Jester

When you speak of Jesters many a picture springs into your head. The Jester who mocks the king, speaking as no one else could. The outcaste, making what little money they can get performing and moving on. Or less commonly their unnatural ability with thrown knives (or anything else they can throw for that matter).

Originally Posted by Zergplex of the Wizards Community forums.

On this Thread

All of these are roles the Jester plays, these and more. All roles in their great joke, a joke that goes unsaid and unknown except by the grinning Jester. Knowing about it or not everyone plays a part in the joke, and maybe someday we will see the punch line they are pushing us towards every day.

MAKING A JESTER

Jester’s are among the foremost masters of ranged combat. Using their mad antics to keep their opponents at a distance Jester’s can do considerable damage. In a social situation Jester’s are also formidable, cutting down everyone from commoners to kings with their wit. When creating a Jester you should choose an aspect of the class to focus on, increasing either your ability to throw and keep opponents distance or increasing their Diplomacy, bluff, and Perform skills through feats.

Abilities: To Jesters a high Dexterity is important to effectively use their throwing abilities. Charisma is important for many of the Jester’s skills. And a high Intelligence score gives the Jester extra skill points which can be crucial to this skill-focused class.

Alignment: Jesters are well known for their madcap jokes and chaotic actions; hence their tendency for chaotic alignments is no surprise. Jesters are a diverse bunch though and some may work towards lawful ideals through their chaotic methods.

Starting Gold: 5d4x10 (125gp)

Starting Age: As a Bard.

Class Skills

The Jester’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Intelligence), Balance (Dexterity), Bluff (Charisma), Climb (Strength), Craft (Intelligence), Decipher Script (Intelligence), Diplomacy (Charisma), Disable Device (Dexterity), Disguise (Charisma), Escape Artist (Dexterity), Forgery (Intelligence), Gather Information (Charisma), Hide (Dexterity), Intimidate (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Knowledge (local) (Intelligence), Knowledge (nobility) (Intelligence), Listen (Wisdom), Move Silently (Dexterity), Open Lock (Dexterity), Perform (Charisma), Profession (Wisdom), Search (Intelligence), Sense Motive (Wisdom), Sleight of Hand (Dexterity), Spot (Wisdom), Swim (Strength), Tumble (Dexterity), Use Magic Device (Charisma), Rope Use(Dexterity)

Skills Per Day at 1st Level : (8 + Intelligence)x4

Skills Per Day at Each Additional Level : 8 + Intelligence

Hit Dice: d6

The Jester
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1.	+0	+0	+2	+0	Juggle, Trapfinding
2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Taunt, Evasion
3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Jester’s Audacity +1
4	+3	+1	+4	+1	Uncanny Dodge
5	+3	+1	+4	+1	Bonus Feat
6	+4	+2	+5	+2	Unerring Accuracy
7	+5	+2	+5	+2	Jester’s Audacity +2
8	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Improved Uncanny Dodge
9	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Bonus Feat
10	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Special Ability
11	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Jester’s Audacity +3
12	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Improved Juggle
13	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Bonus Feat
14	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Hit ‘em Where it Hurts
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+5	Jester’s Audacity +4
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Laugh in the Face of Death
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Bonus Feat
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+6	Special Ability
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+6	Jester’s Audacity +5
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+6	Wild Card

Martial Weapons	Cost	DMG (S)	DMG (M)	Critical	Increment	Weight	Type
Ranged Weapons
Battle Cards (10)	10gp	1d3	1d4	19-20/x3	20ft	1/2lb	Slashing
Light Melee Weapons
Fools Marote	5gp	1d3	1d4	19-20/x3	–	2lb	Bludgeoning

Weapon Proficiencies: Jester’s are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the throwing axe, sap, rapier, short sword, light hammer, trident, sai, Bolas, net, shuriken, battle cards*, and Fool’s Marotte*. Jester’s are proficient with light armor but not with shields.

Juggle: A Jester gains the Throw Anything feat as a bonus feat. However, as improvisation is a Jester’s greatest asset, he can Throw Anything that weigh less then his class level plus Strength modifier. If the item is an improvised weapon he takes a -2 penalty to his attack roll instead of the normal -4.

The range increment of a thrown weapon or improvised weapon wielded by a Jester is 10 feet + 1 foot per Jester level (this is a modification of the Throw Anything feat).

Trapfinding: As a Rogue.

Taunt: A Jester is treated as having the Goad feat (Complete Adventurer page 109) even if he does not have the prerequisites for it.

Evasion: As a Rogue.

Jester’s Audacity: The Jester’s natural talent for performance, his often outrageous dress, and his seemingly lackadaisical attitude throws his opponents off guard in combat. Even a Jester armed with a vicious looking weapon cuts a comedic figure that many warriors have trouble taking seriously. At 3rd level, a Jester gains a +1 Dodge bonus to his Armor Class. This bonus increases by +1 every 4 levels. Originally Printed in Dragon Compendium, page 36.

Uncanny Dodge: As a Rogue.

Bonus Feat: At 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter the Jester gains a bonus feat chosen from the following list: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Athletic, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved critical*, Point Blank Shot, Far shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot**, Shot on the Run, Improved Precise Shot, Quick Draw. Skill Focus, Stealthy, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus*, Weapon specialization*, Greater Weapon Focus*, greater weapon specialization*

<sub>* – A Jester can only choose a thrown weapon for use with this feat.

** – A Jester using Manyshot may apply it to his thrown weapons.</sub>

Unerring Accuracy: At 6th level a Jester’s throws become so accurate they deal additional damage. A Jester may add his Dexterity modifier to damage rolls involving thrown weapons.

Improved Uncanny Dodge: As a Rogue.

Special Ability: As a Rogue. *I want to revise the special ability list and add in some that fit more with the Jester’s concept, but for the moment the current ones are fine.*

Improved Juggle: The Jester no longer receives a penalty for using improvised thrown weapons. In addition due to his increased training the Jester no longer causes attacks of opportunity when throwing in melee combat.

Hit ’em Where it Hurts: A Jester isn’t simply adept at tossing items, they are also adept at aiming them to impress. A Jester can choose to aim their shot (as per the Aimed Shot rules in 3rd edition) at any target with no penalty, but only deal half damage with the attack. The aimed attack never deals additional damage but does add other minor effects. These are examples that the DM should use as a guideline.

An effect should not be stronger then these examples; A 5ft movement decrease per foot hit for 3 rounds (5ft for both feet for creatures with a slower base movement speed), a -1 penalty to attack rolls for 3 rounds for a hit hand, a 2% miss chance on all attacks for 3 rounds per eye hit, or the ability to make a Ranged Disarm attempt at a -10 penalty by hitting a hand holding a weapon. The same effect does not stack with itself unless otherwise noted (for example you may attack both feet to slow the creature’s movement twice but you can’t attack one foot twice for double the bonus).

Laugh in the Face of Death: A Jester’s ability to play the fool in the face of death is well known; at 16th level a Jester is immune to any fear-based effects.

Wild Card: The luck of a Jester is well recognized. Using this luck at time becomes second nature. A Jester may sacrifice a higher attack bonus attack in a round to make his following lower attack bonus attack a critical threat. The Jester must still roll to confirm the critical.