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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class Hell Juggler (PrC)



Zaydos
2016-09-13, 11:37 PM
Hell Juggler

"Let this be our last good bye.
For now at last you can see
No way am I a nice guy
And I take my utmost glee
Knowing now that you will die"

Hell jugglers are vile assassins of the Abyssal Courts. Sworn to the Abyss through dark pacts they draw power from the Abyssal Princes and Princesses, a power with which to kill. Theoretically they are simply the jesters of these hellish courts, mere entertainers, but this is the Abyss, no one is merely entertainment, and assassination is one of the finest shows.


Becoming a Hell Juggler

Despite theoretically being the jesters of the Abyssal Princes most Hell Jugglers have never personally met even an aspect of their fiendish patron. Oh yes, the greatest of them may serve directly beneath their lord, instead serving on loan to important demons of their master's court (mariliths especially seem to enjoy a good juggler), and as assassin. To become such though they still must draw the attention of their would be patron and their favor.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Alignment: Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil
Feats: Quick Draw, Thrall of Demon
Skills: Bluff 10 ranks, Sleight of Hand 10 ranks, Tumble 10 ranks.

Class Skills
The Hell Juggler's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skills Points at Each Level: 6 + int

Hit Dice: d8


LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial
1st
+1
+2
+2
+0Knife Juggling, Jester's Facade, Patron
2nd
+2
+3
+3
+0Hex Spheres, Rebounding Juggle, Sneak Attack +1d6
3rd
+3
+3
+3
+1Quasit Familiar, Master's Plane Shift, Throw Anything
4th
+4
+4
+4
+1Abyssal Tumble, Long Toss, Sneak Attack +2d6
5th
+5
+4
+4
+1Murderer's Cloak, Surprise Toss

Weapon Proficiencies: A Hell Juggler gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Knife Juggling (Ex): Hell Jugglers are tumblers, jugglers, as much as assassins, they learn to juggle their blades and in the midst of it send them flying to kill. As a full round action a Hell Juggler may move up to 1/2 their speed (they may tumble as part of this movement without further slowing) and make a full attack using thrown (and only thrown) weapons. They may make an additional attack at their highest BAB per Hell Juggler level but each of these attacks must be with a weapon not used any other time during this action. A Hell Juggler suffers a -2 to hit with attacks made as part of Knife Juggling -1 more per additional 2 attacks they make.

In addition Hell Jugglers may hold more weapons than they can wield by juggling them, however they cannot move while doing so without using Knife Juggling.

Jester's Facade (Su): Hell Jugglers hide their malice and sadism behind the happy mask of the entertainer, their patron's dark favor augmenting their own natural talent at deceit. A Hell Juggler gains a bonus to Bluff checks equal to twice their class level (this does not stack with a glibness spell), and inflict a penalty to Sense Motive checks to determine their alignment equal to twice their class level. In addition they are warded against magic to force the truth or discover their Evil. Spell to detect alignment do not reveal they are Evil (though a Hell Juggler may suppress this aspect of the ability), and if a magical effect is used against you that would detect your lies or force you to speak the truth the user of the effect must succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against a DC of 15 + 5 times your Hell Juggler level to succeed. Failure means the effect does not detect your lies or force you to speak only the truth.

Patron: A Hell Juggler draws their magical powers from a dark patron, an archfiend of the Abyss. While this means they may requisition aid from their patron they are also at their patron's mercy. Should a Hell Juggler displease or betray their patron they are able to revoke all Supernatural abilities granted by this class as a standard action (or restore them). A Hell Juggler can also requisition aid, the exact workings of this is up to the DM, though generally the upper limit is the aid of a demon for 1 week with a CR of 1/2-3/4 their level, or a loan of a magic item worth no more than 10% wbl, this assumes they keep up their Hell Juggler level to maximum (a 1 level dip would probably be frozen at 8th level for these purposes). Of course they must not abuse this privilege or they will find that they can no longer requisition aid, and they must be doing something that in some way furthers their master's interest, in contact with their master's cult, and they cannot keep items or demons on permanent loan.

Hex Spheres (Su): Hell Jugglers get their name, however, not due to their knives but their hex spheres. Bestowed the power to create spheres of Abyssal energy. Channeling the Abyssal energy through their body they create spheres of curse inducing evil. Beginning at 2nd level a Hell Juggler may create and throw a Hex Sphere as a standard action. Throwing a Hex Sphere is a ranged touch attack with a thrown weapon with a 10 ft range increment. Hex spheres do not deal damage on their own, although for every 3d6 of sneak attack, skirmish, or sudden strike they would receive the target suffers a -1 penalty to their saving throw against the Hex Sphere. In addition when using Knife Juggling they may create 1 Hex Sphere, plus 1 per 2 Hell Juggler levels beyond 1st, and throw them; these Hex Spheres count against the bonus attacks granted by Knife Juggling.

A creature struck by a hex sphere takes no damage but must make a Fort or Ref save against a short term debuff. Whenever a Hell Juggler creates a hex sphere they must select one option from the list below. The hex sphere has the listed effect. When they create hex spheres as part of Knife Juggling each sphere must have a different effect. The effects of multiple hex spheres of the same type do not stack. The save DCs for all Hex Spheres is 9 + 1/2 your ranks in Sleight of Hand + your Charisma modifier.


Blade Cursed: Target must make a Will save or take a -2 penalty to AC for 1 round/level.
Charisma Penalty: Target must make a Will save or suffer a penalty to Charisma equal to 1 + your class level for 1 round/2 class levels.
Constitution Penalty: Target must make a Fort save or suffer a penalty to Constitution equal to 1 + your class level for 1 round/2 class levels.
Curse of Inevitability: Target must make a Will save or take a -2 penalty to saving throws for 1 round/2 class levels.
Dexterity Penalty: Target must make a Fort save or suffer a penalty to Dexterity equal to 1 + your class level for 1 round/2 class levels.
Edge Dulling: Target must make a Will save or suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls for 1 round/class level.
Energy Draining: Target must make a Fort save or suffer 1 negative level which lasts 1 round/class level.
Frightening: Target must make a Will save or be shaken for 1 round; this is a mind-affecting fear effect.
Intelligence Penalty: Target must make a Will save or suffer a penalty to Intelligence equal to 1 + your class level for 1 round/2 class levels.
Sickening: Target must make a Fort save or be sickened for 1 round.
Strength Penalty: Target must make a Fort save or suffer a penalty to Strength equal to 1 + your class level for 1 round/2 class levels. Teleporting: Target must make a Will save or be teleported 5 ft/2 class levels.
Undermine Resistance: Target must make a Will save or have their Spell Resistance reduced by 5 for 1 round/class level.
Vertigo: Target must make a Will save or be overcome with a sense of instability. They must make a Balance check (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier) to move and if they fail they cannot move, if they fail by 5 or more they fall. A creature so affected is considered to be balancing and is flat-footed unless they have 5 or more ranks in balance. This effect lasts 1 round/2 class levels and is a Mind-Affecting effect.
Voiceless: Target must make a Fortitude save or be unable to speak for 1 round.
Wisdom Penalty: Target must make a Will save or suffer a penalty to Wisdom equal to 1 + your class level for 1 round/2 class levels.


Rebounding Juggle (Ex/Su): A Hell Juggler learns to throw their weapons so that they bounce back to their hand. Beginning at 2nd level when using Knife Juggling a Hell Juggler's weapons return to their juggling hands as if they had the Returning special quality. If they are within 1 range category this is an extraordinary ability, but for longer distances their patron's magical aid is involved.

Sneak Attack (Ex): A hell juggler gains Sneak Attack as the rogue ability. At second level they gain +1d6, and this increases to +2d6 at fourth level.

Quasit Familiar: A Hell Juggler is bestowed a demonic assistant from their patron. At 3rd level a Hell Juggler gains a quasit familiar as if through Improved Familiar with an arcane caster level of their character level. They do not suffer XP lost if their familiar dies, and they can summon one again the next day. A Hell Juggler is expected not to senselessly kill their quasit familiar more than once per week; one quasit a week is generally considered acceptable by most Abyssal Lords. This is lost if a Hell Juggler goes against their patron. As a standard action a Hell Juggler can bestow upon their quasit familiar a single hex sphere, the quasit may then conjure the hex sphere and throw it as a standard action; it may only possess one hex sphere at a time but may keep it indefinitely. The hell juggler's quasit familiar loses this hex sphere if it moves more than 1 mile from the Hell Juggler.

Master's Plane Shift (Sp): A Hell Juggler is able to move to where their patron needs them to be. At 3rd level a Hell Juggler may use Plane Shift as a spell-like ability 1/week to move to their patron's home layer of the Abyss. In addition if their patron sends them on a mission to a locale they may use Plane Shift or Teleport (as appropriate) to move to that location (one time per mission). The caster level for this spell like ability is the Hell Juggler's character level.

Throw Anything (Ex): A Hell Juggler can juggle and throw nearly anything. Beginning at 3rd level they gain the Throw Anything feat as a bonus feat.

Abyssal Tumble (Su): A Hell Juggler can tumble between dimensions, moving with the ease of a fiend. Beginning at 4th level a Hell Juggler may make a Tumble check as a move action to teleport a distance equal to the result (round down to the next lowest number divisible by 5), they must have line of sight to their destination.

Long Toss (Ex): A Hell Juggler is skilled at sending their weapons flying far to reach their foes. Beginning at 4th level a Hell Juggler adds 10-ft to the range increment of all thrown weapons they use. In addition when wielding thrown weapons a Hell Juggler may deal precision damage from up to 60 ft.

Murderer's Cloak (Su): A Hell Juggler is an assassin of hell, an entertainer who can move almost anywhere unnoticed. Beginning at 5th level a Hell Juggler may Hide or Move Silently while moving at full speed without penalty. In addition as long as they are acting directly to reach a specific creature and kill it they may Hide without cover or concealment. If they are distracted, for example by trying to kill guards, or to loot a room, this ability ceases to function until they are once again directly pursuing their target. They may only specify a single target each day.

Surprise Toss (Ex): A Hell Juggler learns to toss a single weapon in the midst of their flurry which passes almost unnoticed. Beginning at 5th level when a Hell Juggler uses Knife Juggling to gain at least 3 bonus attacks they may declare one that the target is considered to be flat-footed against.



Playing a Hell Juggler

Hell Jugglers are Abyssal assassins, but it is important to remember that they are more than that. They are still entertainers, still acrobats, tumblers, jugglers. They perform, they entertain, and they have a twisted sense of entertainment. While they may be psychopathic murderers they have a certain sense of humor and style twisted as it is.

Combat: Hell Jugglers are mobile ranged skirmishers. Their short range (thrown weapons) means they can't move too far from foes, but knife juggling allows them to remain mobile and make full attacks with precision damage almost every turn. Their hex spheres grant them a slew of minor debuffs that they can pelt enemies with, and their quasit familiar can be used for a plethora of tasks or killed for their jollies once a week.

Resources: Hell jugglers are assassins and entertainers of the Abyss. As agents of the fiendish lords they can draw upon the resources of the cult.

CinuzIta
2016-09-14, 05:51 AM
This is extremely cool, I like everything of this class! One question anyway: since the class, as far as I can tell, is supposed to throw daggers or shurikens (sure, it could be javelins if she has a method of borrowing a pack of them around), wouldn't it be nice to give the class an enhanced range with throwing weapons (like all the wthrowing weapons she has also obtain the "distance" quality or +5' per class level)?

Anyway I'm definitely gonna play this in the future!

Grand Arbiter
2016-09-14, 08:16 AM
I think that Long Toss at 4th level is meant to help address range with thrown weapons.

CinuzIta
2016-09-14, 02:15 PM
I think that Long Toss at 4th level is meant to help address range with thrown weapons.

*shameful facepalm*

I beg your pardon guys, I overlooked that class feature! Cheers!

Fri
2016-09-14, 02:49 PM
Quasit Familiar: A Hell Juggler is bestowed a demonic assistant from their patron. At 3rd level a Hell Juggler gains a quasit familiar as if through Improved Familiar with an arcane caster level of their character level. They do not suffer XP lost if their familiar dies, and they can summon one again the next day. A Hell Juggler is expected not to senselessly kill their quasit familiar more than once per week; one quasit a week is generally considered acceptable by most Abyssal Lords. This is lost if a Hell Juggler goes against their patron. As a standard action a Hell Juggler can bestow upon their quasit familiar a single hex sphere, the quasit may then conjure the hex sphere and throw it as a standard action; it may only possess one hex sphere at a time but may keep it indefinitely. The hell juggler's quasit familiar loses this hex sphere if it moves more than 1 mile from the Hell Juggler.


This amuses me.

Zaydos
2016-09-14, 03:05 PM
*shameful facepalm*

I beg your pardon guys, I overlooked that class feature! Cheers!

It's easy enough. I thought about using distance or just saying double but that encourages javelins (30 ft thrown) over say daggers (10 ft thrown) or even throwing axes (20 ft thrown) and so I went with +10 ft because it makes a big difference for daggers (doubles them) and a small one for javelins (+33%). Also


Anyway I'm definitely gonna play this in the future!

Thanks :smallbiggrin:


This amuses me.

As it was intended to. I would not want to be a quasit assigned to a Hell Juggler. Sure if they kill me I'll probably reform in 1d% years but do you know how much pain it is to reform over the course of 1d% years? I'd rather be digested by a sarlacc.