Looking for a skilled class, thinking of variations

[Jikuu]

Hello everyone. I'm kind of fishing for ideas on something I want to play. I'm just looking, please don't get angry. *hides behind tower shield*

I like skilled, knowledgeable characters. More knowledge than skill, but I understand that knowledge alone does not benefit an adventuring party. I've been browsing around the Pathfinder core rulebook, and the two classes that are closest to what I want to do is the Bard and the Rogue. The reason I don't want to play a Bard is because I don't like the performance fluff and I'm not that sold on being a buffer for the party. I'm not a fan of the Rogue because I don't like Sneak Attack. I just never felt cozy with the mechanic, not my tastes. I do kind of like the spellcasting ability of the Bard, but I realize this is something arguable. I used to like the Factotum, but that's more about luckily remembering the right thing at the right time rather than actually knowing your stuff.

So, I guess what I'm hoping to do is take the Bard, remove bardic performance, versatile performance, and well-versed, maybe change up the spell list (stat, spells, how to cast), and tack on trapfinding (since this seems to be a trademark of skilled people [yes, the Barbarian's funny that way]). Is there anything else I might be able to do to balance this variant Bard out? Is there another class I should be analyzing? Am I asking too much? I appreciate any constructive input.

[Mosaic]

Unearthed Arcana (3.5) had the Bardic Sage variant. Less performance and more spells. It's probably listed at d20srd.com . It's obviously not Pathfinder, but it might be a good starting place.

[Mon]

Sounds like you should read up on the savant from Paizo's own Dragon Compendium. The savant is all about knowing his stuff - a scholar who likes being out in the field as much as in the library. It is 3.5 but wouldn't be hard to convert.

Summary...

* Can make a class level check (+Int bonus) in place of any knowledge check, or in addition to a knowledge check to see which one is higher.

* Can give skill pointers to allies which lets them use his number of ranks in certain skills in place of their own ranks (if it is better).

* Knows a thing or two about fighting (d8HD, average BAB, martial weapons, light armour).

* Knows about mechanical and magical stuff - sufficient to find traps like a rogue.

* Paladin/ranger like arcane spells, plus a few scholarly divine spells (archivist-like) at higher levels.

* A few bonus feats here and there.

* Sadly for you, they also know enough about anatomy to get some minor sneak attack damage at higher levels.

If Savant's aren't your bag, you might check out the Archivist instead:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20051007a&page=3

He's a scholarly cleric who uses a spellbook and knows a lot about dangerous supernatural monsters.

Good luck, let us know how you go!

[angryscrub]

have you thought about playing a loremaster? 2 levels of rogue/5 levels of wizard puts you right there. use the combat rogue variant from unearthed arcana that subs fighter bonus feats for sneak attacks and you're golden. excellent spell casting, only need one level of rogue to support disabling magic traps, and bardic knowledge at higher levels.