It's been done in the past. The issue is less that one character has to (voluntarily) sit out of combat, and more that anytime the Diplomancer does anything, nobody else gets to contribute to the fight. When you can talk your way out of most encounters, anyone who isn't talking is just dead weight.On a more serious note, I would actually be interested to see how a diplomacy-based, non-combative character played in D&D. As long as your fellow players don't mind that you won't contribute to fights, I see no problems with giving it a try.
It's been done in the past. The issue is less that one character has to (voluntarily) sit out of combat, and more that anytime the Diplomancer does anything, nobody else gets to contribute to the fight. When you can talk your way out of most encounters, anyone who isn't talking is just dead weight.
Star Wars Saga Edition has the Noble class, which is very effective in combat. I'm running the game right now, for a party with one of each class, and I can attest that the Noble holds her own with the others. A lot of what she does is CHA-based debuffing, so I'd look to the Bard for a start on a 5E equivalent.My first thought in response to this question was that Princess Leia is a diplomat, so yes, narratively at least, a diplomat can be part of an adventuring party. I'm pretty sure that the Star Wars and Traveller game both had diplomats as adventurers so these would be good spots to look for inspiration.
It's been done in the past. The issue is less that one character has to (voluntarily) sit out of combat, and more that anytime the Diplomancer does anything, nobody else gets to contribute to the fight. When you can talk your way out of most encounters, anyone who isn't talking is just dead weight.
Pffft, diplomancers. Everybody knows the real diplomacy build is the Jumplomancer. Or, um, that other one.
I was thinking more about diplomacy in a situation where it's expected, not diplomacy to avoid all fights.
I've always wanted to try creating some sort of system that handles tricky negotiations the same way combat rules handle fights. Like, still keep it pretty free-form, but give it a little structure and complexity so that players have real strategic options to consider. This idea from 3.5e could probably be applied to 5e with a little work. And Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws are useful in these situations.
I didn't think to think of this before, but is it reasonable to have a class with few or zero combat abilities. Like could we make a diplomat class, or maybe a blacksmith class? Should all classes have a combat role no matter what?
I figure the answer hovers somewhere around whatever the DM/players want's so I want to hear what people think about this.