A non magic bard

2014 compatible.
Hi! The bard i not broken, his spells are too much all or nothing. Mine uses effects that scale the 'paralysis' effect of spells like hold person + hypnotic patterns. Instead of all or nothing effects, this class give soft debuff to opponents. More than the bard. Less flashy effects.

I designed it as a base to a modern DND- without magic and it complements my other class, The Mind Master (other post). Modern bard = Pop/Rock star!

No healing. Clerics do it better. I replace the spells of a bard by steadier buff/debuff. My design is not to redo the bard. It is not broken. I want a music concept understandable by 80+ years old elders, because this is my (part-time) job to introduce them to roleplay. So, it should be easy to understand to players and harder for DMs. Every turn you can use vicus mockery, correctly sclaed at higher levels + use a inspiration die.

Giving a die to the player is a good way to let them remember about the bardic inspiration die. Since my music is also negative, i'll rename it Influence die. A die of Influence used on an ally is a particularly successful musical effect. A negative die applied is a particularly jarring off-note.

Bard
Control and social influence class (without magic)

CLASS FEATURES
Hit Dice: 1d8 per bard level
Skills: choose 3 skills from the bard list
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma
Proficiencies: light armor, simple weapons, musical instruments

Level Progression Table

LEVEL 1 — DISTURBING PERFORMANCE
You can influence others through words, music, or presence.
Using a bonus action allows you to enter a performance.
This performance lasts 1 minute and requires your concentration (like an active effect).
While you are performing, you choose one form of expression each turn:
Speech
Music

CRUEL MOCKERY (SPEECH)
Action, range 18 m.
A creature you can see must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw.
Failure:
1d4 psychic damage
disadvantage on its next attack roll
Success:
no effect
Damage increases:
3d4 (lvl 5)
5d4 (lvl 11)
7d4 (lvl 17)

BARDIC INFLUENCE (MUSIC)
You can use a bonus action to give a Bardic Influence die (d6) to a creature within 9 m and thus establish an influence link with it. The duration of the link is one minute, and one hour for an ally who automatically renews the link each minute.

You have advantage on your social skill checks as long as your link is active.

Your ally can add the die to an ability check, attack, or saving throw after seeing the result of the d20. A creature can only have one die at a time.
Uses: Charisma (min 1) + half bard level
Recovery: long rest
The die becomes:
d8 (lvl 5)
d10 (lvl 10)
d12 (lvl 15)

This link can be broken by an action such as freeing yourself from a web spell, removing the influence die, or not renewing the link when it expires after one minute. An influence die imposed on an enemy can be automatically added to your own cruel mockery, magical, or weapon damage, or released by any other bard ability.

LEVEL 2 — JACK OF ALL TRADES
You add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to all ability checks you are not proficient in.

LEVEL 2 — SONG OF REST
During a short rest, allies who spend Hit Dice regain an additional 1d6 HP.
Increases to:
1d8 (lvl 9)
1d10 (lvl 13)
1d12 (lvl 17)

LEVEL 3 — BARDIC COLLEGE
Choose a college:
Colleges of Lore or Valor
Features at levels 3, 6, 14

LEVEL 3 — EXPERTISE
Choose 2 skills: double proficiency.

LEVEL 5 — SOURCE OF INFLUENCE
You regain all your Influence uses on a short or long rest.

LEVEL 5 — BREAK (MUSIC)
Once per turn, within 9 m, if a linked creature has failed an attack roll or saving throw since your last turn, you can deal psychic damage equal to your Influence die

LEVEL 6 — COUNTER-CHARM
Action.
You and allies within 9 m have advantage on saving throws against:
Fear, charms, and mental or social manipulation

LEVEL 7 — COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
Your Cruel Mockery and other bard abilities ignore resistance to psychic damage.
Once per turn, within 9 m, if a linked creature has failed an attack roll or saving throw since your last turn, you can deal psychic damage equal to your Influence die

LEVEL 9 — STEADY RHYTHM
Once per turn, any die result between 1 and 7 becomes an 8 (d20 rolls), and you can reroll 1–2 on your Influence dice

LEVEL 10 — TEMPO MASTERY
When you apply your Influence dice to a creature, you can maintain the cognitive link or create another link with an adjacent target. Each enemy linked to you (maximum of 2 links total) takes total psychic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) at the start of each of their turns.

LEVEL 11 — TIME CONTROL
Once per turn:
When a creature you are linked to acts outside its turn, it must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the reaction is canceled; on a success, the action is reduced (at the DM's discretion, for example disadvantage on an opportunity attack roll).

LEVEL 13 — RESYNCHRONIZATION
Any saving throw result of ≤ 5 on your part allows you to add 1d10 and instead apply the new result.

LEVEL 14 — DOMINANT RHYTHM
When a creature you are linked to misses an attack, you can use your reaction to allow an allied creature to immediately attack it, letting them move up to half their speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

LEVEL 15 — PERFECT SYNCHRONIZATION
You can replace your Influence die with its maximum value.
Uses: Charisma modifier (min 1)

LEVEL 17 — COLLECTIVE RESONANCE
When you apply a resynchronization, an ally can also benefit from it until the end of your next turn.

 LEVEL 18 — ABSOLUTE DISCORD
For 1 minute:
Creatures you are linked to cannot use reactions immediately—their delayed actions are only resolved on their turn (e.g., readying), which may cause them to be canceled.

 LEVEL 20 — MASTER OF INFLUENCE
If you have no Influence left, you regain 2 uses in combat.
Your Influence rolls cannot be lower than half the maximum of the die.

For the archetypes, use the same and replace the abilities refering to magic:

LEVEL 6 KNOWLEDGE
You get a total of your charisma modifier + your bard level influence points (instead of 1/2 level)

LEVEL 14 VALOR
Whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you may create an influence link, apply an influence die and use it on the same action.

As per the strenght of the class- it is comparable to a vanilla 2014 bard, based on a paradigm your DM will restrain fireball/hypnotic pattern power, and 50% of combats will have creatures with advantages vs charms or good DX/evasion or just basic skirmishing mind (not packing themselves as a phalanx to get blasted by the lore bard fireball at level 6). 

This version of the class doesn't really do what I expect a bard to, and the removal of spells makes it vastly inferior to the official version. Bards, IMO, are supposed to be able to create powerful effects: strong buffs for their allies and crippling debuffs for their foes.

As I said, the bard is not broken. reskining spells is not interesting. See it like a martial class.  1d4+ cha + 1d6 damage on every turn -20% chance of being hit. a lot of dice given to allies on 1st round  should be enough mathematically.

What about the feel of play ?

I didn't say anything about the bard being broken, and bards don't need to reflavor spells.

As far as feel of play goes, I can't imagine this version being as fun as official. You're losing all of your fun spells in exchange for slightly hindering enemies.

Also, most of this class's features simply don't make sense. The wording is often either confusing or incomplete. Some of them are also just weirdI'll list them in order.

Bardic Influence.

"You have advantage on your social skill checks as long as your link is active." Social skill checks with anyone? So linking to the Barbarian makes you good at decieving anyone you meet?

"This link can be broken by an action such as freeing yourself from a web spell." You can make an Athletics check to break the mental link?

". . . 0r released by any other bard ability." What does this mean?

Break (Music)

"Once per turn, within 9 m, if a linked creature has failed an attack roll or saving throw since your last turn, you can deal psychic damage equal to your Influence die." Damage to who?

RESYNCHRONIZATION

This is almost useless. Even if you're lucky enough to roll a 10, you probably aren't succeeding at this level.

Collective Resonance

How does this work? Does the ally add the 1d10 always, or only if they got a sub-5 result?

Also, I just noticed that your balance tests are assuming the DM is doing everything in his power to make you useless. Even with that, this is not comparable at all.

Why is everything in meters?