Does anyone know of a Bard archetype which works more off of artistry than performance?
And, if not, is there a class that has an artist archetype?
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The closest I can think of would be the Wayang Shadow Puppeteer.
If you dig deep into 3rd Edition's misty past, there's also the Muse Prestige Class from here, and there's a Calligrapher prestige class from here, and the Mageweaver kit from 2nd Edition AL-QADIM's Sha'ir's Handbook.
Other than that? It's a fantastic idea, but there's presently precious little material published for it.
I meant in a tactile sense. This NPC is gifted at pencil sketching, charcoal, painting, and dabbles in sculpting and engineering, in addition to being well-versed in culture, language, politics, diplomacy, and all the Charisma-based things that bards normally do.
Think: renaissance man, like Leonardo da Vinci.
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Like I said, it's a fantastic idea, and there are things out there that can permit you to manage at least a shred of this (two other classes that occurred to me since my last post are EBERRON'S Artificer and DRAGONLANCE's Master), but as stands, your best bet is to create such a class/magic system yourself.
It doesn't need to be a bard; that's just what I first thought of. It doesn't even need to be a spellcaster. Again, that just seems the most applicable in the Pathfinder universe.
Character concept:
Mikel Nikolai grew up as a farmer, but when he moved out of the house, he was inspired to paint and draw the fields he used to till. His stylings got him noticed by a local paladin (following my homebrew God of Knowledge), who "more or less" became his patron and tutor as the boy finished growing up.
Now, he's an adult with a penchant for drawing, painting, engineering, and learning. He has his own art studio, and while he's not necessarily an adventurer in the strictest sense, he's extremely interested in exploring the world and learning everything he can from it.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that he's probably some kind of archivist/non-singing bard, but the artwork is just fluff/flavor.
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Investigator could work - you have Inspiration which works for combat, knowledge and other skill checks and enough skill points to invest in Linguistics, Knowledges, Craft (Painting) etc. This would end up being more Int than Cha-based, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I'd suggest a spellcaster for sure. You could use Prestidigitation to color things (temporarily at least), Arcane Mark for more permanent art, illusions to practice/use your talents concretely, and later spells like Stone Shape or Fabricate could let you create all kinds of art--hell, Inscribe Magical Tattoo uses Craft: Painting.
I'd have to suggest heavily focusing on the engineering side with crossbows and firearms, with the artistic side being an additional flair, using Craft. If you want pictures and symbols to play a part, you could also use a spell caster with sigils, or claim that your somatic gestures create floating works of calligraphy before activating the cast.
In fact, an Oracle w/ Deafness, and Secret signs feat could cast with somatics only, using your finger like a brush. Could be fun.
Boom. Got it. Thanks, everyone!
Make a Summoner, and flavor your Eidolon as a custom sketch you must carefully draw for 1 minute in order to summon, after which time it springs from the page, larger than life, but still appears sketch-like, with black-and-white shading.
