I have put together this unique class for an upcoming campaign of mine.
There is not enough character space to make a single post for it here, and since I have used a few tables, the appearance does not look decent.
Please click on the link below for a .doc file view.
I would appreciate any critiques anyone may have. Thanks.
(It does take a few seconds to download, so please be patient with the blank white screen).
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Wardrummer Design Notes
Basic concept: a drum-pounding warrior who is as skilled with martial combat as he is with his drumming. Musical abilities are all non-magical abilities which play on the minds and physiology of the intended targets. Since the abilities do mirror some spell effects, a limited number of uses per day has been applied and each beat requires a successful Perform check to initiate.
Primary advantages: d10 HD, Drum beat effects which affect a large radius around them, bonus feat every 4 levels.
Off-setting advantages: 1 good save, medium BAB, 2 skill points / level, no heavy armor proficiency.
This really needs to be a bard archetype, not a full class. And the drum beats really aren't non-magical, they're just variant bard abilities and should be considered as such appropriately. I see that you're trying to run with the "orcs distrust magic" theme there, but sonic attacks and mind-affecting powers aren't (ex) abilities.
And multiple drummers shouldn't cancel each other, they absolutely should be able to overlap (not stack) and extend the affected area if they are using the same power.
Cool idea, though, some good stuff in there.
This really needs to be a bard archetype, not a full class. And the drum beats really aren't non-magical, they're just variant bard abilities and should be considered as such appropriately. I see that you're trying to run with the "orcs distrust magic" theme there, but sonic attacks and mind-affecting powers aren't (ex) abilities.
And multiple drummers shouldn't cancel each other, they absolutely should be able to overlap (not stack) and extend the affected area if they are using the same power.
Cool idea, though, some good stuff in there.
Thanks for taking a look at it bittergeek.
I had originally planned to do that, the problem was that all of the bards abilities are magically-based and lore-based. They also had skills that didn't apply. A variant would end up replacing every single talent a bard has and provide less skills... doing all this would make it better suited to its own class, rather than a variant.
Since I see it more warrior based, I could almost work into the fighter class variant a lot easier though... something for me to consider. I did have trouble trying to decide on the HD and the BAB. I went with the non-Pathfinder friendly method of giving it d10 HD and medium BAB. I am still considering upping the BAB to the best progression.. at which time I should seriously consider adapting this as a fighter variant.
Some of the abilities you added are magical, however you labeled them. You're right, though, a lot of the standard bardic abilities are frankly inappropriate, but those are the ones you swap out for your new abilities. The rest you can handle with spell selection - buffs, debuffs, and the like should be fine with the rest of the warband, it's that flashy stuff that makes them nervous (and mind control will get you killed if caught.)
Have you looked at the arcane duelist archetype? It trades a lot of bardic abilities away for enhanced combat abilities and bonus feats. Between it and the savage skald archetype you should be able to get a good idea of what to swap out from the base bard and which of your new abilities should be inserted in their place, power-wise.
If you're really determined to lose the extra skill points (though without versatile performance you may need at least some of them) add in some bonus feats, maybe every 4 levels, in exchange for dropping skill points per level to 4 (8 skill points per feat seems fair). Make toughness one of them to bring the average hit points per level to parity with the fighter. Adding them to the other bonus feats you're getting in exchange for losing versatile performance and well-versed (like the arcane duelist archetype does) means you'll be getting bonus feats every 2 levels like the fighter (though without the flexibility). Use the 4 skill points per level for intimidate and perform (percussion) with some left over for orc-approved pursuits like survival, perception, craft (musical instrument), &etc. No-one will notice if you go with spellcraft and UMD so that you can ID the good loot and also use it.