Unmusical Bard

[White_Drake]

Is there any class which resembles the Bard, but doesn't sing? I love the whole jack of all trades thing, and the original thief/fighter concept, but I find singing an incredibly lame thing for my style of character. Factotum could work, but I'd prefer something a little more focused. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Hirax]

One thing that I've done with a bard before is take one level of mindbender to get telepathy, and then the character cauterized and stitched their lips shut, and did perform (oratory) via telepathy. Otherwise nobody I ever met realized I was ever communicating with anyone unless I spoke with them via telepathy.

Spellthief?

[Wyntonian]

Hum. See if you can do Perform (dramatic look). Make epic speeches. "TONIGHT... WE DINE IN HELL!". Snap your fingers. You don't need to sing to have your skills or to fight.

EDIT: Wait a minute. You want a jack of all trades. But you want it focused? What? My head hurts...

[Greyfeld85]

Rogue, Beguiler, Factotum, Spellthief, Swordsage.

[Toliudar]

My bards rarely sing. Oratory, poetry, comedy, percussion, dance...any of these options are more interesting to me than the warbling troubadour.

[Gorgondantess]

I've often had the same question- wanting bard, more or less, for a character, but when the "performing/inspiring" schtick doesn't fit the bill. This works for some characters, (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bard)but even then it has a very specific flavor that often won't fit the character.

[Arbane]

You might want to take a look at the Pathfinder Bard (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard) - it's got a few alternate subclasses that don't sing, like the Detective, the Archaeologist, and the Dervish.

Your DM might not allow them as-is, but maybe you can adapt something.

[Draco Ignifer]

Perform (Oratory) is excellent for being a bard who doesn't sing. Give epic speeches, invite your allies to do the impossible and kick reason to the curb, and get all of the spells, skills, and similar abilities that makes you a good fifth member of any party.

[Cespenar]

You can fluff Bard Song as a tactician giving orders to his allies, probably.

[eggs]

The Trickster Spellthief variant?
Bard spells, Spellthief features, minus even further sneak attack dice.

Or the Nightstalker class from dragonlance - Bard-rate casting focused on debuffs and divinations, trapfinding, command undead and a really bulky ghost cohort.