Diplomancer

Not to be confused with Arseplomancer. This build focuses on pulling stuff out of your ass, not shoving stuff into others'.

With enough ranks in Bluff, one does not need combat skills.

A rare D&D archetype character, the Diplomancer is a character - usually a Bard, but sometimes a Cleric, Multiclassed Rogue, Binder, or (rarely) Wizard or Sorcerer that focuses heavily on diplomatic abilities. The idea is that by having a high enough Charisma score, shittons of ranks in Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Sense Motive, and if all else fails, a few spells to nudge things along, you have a character that can very effectively find non-violent ends to encounters, often with hilarious results.

A truly optimized diplomancer can make any intelligent creature his ally in seconds. One infamous variant of this idea is the "Jumplomancer", which impresses NPCs into fanatical loyalty with his ability to jump 94 feet in the air.

The pair known only as 50 Copper and Ludi'drizz't are a pristine example of this archetype in action.

Though diplomancers are well-equipped for non-violent solutions, that does not mean they can't be evil freaking assholes in their own right, as this story proves.

Diplomancers in other systems

The equivalent of a diplomancer in Shadowrun is called a pornomancer, invariably an Adept with a high Charisma score, the Improved Attribute (Charisma) adept power, high ranks in either the Influence/Con skill group or one of its specialties and possibly some bioware or spells to boost Charisma rolls further. This isn't as annoying as it sounds, since it all comes at the expense of combat power, social skill roles very much aren't mind control (unless you're using Control Thoughts, of course) and the nature of Shadowrun means the GM has a lot more leeway to hard counter your shenanigans.

The name comes from a minmaxing thread on the Dumpshock forums where the user Glyph posted a build which - with all of its situational bonuses stacked together - could throw a whopping 33 dice at any given Seduction check. (With later supplements you can go even higher by abusing SURGE qualities, and this is all before you apply Edge to get the Rule of 6.) This was immortalized in the following exchange:

GM: Three guards at the door. They want to see your SIN.

ADEPT: Are they women?

GM: No. ADEPT: Are they gay?

GM: No. ADEPT: I'm going to seduce them anyway. *rolls 28 successes* They're gay for me now! I release my godlike tower of man-meat, and it is pleased.

GM: Stop! Stop! ADEPT: I say to the guards: "Behold my enormous SIN!"

GM: Every police station in town saw your SIN. Lone Star surrounds you. They're about to arrest you for violating every public nudity law ever made.

ADEPT: No problem. I seduce them too.

Recruiting powerful NPC's

1. Be a Diplomancer
2. Get means to locate and contact incredibly powerful NPC, preferably from range, preferably remotely
3. Win at Diplomacy Check, therefore turning said powerful NPC into allied character fanatically loyal to you
4. Remind the GM, that getting Experience doesn't require killing; your act counts as "Forcibly turning enemy into ally under your control" and "Incapacitating the opponent by putting him in a state in which he can not harm you" - both are possible win conditions, so you get EXP as if you defeated that NPC
5. ...
6. PROFIT! Now you have powerful ally and mountain of EXP!

Difficulty of Diplomacy checks doesn't scale up with levels of NPC; negotiating with Gods and epic-level monsters is as easy, as negotiating with commoners. You just need to have common language with NPC, and have means of communicating (normal dialogue, telepathy, walkie-talkie, megaphone, mail, e-mail, hologram, being near object of god's portfolio, etc); 1) many NPC's share language with you (and even if they don't know Common, there are workarounds), and 2) it's rather easy to communicate even from range.

'