Jesters - an OSR class that breaks the rules

 

"The difference between the male and female gadabout designs in Dragon Quest 3 make me sad that we were deprived of an Akira Toriyama-designed sexy clown" - @WendySnowRadish

Continuing my series about incomparable classes. As before, I've framed the rules here into a GLoG milieu but you can steal the basic concepts pretty easily. 

What's the deal?

Jesters do not use the rules that everybody else uses at the table. They're barely even playing the same game. 

This class is an exploration of the metafiction of the game. (Score one on your Josh is pretentious Bingo card.) That is, jesters know they're in a roleplaying game. They use out-of-character mechanics that power their in-character actions.

The Jester

'That, of course, is the great secret of the successful fool – that he is no fool at all.'

- Isaac Asimov, Guide to Shakespeare

You're not a puissant knight or a wise loremaster or powerful truespeaker. You are a jester - a fool, a clown, a gaddabout, a juggler, a buffoon. People look down at you because you're the lowest of the low. 

Ah, but here's the rub: you know more than they do!

You realize that this whole thing is just one big game! Distantly, you can hear the voices of the highest gods discussing your fate. You can hear the pages turning, referencing obscure tables and describing the physics of the universe. You hear the dice rolling. You look across the battlefield and see the flaking acrylic paint on the orc who's making 5' steps towards you.

Ha ha! A game! What fun!

You have a silly name. Roll or choose:

1. Autolycus 
2. Yokel
3. Costard
4. Dogberry
5. Dromio
6. Falstaff
7. Feste
8. Grumio
9. Launce
10. Pompey
11. Puck
12. Yorick

Jester A - Not Playing With a Full Deck, Bad Brain

Jester B - BANG!

Jester C - Lol So Randumb

Jester D - Tricky Shuffle

As long as you are unarmored and unencumbered, every Jester template gives you +1 Movement and +1 Defense. (This stacks with the bonus from Agility).

Make 'em Laugh

As part of your legendarium, write down the name of everybody at the table (including the GM). Whenever you say or do something in-character that makes this player laugh out-of-character, put a check beside their name. You can spend these checks to power your Jester abilities. 

Not Playing With a Full Deck

When you would roll a d20, draw from a standard set of cards instead. The card's value is treated like the die's result. Aces are 1s. Face cards are all 20s. (This means most of your rolls will only be 1-10 except 20s will come up far more frequently.) 

If you spend your turn capering about, spend a check to force another player or GM to draw from the deck instead of rolling a d20.

Bad Brain

This is the essential Jester gimmick. You can take anything out-of-character in-character. You can look at other people's character sheets. You can "hear" the table chatter and act on it.

Peeking at the GM's folder is still considered, like, rude and a violation of table stakes. Don't be a jerk about it. Don't be a jerk about anything!

BANG!

If somebody rolls a die and you don't like the result, spend a check to bang on the table. Make everybody pick up their beers first. If your bang tips over the die, the new result is what happens.

Lol So Randumb

Before the GM uses a random table, spend a check to look at it. If you want, you can force the GM to take the top card of your discard pile as the result on the random table. 

Tricky Shuffle

Spend two checks to pull three cards of your choice out of your discard pile. Shuffle the discard into your deck. Put the three set-aside cards back on top in any order you want.