Character concept - possible?

[Heliomance]

I came up with a character concept the other day, but I'm really not sure how you'd go about building it - or even if it's possible in D&D.

The idea was a bard who uses the power of stories and narrative imperative, Discoworld style. Not comedically, not a "I'm the protagonist so I can't possibly die, I'll always get there in the nick of time, etc" way, but but someone who knows and exploits the power that a story has on the world and on people.

I was inspired largely by Witches Abroad - the way that Lily exploits the stories to her own gain - and Maskerade, but the idea of stories having inherent power over a magical world is one that runs through Pratchett. I find it hard to believe he's the only one with ideas like that, though.

So I want a character who can recognise the stories when they happen, who can manipulate them and use them to his own ends. And who also recognises the power that stories have on the human psyche. In Maskerade, (spoilers) putting on the mask and becoming the Opera Ghost changed Walter, made him not only more confident, but more skillful, partly because the story was... possessing him, I suppose, but partly because he could believe in the part he was playing mroe than in himself.

Inspire Courage is obviously highly relevant for that second part, but that's not all there is to it. I want a character who can change the story to put the people he decides into the roles he wants them to fill, and who can see the story of the world, and put the right things in place at the right time to make it come out the way it should.

I've been bouncing the idea around with my friends, and Truenamer came up. Not sure it's a perfect fit, but it might work. Any other ideas?

Failing any existing way, does anyone feel up to some homebrew?

[kulosle]

My first thought is a devine bard with perform (naration) and a lot of refluffing. You know how the "story" goes but you tell a different one. One of your party being victor in the current battle and it bolsters your allies. The only other thing I can think of is take the skill Disable Plot Device.

Edit: Oh yeah. Refluff collector of stories and Knoledge Devotion. That would also help.

[motoko's ghost]

Like this? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0821.html) Apart from that all I can really see is some sort of bard who uses metagame knowledge in-game,possibly some sort of loremaster who looked at all the stories, saw the common themes of the games that the gods play with mortals, saw the raw rules of reality themselves without being driven mad and now exploits that knowledge for personal benefit?
A pawn realising its a pawn, figuring out chess and wanting and striving towards becoming a player?

or not:smallcool:

[tyckspoon]

Beguiler, maybe? Social skills to talk people into doing what you want (and Glibness, good gods, Glibness,) enchantments and illusions to trick or force them when they prove resistant to your words. Bard can do the same, of course, and is a bit better suited to non-spell interactions with Inspire Courage/Fascinate/Suggestion/Inspire Greatness, but you'll run into the problem of likely needing to spend most/all of your Spells Known on appropriate spells for the shtick.

[Yora]

Well, history repeats itself. In the same way, lots of things that happen follow rather predictable patterns. One way the character could work is to have a deep understanding of these patterns, or you could call it destiny. You could show your enemies or allies, that there really is not nearly as much chance and free will than they believe and that the eventual outcome is pretty much set. They can accept their fate and get off easily, or they can fight it and be destroyed.
The current encounter can turn out this way or another, but in the grand scale of all, it doesn't matter. The only freedom the actors have is to chose what part they will play in the greater story.

Translated into rules, I would represent this by intimidation and motivation. Convincing the enemies that on the long run, they can not win, and the allies that in the end, they will be successful.

The plot is predetermined and the character knows how. By sharing this knowledge with others, he can decide how the individual scenes turn out.
I think it should probably be a bard. With bardic music, you convince your allies that their victory is asured and your enemies that even if they win today, they will eventually lose.
However, to make things more interesting, when things look bad for the PCs, the character should also be the one who is the most vocal about surrendering or retreating, because destiny means for them to be defeated right now.

[marcielle]

Don't forget, Cohen the Barbarian uses this too.
Now, truenamer is a mechanically horrible class but I remember someone actually making it work in one of the iron optimizer competitions( the divine crusader one)
But this sort of thing is really 'meta' and would come more from roleplaying and DM negotiation then class abilities. Factotums who know a lot about everything is the first class that comes to mind for me. They are in Dungeonscape and they basically use their meta-level knowledge to gain bonuses to just about everything from fighting to disabling traps.

[JadePhoenix]

Aside from all the good advice people have given you, I'd suggest you read The Unwritten. It's a very good comic book about the power of stories.