I said I would come back to this franchise for more characters and so I have! Delving into the Deepest Dungeon, I have the Jester as our next character on Full Build Friday, a character that is focused on supporting his party a bit more heavily than the Houndmaster who was a quasi-support. Jester is a highly valued member of an expedition, being able to buff allies and reduce their stress while still having abilities to debilitate and slay foes.
Some of you may notice that this is being posted a little late - I apologize for that. I was distracted by a story I was writing this morning and when I got off from work, my internet was done due to the weather. For a brief moment, it looked like I was gonna have to skip this week, but fortunately it came back in time for me to put this up.
With that taken care of, let's dive into the build for the Jester!
JESTER
CHARACTER Sarmenti the Jester
SOURCE Darkest Dungeon
GOAL Dipping back into characters from the Darkest Dungeon, the Jester once served as the court jester for a cruel tyrant before one day managing to murder the ruler and his court. Largely a support character, the Jester is also highly mobile. Dirk Stab moves the Jester forward to bypass the guard and deal damage, Harvest hits two targets and inflicts bleed, Finale deals heavy damage to a creature even though it leaves the Jester open for attacks, Solo decreases the accuracy of enemies while Jester moves to the front, Slice Off is another attack that inflicts bleed but only to one creature, Battle Ballad buffs our allies, and Inspiring Tune reduces stress from the party. Jester also has a number of camping skills to help his allies – Turn Back Time reduces the stress of a single companion, while Every Rose Has Its Thorns can reduce the stress of the entire party. There is also Tiger’s Eye, which increases the accuracy and crit rating of a single ally, and then finally Mockery, which increases the stress of one ally to reduce the stress of all others. Jester wields a sickle into combat and typically uses a lute to make his music.
LEVEL 1 As is tradition for any build we do, we start with our ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. For our Jester, we are going to be a human with the skilled heritage, which will make us trained in Acrobatics. Our two free boosts will go into Dexterity and Charisma while we will take Courteous Comeback for our first ancestry feat. This is a great fit for Jester and his line of work as a court jester thematically, but I’m not a huge fan of its listed Requirements and wished they were less stringent.
The Jester’s backstory is covered in a short comic where it details that he used to work, unsurprisingly, as a court jester. The best fit I could find for that idea is the entertainer background. This will give us a boost that goes to Charisma followed by a free boost that will go into Dexterity once more. With this background, we become trained in Performance and Theater Lore – I would’ve preferred something like Heraldry or Court Lore for the Jester, but Theater is acceptable. We also receive the Fascinating Performance skill feat, which lets us attempt to make a Performance check to fascinate others, hopefully distracting them long enough for our allies to get something done.
In a choice that likely surprises no one, we pick bard as our class, and we’ll be selecting the maestro muse. As a bard, we receive an automatic boost to Charisma, which we follow with four free boosts to Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma (Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18). Bards are automatically trained in Occultism and Performance, but since we received Performance from our background, we’ll become trained in Diplomacy instead. We also become trained in Deception, Intimidation, Society, Stealth, and Thievery. Our muse gives us the Lingering Composition class feat, which gives us an extra focus point and a new focus spell – lingering composition. With this focus spell, we can use a free action to attempt a Performance check right before we cast a composition cantrip. Succeeding the Performance check extends the duration of our composition cantrip.
Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – daze, ghost sound, prestidigitation, read aura, summon instrument; 1st – bless, grim tendrils, soothe
LEVEL 2 We receive a skill feat at second level and my favorite pick is Juggle, a Performance feat that allows us to hold multiple light objects at once but it also fits given that Jester is seen juggling in his backstory comic. Inspire Competence gives us another composition cantrip that we can use to Aid and always use Performance for the check.
Gear: ring of discretion
Spell Repertoire: 1st – phantom pain
LEVEL 3 To be better at using our lingering composition and inspire competence, we’ll put a skill increase in Performance, raising us to expert proficiency. We take Incredible Initiative for our general feat, helping us to go earlier in combat so that we can lay down buffs and debuffs before allies or our enemies act.
Gear: +1 sickle, everburning torch, ring of discretion
Spell Repertoire: 2nd – comprehend language, hideous laughter; Signature Spells: 1st – grim tendrils; 2nd – comprehend language
LEVEL 4 Just as we did with the Houndmaster, we take No Cause for Alarm for our skill feat because this helps capture the idea of reducing stress as Jester can do with Inspiring Tune, Turn Back Time, and Every Rose Has Its Thorns. There aren’t a lot of great options for Jester’s class feats at this point, but Combat Reading feels decent for Jester, allowing him to try to gather information about a target he can see. This feels like an important ability for a court jester to have, knowing what jokes to make without getting the rope.
Gear: lesser maestro’s instrument, +1 sickle, necklace of knives, ring of discretion
Spell Repertoire: 2nd – blistering invective
LEVEL 5 We’ll put these ability boosts in Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 19). This increased Intelligence gives us an extra language and makes us trained in Arcana. We take a skill increase in Diplomacy, improving our ability to use No Cause for Alarm, and then Acrobatics also automatically increases to expert thanks to our skilled heritage. Keep Up Appearances is a human ancestry feat that can make it appear as though we were unaffected by an emotion effect – another important skill for a court jester.
Gear: +1 striking sickle, +1 battle lute, lesser maestro’s instrument, necklace of knives, everburning torch, ring of discretion
Spell Repertoire: 3rd – agonizing despair, heroism; Signature Spells: 3rd – agonizing despair
LEVEL 6 The Bon Mot lets us throw out insults at creatures to make them more susceptible to our mental manipulations – this also helps capture the effect of Mockery even if that skill is normally targeted at our allies. Dirge of Doom gives us another composition cantrip that inflicts the frightened condition upon our enemies.
Gear: +1 leather armor, +1 striking sickle, mentalist’s staff, lesser maestro’s instrument, hand of the mage, necklace of knives
Spell Repertoire: 3rd - paralyze
LEVEL 7 With the advent of being able to reach master proficiency in our skills now, we’ll be doing just that with the Performance skill. We’ll pick up Toughness as our general feat, helping us survive in the thick of combat as Jester is typically seen with melee weapons and we aren’t putting a focus on Constitution.
Gear: staff of impossible visions, diplomat’s badge, +1 leather armor, +1 striking sicle, lesser maestro’s instrument, +1 battle lute
Spell Repertoire: 4th – clownish curse, phantasmal killer; Signature Spells: 4th – phantasmal killer
LEVEL 8 With the Group Impression skill feat, we can Make an Impression on multiple people at once. Getting us another focus point, Inspire Heroic gives us a focus spell of the same name that functions similar to lingering composition, letting us attempt a Performance check to increase the effectiveness of inspire courage.
Gear: wounding weapon rune, staff of impossible visions, horn of fog, +1 leather armor, +1 striking sickle, bag of holding (type I)
Spell Repertoire: 4th - veil
LEVEL 9 Another skill increase to Diplomacy pushes it up to master proficiency. For our ancestry feat, we’ll take Multitalented and gain the Rogue Dedication. I was looking for a way to give Jester some consistent means of inflicting bleed, which I could’ve done if Bloody Debilitations wasn’t a 12th-level rogue feat. This will help shore up our damage a little bit in combat situations once we grab Sneak Attacker, but for now, all it does is make us trained in Athletics since we’re already trained in Stealth and Thievery.
Gear: +1 resilient leather armor, wounding weapon rune, gloves of storing, staff of impossible visions, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking sickle
Spell Repertoire: 5th – blister, mind probe; Signature Spells: 5th - blister
LEVEL 10 Another set of ability boosts go towards Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 20). We’ll use Intimidating Glare for a skill feat so that we can Demoralize a creature that doesn’t share a language with us without taking a penalty. As mentioned, Sneak Attacker helps give us a little bit of extra damage when we work in tandem with our allies to take do foes.
Gear: horn of blasting, +1 resilient leather armor, greater mentalist’s staff, wounding weapon rune, staff of impossible visions, +1 striking sickle
Spell Repertoire: 5th – strange geometry
LEVEL 11 To make better use of that skill feat we just picked up, we will increase Intimidation to expert proficiency. Fleet as a general feat will increase our Speed, helping us weave in and out of combat and get further when we Tumble Through.
Gear: +2 striking sickle, greater dancing scarf, horn of blasting, +1 resilient leather armor, wounding weapon rune, gloves of storing
Spell Repertoire: 6th – haste, phantasmal calamity; Signature Spells: 6th – phantasmal calamity
LEVEL 12 Considering the nature of the video game that Jester comes from, Schooled in Secrets makes perfect sense as a skill feat to me, allowing Jester to use Occultism to Gather Information about secret societies. We reach back into the Rogue Dedication to pick up Skill Mastery, which will increase Acrobatics to master and Occultism to expert proficiency and, on top of all that, give us a skill feat for one of them. For that, we’ll take Kip Up, allowing Jester to stand up as a free action.
Gear: +2 resilient leather armor, +2 striking sickle, moderate maestro’s instrument, horn of blasting, lover’s gloves, greater mentalist’s staff
Spell Repertoire: 6th - spellwrack
LEVEL 13 This skill increase will put Intimidation up to master proficiency while Bounce Back is an ancestry feat that lets us lose the dying condition once per day without gaining the wounded condition.
Gear: +2 striking sickle, +1 resilient leather armor, greater goggles of night, moderate maestro’s instrument, horn of blasting, greater pendant of the occult
Spell Repertoire: 7th – prismatic spray, retrocognition; Signature Spells: 7th - retrocognition
LEVEL 14 We can use the Assured Identification skill feat so that Jester can’t misidentify magical items – which harkens back to his home game a bit in that you’re always told what the equipment you find does. We’re going back to the bard class for this next feat – Allegro gives us a composition cantrip of the same name that we can use to quicken a single ally. Both this and inspire courage help capture the feel of Battle Ballad but given that they’re composition cantrips, we can only have one or the other active at the same time – for now.
Gear: boots of speed, +2 greater striking sickle, greater staff of impossible visions, +1 resilient leather armor, moderate maestro’s instrument, +2 striking battle lute
Spell Repertoire: 7th – maze of locked doors
LEVEL 15 For this set of ability boosts, we’ll plug them into Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 14, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 21). We can get Performance to legendary proficiency with this level’s skill increase. Incredible Scout might seem like an odd choice, but one of the things that Battle Ballad affects is the Speed stat, which determines turn order. So Jester having an ability that helps his party act sooner is fitting to me.
Gear: +2 greater resilient leather armor, boots of speed, greater staff of impossible visions, +2 greater striking sickle, greater goggles of night, greater insistent door knocker
Spell Repertoire: 8th – spirit song, undermine reality; Signature Spells: 8th – spirit song
LEVEL 16 Shameless Request feels appropriate for a former court jester, making an outlandish without creating offense. I alluded to this next feat just a few sentences ago – Harmonize lets us link two composition cantrips together, allowing us to cast them both without cancelling the other.
Gear: greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, clear quartz crystal ball, boots of speed, +2 greater striking sickle, greater staff of impossible visions
Spell Repertoire: 8th – uncontrollable dance
LEVEL 17 Diplomacy will be one of our other select skills to reach legendary proficiency. Then we can take Heroic Presence to bolster all of our allies as long as we’re working together – a good support ability coming from an ancestry feat.
Gear: +3 greater striking sickle, greater thundering weapon rune, selenite crystal ball, +2 greater resilient leather armor, boots of speed, greater staff of impossible visions
Spell Repertoire: 9th – overwhelming presence, unfathomable song; Signature Spells: 9th – overwhelming presence
LEVEL 18 With our now legendary Diplomacy, we can pick up Legendary Negotiation so that we can parley with foes even in the midst of combat. We can also pick up Eternal Composition from our class feats so that we are permanently quickened with an extra action that we can use to cast a composition cantrip and we can also have one readied for while we’re traveling – getting close to how Tiger’s Eye works.
Gear: circlet of persuasion, +3 greater striking sickle, major staff of impossible visions, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, clear quartz crystal ball
Spell Repertoire: 9th - weird
LEVEL 19 Our final skill increase will push Occultism up to master proficiency. We’ll use Feather Step as our general feat so that we can Step into difficult terrain, helping us get out of sticky situations.
Gear: +3 greater resilient leather armor, circlet of persuasion, greater daredevil boots, +3 greater striking sickle, greater thundering weapon rune, selenite crystal ball
Spell Repertoire: 10th – alter reality, gate
LEVEL 20 These final four ability boosts will increase Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 16, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 22). We’ll get another language from the increased Intelligence and also become trained in Religion. We can use the Disturbing Knowledge skill feat to frighten or confuse foes with Occultism. Fittingly, our final class feat is Fatal Aria. This would give us another focus point, but we’re already at max there. What we do get though is the fatal aria composition spell, which can instantly kill or heavily damage a creature – helping us capture the effects of Finale.
Gear: +3 major striking sickle, greater maestro’s instrument, +3 greater resilient leather armor, circlet of persuasion, +3 greater striking battle lute, major staff of impossible visions
Spell Repertoire: 9th – resplendent mansion
CONCLUSION This is very different from the last bard I built even if that one also took the Rogue Dedication. Jester is very much a performer and now he can make the world of Pathfinder his stage! The hardest abilities to replicate were Slice Off and Harvest given that they inflict bleed, but I did realize while I was working on the build that grim tendrils is a decent stand-in for the latter and the former can be done with the wounding weapon rune. For Solo, we have dirge of doom that makes foes frightened and thereby lowers their Accuracy. Battle Ballad is covered by a couple of different options with inspire courage being the most obvious while Finale is captured through fatal aria though not with its effect of enhancing our other abilities. Turn Back Time, Every Rose Has Its Thorns, and Inspiring Tune have No Cause for Alarm, which is the closest I could find for the stress mechanic. We’re even able to get Mockery and The Tiger’s Eye through loose interpretation and the Bon Mot and Eternal Composition feats, respectively!
This was a blast to build and I hope you like it. Lemme know, even if you don't though I'd appreciate constructive criticism over anything else. Does the build work? Does it capture the feel of the character? What would you change about it? Is it something you’d like to play? What other characters would you like to see for Full Build Friday?
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