Here is a homegrown version of the Noble base class (from Dragonlance), update for Pathfinder. If you were to remove spells from the bard, I believe you'd get something similar.
The Insightful Acclimation ability I copied directly, but I think it needs to be better defined in Pathfinder.
NOBLE
Alignment: Any non-chaotic.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills
The noble’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Dipomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Ranks per Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Table 1-1: The Noble
Base
Class Attack Fort Ref Will
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special
1st +0 +0 +2 +2 Bonus class skill, favour +1
2nd +1 +0 +3 +3 Inspire confidence 1/day, favoured court, insightful acclimation
3rd +2 +1 +3 +3
4th +3 +1 +4 +4 Coordinate +1, retinue +1
5th +3 +1 +4 +4 Favour +2
6th +4 +2 +5 +5 Inspire confidence 2/day, Bonus language
7th +5 +2 +5 +5
8th +6 +2 +6 +6 Coordinate +2, favoured court
9th +6 +3 +6 +6 Favour +3
10th +7 +3 +7 +7 Inspire confidence 3/day, retinue +2
11th +8 +3 +7 +7 Inspire greatness (1 ally)
12th +9 +4 +8 +8 Bonus language, coordinate +3
13th +9 +4 +8 +8 Favour +4
14th +10 +4 +9 +9 Inspire confidence 4/day, inspire greatness (2 allies), favoured court
15th +11 +5 +9 +9
16th +12 +5 +10 +10 Retinue +3, coordinate +4
17th +12 +5 +10 +10 Favour +5, inspire greatness (3 allies)
18th +13 +6 +11 +11 Inspire confidence 5/day, bonus language
19th +14 +6 +11 +11
20th +15 +6 +12 +12 Coordinate +5, inspire greatness (4 allies), favoured court
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the noble.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A noble is proficient with all simple and martial weapons. Nobles are also proficient with light armour and shields.
Bonus Class Skill: The noble may designate any one cross-class skill as a class skill.
Favour: The noble has the ability to call in favours from those he knows. To call in a favour, the noble makes a favour check. Roll a d20 and add the character’s favour bonus. The DM sets the DC based on the scope of the favour being requested. The DC ranges from 10 for a simple favour to as high as 25 for highly dangerous, expensive, or illegal favours. The noble can’t take 10 or 20 on this check, nor can he retry the check for the same favour.
A noble can try to call in a favour a number of times in a week of game time that’s equal to half his noble levels, rounded down (minimum one). A noble’s favour bonus is +1 at 1st level and increases by +1 every four levels after 1st.
Inspire Confidence: A noble can use oratory to inspire confidence in allies. An ally must listen to and observe the noble for a full round for the inspiration to take hold. The effects last 5 rounds. The noble can inspire a number of allies equal to half his noble levels, rounded up. Inspire confidence can be 1/day at 2nd level, plus one additional time for every four levels after 2nd.
An ally inspired with confidence gains a +2 morale bonus on saving throws and a +1 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.
Favoured Court: The noble chooses one political environment, usually the capital city of a kingdom. Whenever she is in the chosen environment, she gains a +2 bonus to all Diplomacy, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), and Sense Motive checks.
Every six levels after 2nd, the noble may add additional favoured courts, or increase the bonus of an existing court by +2. A noble may also attempt to abandon an existing court in favour of a different one. This process takes a month, during which time the noble loses all favoured court bonuses in the court that she is abandoning. The noble must then make a successful Diplomacy check (DC 20 + former favoured court bonus). Success indicates that she has established a new favoured court with a bonus equal to that of the previous favoured court.
Insightful Acclimation: Whenever she is interacting with somebody from a different culture, race, political background or religion from her own, the noble may attempt a Sense Motive check to gather or assemble information from the individual’s body language, non-verbal cues, attitude, and cultural quirks.
This resembles the bard’s bardic knowledge ability, but is more immediate and direct, and requires at least ten minutes of engaged conversation or close observation of the individual to work.
Table 1-2: Insightful Acclimation
DC Type of Knowledge
10 Common, known by at least a substantial minority of the subject’s culture
20 Uncommon but available, privately known or of some relevance to subject’s culture
25 Obscure, carefully-guarded or somewhat unfamiliar to subject’s culture
30 Exremely obscure, possible highly secret or taboo in subject’s culture
Coordinate: When the noble can aid others and give directions, he provides a +1 bonus to the task at hand by making an aid another check. This bonus is in addition to the normal aid another bonus of +2 and increases by +1 every four levels after 4th.
This ability can’t be used to assist in combat.
Retinue: The noble effectively gains the Leadership feat, and her leadership score gains a +1 bonus. This bonus increases by +1 every six levels after 4th.
Bonus Language: At 6th-level, the noble can choose a new language. The noble can choose another language every six levels after 6th.
Inspire Greatness: This works similar to inspire confidence, except it affects but a single ally. An ally inspired with greatness gains +2d6 temporary hitpoints, a +2 competence bonus on attacks, and a +2 morale bonus on saving throws. The effect lasts for 5 rounds. The noble can inspire greatness once per day. The noble can affect one additional ally every three levels after 11th.
