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Death Mask
Aura faint necromancy; CL 5th
Slot head; Price 8,000 gp; Weight 4 lbs.
Description
This elaborately carved wooden mask is styled in the image of the god of death. When placed upon a corpse, the user may ask the corpse up to three questions, as if the user had cast the cleric spell speak with dead at level 5. As long as the head of the corpse is intact enough to fit the mask onto it, the spell will work, no matter how damaged the corpse is.
Additionally, if a living person dons the mask, their appearance changes to that of the person whose corpse was most recently used to speak with, when the deceased was still alive, as per the alter self spell.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, disguise self, speak with dead; Cost 4,000 gp

The archaeologist seems to satisfy my need to be a skill monkey with a dash of magic. He can disable traps like a rogue, but without the pain and heartbreak of trying to set up sneak attacks. He can cover both the roles of being a trapfinder while also having some controlling/buffing abilities with spells and the whip. He's support, not a damage monster So, here's the build I was thinking of:

Human bard 1

Str 10
Dex 16(+2 racial)
Con 12
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 14

The attribute advances at level 4 and 8 will go into Charisma. Charisma will help more at higher levels. Dexterity pays off now.

For traits, I'm going with Gold Finger to make Disable Device a class skill, and Maestro of the Society to increase my daily rounds of archaeologist's luck from 6 to 9.

Two feats for being human: First is Lingering Performance to effectively triple my use of luck. The second is Weapon Finesse. My weapons of choice are rapier and whip. Finesse not only makes my attack bonuses with both to not suck, and they also allows me to use Dexterity instead of Strength when making trips and disarms with the whip.

For skills, I have eight picks, or a ninth if I'm willing to give up a hit point. These five I should take at every level:
Acrobatics
Spellcraft
Perception
Use Magic Device
Disable Device

Knowledges can be dipped into just for the +3 class skill bonus. Bardic Knowledge will give me a hefty bonus, and eventually I'll be able to take 10, so once I get my bonus up to +10, that should be enough for a knowledge skill.

Sleight of Hand is another choice for a one or two rank dip, as are some of the social skills.

As for future feats, I went with 13 Intelligence to open up Combat Expertise for the improved/greater trip and disarm chains, but I'm cool on them. The Whip Mastery chain is another possibility that offers some nice utility. I could also shift a bit more towards melee damage with Arcane Strike.

What do you think, sirs?

With the Whip Mastery feats in UC, I'm looking at a whip-using bard as a controller. He'll never be dealing massive amounts of damage, but that's what the fighter is for. How can you build a whip user as a bard?

Here are the feats of immediate interest:
Weapon focus (whip)
Whip Mastery Chain
Combat Expertise
Improved/Greater Trip
Improved/Greater Disarm

Also, how do trip and disarm work at range? Do they still provoke AoO even when you're 15 feet away?

If anyone out there has ever run a Pathfinder version of E6, what kinds of extra feats did you houserule in? Restoration is pretty essential, and Stone to Flesh and Neutralize Poison are up there too. How about capstone feats, or expanded casting, hit points or skill points?