Fractured Jester

The Quintessential Chaos Mage

The Quintessential Chaos Mage front cover

Author	Patrick Younts
Series	Quintessential Series
Publisher	Mongoose Publishing
Publish date	2003
Pages	128
ISBN	1-904577-54-7
OGL Section 15	qcmg

Note: Material in this section may be "mature" in nature.
The material below is designated as Open Game Content

Fractured Jester

The soul guides. The mind decides. The body acts.

That is the way of things.

The mind is master, the body slave. Act must follow decision. That is the way of things.

But what if there were another way? A way for the body to act, to react, without need of thought, without need of decision?

The fractured jester knows this way, this secret way.

He preaches the way, and lives the way.

The way of action without deliberation, without decision. The way of limitless possibility.

The way of chaos.

Hit die: d4

Requirements

In order to qualify to become a fractured jester, the character must fulfil all the following requirements:
Feats: Luck of the Damned, Twisted Insight
Skills: Bluff 9 ranks, Concentration 9 ranks
Spellcasting: The ability to cast chaos magic

Class Skills

The fractured jester’s class skills, and the relevant ability for each skill, are: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis) and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All the following are class features of the fractured jester prestige class.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Fractured jesters gain a single proficiency in either longsword, rapier or short sword, but gain no proficiencies in any armour types or shields.

Spellcasting: The character continues to improve in spellcasting, gaining a new chaos caster level at every level except 3rd and 9th. These level increases are not taken into account for the purposes of determining access to Chaos Countermagic, increases to the number of Multiple Effects or increasing the ability scores of familiars.

Bonus Feat (Ex): The fractured jester is unfettered by rational thought; he has no doubts, no fears and does not give thought to the consequences of his actions until long after he has acted. As such, he does not hesitate to act where more thoughtful men would be given pause. At 1st level, the fractured jester gains a bonus feat from the following list: Acrobatic, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (any class skill) or Stealthy. He gains a 2nd bonus feat from this list at 6th level.

Forced Focus (Su): Fractured jesters gain great insight into the nature of the world and of the inherent qualities of possibility, but this is not without cost. The fractured jester is incapable of forcing another to take any action through the use of magic; since he is barely capable of considering his own actions ahead of time, he finds it impossible to do so for others.

The fractured jester is incapable of using Domination effects in his chaos spells and any attempt to do so results in an automatic failure and backlash.

Not Where You Thought I Was (Su): The fractured jester does not see the world as other men do. Instead of colours, shapes and forms, he sees the possibilities of colours, of shapes, of forms and thoughts and motions. For the fractured jester, the random actions of the world take definitive shape, allowing him to determine where his enemies will find the greatest possibility of success, and place himself where that is not. The fractured jester adds his Wisdom bonus to his Armour Class and uses his Wisdom bonus, rather than Dexterity, when determining his initiative. The fractured jester also gains a bonus equal to his Wisdom modifier to resist any type of scrying targeted on him. Not where you thought I was is a supernatural ability – it is always active under normal circumstances, but ceases to function in anti-magic fields and other, magically dead areas.

The Infinite Jest (Su): The fractured jester is a trickster unparalleled and his victim is mundane reality and all those who muddle through it. Beginning at 4th level, the fractured jester learns to trick possibility, to wiggle between strands of success and to tie them together like pretty bows, all in the name of his own entertainment. At 4th level, the fractured jester learns to sidestep around the senses and trained skills of those around him, ducking strands of success and splashing about in puddles of negative outcomes. He adds one half his Wisdom modifier to checks with the following skills:: Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand and Tumble.

At 8th level, the fractured jester learns to place his weapons just so, to slide them between the strands of possibility which determine that he must fail, and strike true. He can substitute half his Wisdom modifier for his Strength modifier when making attack rolls with a melee weapon. Half his Wisdom modifier is also added to his Reflex saves.

At 10th level, the fractured jester need no longer duck and weave to avoid those strands of possibility which do not favour him. Instead, having shamed reality with his daring and wit,
he simply acts as he will, unimpeded by emasculated mundanity. He adds his full Wisdom modifier to Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble checks and his full Wisdom modifier to attack rolls and Reflex saves.