Is this character possible?

[SouthpawSoldier]

Earlier tonight, I came up with what I thought would be a fun concept, but I have no idea if it's mechanically feasible without serious homebrew: A Bard that functions like a Factotum.

The idea is a bard that is a pure method actor, to the point he can impersonate other classes. Drop the musical aspect of the class, and make Perform (Act) the core of the class. Spend a certain amount of time each day "getting into character" and you have the ability to mimic other classes. Packs up his bags, spends the night sleeping outside, and he's a Rogue. Spend some time at the local chapel, and he's walking around Blessing everything, brandishing a "holy symbol".

Maybe even a "Melodramatist"; a 4th wall smasher that parodies the DnD stereotypes. Name him Kirk Lazarus for chuckles.

I can think of so much fun to be had with that concept, but it has to be mechanically doable, at least enough that it's not a total liability to the rest of the party.

[Xerlith]

So, basically, a bard?
A simple option: Make a bard. You already are a rogue, a caster, a combatant.
Pump UMD. Now you can use all the spells. Forever.

But this is too simple. take a look at the Chameleon class. It's basically what you want, in a single package. It's from Races of Destiny. Bonus points if you get into it as a Bard4/Crusader1, because why, in-combat healing and spells.
And with the 2nd level floating feat, you can give yourself a different Martial Maneuver for which you qualify (via maneuvers known, so specialize in a discipline).

Or you can UMD a wand of heroics.

Oh, and the Chameleons Divine and Arcane foci let you cast from EVERY spell list. Say hello to the Paladin and Trapsmith lists. Knight of the Weave and Bard are another classes to draw spells from.

Practiced Spellcaster should work with the class, giving it a +4 to Caster level and making it one lower than your character level. Although your caster level equals twice your Chameleon level, so later that becomes useless.

[Diovid]

Chameleon (Races of Destiny) combined with Master of Masks (Complete Scoundrel), possibly using Changeling as your race (Changelings should be able to qualify for Chameleon, see Chameleon's adaptation section) could be fun.

This way you can create different people, each with a different Aptitude Focus from Chameleon, a different mask from the Master of Masks and a different look from being a Changeling.

[Juntao112]

If you want to go straight Bard, pick up the Bardic Knack ACF, the spell Improvisation, and the feat Jack of All Trades (should you feel it necessary). This should cover the skill aspect of things.

If you want to go into combat, Snowflake Wardance doesn't hurt.

For everything else, there's Master Card.

[Azraile]

play a Gestalt game? lol

bard / factotum

[nedz]

You could also consider Prestige Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigeBard), though you would need some spellcasting base: a Beguiler dip would suffice. It might require DM approval though.

[Falcon X]

I once made a homebrew feat: Bardic Ability

The feat allows a factotum to extend their inspiration to their allies through use of Perform. When used, it take the normal (or double if you wish) inspiration points, but is maintained for as long as you are performing.

It seems that it could be overpowered, but it really isn't any more so than normal Bardic Ability. Really, it's just granting more versatility.

[SouthpawSoldier]

Appreciate the information, folks. Been spending the last couple days reading up on things, getting familiar with the classes.

Right now, the group is at 5th level, and is in sore need of a blaster caster/glass cannon. Low OP undead heavy campaign (skill monkery is being done by a rogue/monk, and there's another monk in the party). I figured I'd whip up something that could fill that role, but that would still be fun for me. I have a blast with Bards (my old character in this campaign was a history professor Bardic Sage; useless in combat but FUN for RP).

Reading up on Eternal Wands, I'm finding all kinds of fun ideas; never knew about them until now. Kinda inapropriate for what the party needs (everything I've read so far says Eternal wands are best for long duration or special case utility). Still gives plenty of options. Having all kinds of ideas runn through my head.

[Piggy Knowles]

I once played a changeling cloistered cleric with the Trickery domain who basically did this. He pretended to be three different characters - a wizened old oracle who traveled all day in a locked carriage, and the dwarven fighter and elven scout that traveled with him.

The "scout" would spend most of his time walking ahead (while I used divination magic from inside my carriage to do the actual scouting), just appearing briefly to warn everyone what was up. With persisted Divine Power, he played the dwarven fighter who defended the oracle pretty easily. The oracle himself would usually send one of his men to fight for him (ie, appear as either the dwarf or the elf during combat while pretending to still be in his cabin), but would occasionally pop out if a particular spell was needed.

I tried to work it out with the DM that I would convince the rest of the group that I was a single character with Leadership and two cohorts for as long as possible, but he ended up spoiling the surprise in the very first session by constantly asking the rest of the party to make Spot checks to spot my disguise (despite the fact that no one in the party had a high enough Spot check to break my disguise), until they got suspicious and basically figured it out. Still, was a lot of fun :smalltongue:

A bard could work in a similar fashion. I'd recommend creating a few distinct personas, and mapping out how you perform them and what abilities you want to give them. The Subsonics feat could help, since it lets you "secretly" play your music, meaning you could theoretically pretend it isn't your bard songs that is giving you power.

So, for example, you can stat up a warrior duelist, and for that personality, fight with Snowflake Wardance. A scout or rogue is easy enough to do - use summoned critters and divination spells to scout ahead in secret, and just pretend you were the one who did the scouting. A blaster could work nicely with Dragonfire Inspiration and weaponlike spells, perhaps.