ordering, directing, and calming his allies. The auras are broken down into minor and major. Minor auras add Cha mod on select attributes of the character while the Major auras add a fixed amount based on level. Only one minor and major auras may be active at a time. The Marshal can also wear any type of armor and wield any martial weapon. Marshal also has a lot of skills. All this combine you have a tank, party face, skill monkey, and buffer all rolled into one. The Bard can do what you want, but the Marshal will fit like a glove. The Marshal is in the Miniatures Handbook which is the only location can be found in. Add some Dragon Shaman auras through feats if you want some magical ones as well.

tl;dr: The Marshal is what you are looking for.

[OverdrivePrime]

Monte Cook had that "Diplomancer" class that I used to use back in 3.0. It was kind of awesome, as I remember.

I agree with the rest that your DM is being a touch stubborn. Just because it says "Bardic Music" doesn't mean you can't refluff if it fits the character. There are plenty of bards who inspire through breakdancing, tumbling, chanting, etcetera. I think there's actually a line in the bard class that talks about being able to inspire with oration.

Here it is from the SRD:

While these abilities fall under the category of bardic music and the descriptions discuss singing or playing instruments, they can all be activated by reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies, whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some spoken performance.

[Anarchy_Kanya]

It is clearly stated in SRD (and PHB probably also) that a Bard can use his bardic music with music or poetry.
So, yeah, your DM is either a ****, or stupid.

[AMFV]

I'm fairly sure your DM is being factitious. In this case his brother was the diplomat rather than his character and he was using OOC diplomancy. Or at least that would be my interpretation. At least that is the one that is most amusing to me.
Also Bardic Music works just fine with Oratory, Poetry, Dance, or any perform skill regardless of it's musical nature.

[TurtleKing]

Note while they are harping about your DMs ruling can easily circumvent this. The Bard isn't the only way of being a diplomancer. Factotum, Marshal, and Rogue are just a few that come to mind. From what you said you want your character to be able to do the Marshal does it best. Not just best fits what you want to do better than any other class. Add Dragon Shaman auras for even greater versatility.

[mootoall]

You want a really ridiculous diplomancy build? Go for the Jumplomancer. Be a Raptoran. Enter the Exemplar PrC. Your Jump check is now your Diplomacy check. Racial +10, ranks from whatever class you're in (I like the Factotum or Warblade, but I don't remember if Exemplar requires spellcasting to enter), a high Strength (plus Int if you're a Factotum, since you want the skill points anyway), and you're golden.

[marcielle]

Anyway, to answer your original questions:
1. NO. There is no 'diplomat' class. Not in WotC books, anyway.
2. Your DM needs to re-read Bards section. I KNOW you can use oratory in place of music. In fact, most optimized bard builds use it because you can keep oratory up AND use UMD at the same time, IIRC.
3. He is right about the one minute talking thing though. Normal diplomacy has nothing to do with Bardic music and takes a while. However, remember you can do a 1 turn rushed diplomacy at a significant penalty.
4. Seriously, MUSICAL PIRATES (http://eqcomics.com/2009/07/10/a-musical-ambush/). Consider singing anyway.

[Greenish]

Musical pirate is a professional pirate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvUbbYX9BMs).

[Treblain]

There is a Noble class in the Dragonlance sourcebook. It's definitely not as good as a bard, and probably wouldn't work as a pirate.