Everyone needs a little light in their life, some entertainment to melt away the monotony of daily life. Some people get that from watching players spin yarns, or listening to bards weave ballads. Your sharp wit and penchant for finding the absurd in every day events has inspired you into the life of a travelling comedian.
You journey from town to town (because it's easier to change the audience than the material) and spread mirth and insult. You always leave before your routine runs out, or your welcome does. It's always smart to find out who is loved and who is hated in a town before you start your playful ribbing, because one wrong word taken the wrong way has more than once ended up with you facing the wrong end of a sword. That is the way of the life you have chosen however, and you revel in it.
- Skill Proficiencies: You can choose two Cha based skills
- Tool Proficiencies: You have proficiency in your choice of an instrument, a game, or a disguise kit. Whichever you choose should be considered to be a part of your act, no matter how small.
- Languages:
In your travels you have found it advantageous to speak another language to broaden the horizons of places you can perform, and to pepper your routine with more colourful insults.
- Equipment: You gain a set of traveler's clothes, a reusable poster with your likeness on it that proclaims "Tonight, and for one night only!", your choice of a musical instrument, game or disguise kit, and a playbill from night of the greatest performance you ever had.
Performers master different types of routines in order to keep things fresh and to play to the preferences of different crowds. Choose up to 3 that you have mastered, which come with different perks and punishments.
| d10 | Routine |
|---|---|
| 1 | Anecdotal (Short Stories). Crit fail punishment: being run out of town. The whole team has to sleep in the worst terrain within 5 miles. Only get a short rest, and +1 exaustion by the next morning. |
| 2 | Deadpan. Crit fail punishment: no one understands you're doing a performance. They think you're talking to yourself, and get you arrested. You're going to need to find a way to bribe your way out of jail. |
| 3 | Improv. Crit fail punishment: going blank. You're so shocked at being unable to perform it effects your confidence. You have disadvantage on skill checks for 1d6 days. |
| 4 | Insult comic. Crit fail punishment: getting your butt kicked. You have to go one-on-one, mano-a-mano, with a local you've insulted at the DM's discretion. No magic, no weapons, no holds barred.. |
| 5 | Prop comic. Crit fail punishment: broken toys. You've done 1d12 gp worth of damage to the props integral to the act. You must pay it, and spend 1hr concentrating on the items to repair them. Use of the Mending Cantrip halves gp and time required. |
| 6 | One-liner. Crit fail punishment: Lose your voice. You're unable to communicate verbally for 1d4 days as your throat heals. This will prohibit use of spells with a vocal component, and does not stop the use of theives cant. |
| 7 | Ventriloquist. Crit fail punishment: Angry wizard. You mock a wizard in your audience, who curses the puppet and you enter into combat. Once the fight is over, the puppet is forever destroyed, and you can't use this act again. Instead of doubling crit every time it fails, you only have disadvantage performance checks. |
| 8 | Slapstick. Crit fail punishment: self flagellation. Desperate for ANY laughs you beat the crap out of yourself. for the next 1d4 days you start after a long rest with half your Max HP, rounded up. |
| 9 | Musical. Crit fail punishment: bar room brawl. You trigger an unarmed bar fight with your audience. The entire party present have a no weapon, no magic fight with citizens up to the DM's discretion of number and difficulty. The first citizen gets an attack of surprise with a club as they destroy your instrument over your head. You also need a new instrument. |
| 10 | Skit comedy. Crit fail punishment: shunned. No one in town is interested in talking to or helping you or your party anymore. After 1d20 days the mood of the town will have largely forgiven and forgotten, until then you have disadvantage on skill checks against the few who will talk to you. |
While you are in a town with a nightly local gathering spot, you can put on a show (use your poster to advertise). A good show will earn you some tips, while bad shows compound, and can cost you dearly based on your routine. Your routine lasts for 1 hour, and you make a performance check to identify the quality of the routine. Rolling 11 or higher nets you the roll (-10) gp, with a critical hit doubling the pot. Rolling 2-10 is an unsuccessful routine, and gives you disadvantage and doubles critical failure risk on every subsequent attempt of that routine in that town over the next d20+10 days (1 failure Nat 1+2, 2 failures 1+2+3+4, etc...).
The consequences of each critical failure are unique to the type of routine performed.
Suggested Characteristics
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | “I’m not being condescending. I’m too busy thinking about far more important things you wouldn’t understand.” - Jimmy Carr |
| 2 | "I don't fail. I succeed at finding what doesn't work." - Christopher Titus |
| 3 | “My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.” - Billy Connolly |
| 4 | "I always look for a woman who has a tattoo. I see a woman with a tattoo, and I'm thinking, OK, here's a gal who's capable of making a decision she'll regret in the future." - Richard Jeni |
| 5 | "The way that these girls keep themselves skinny is awful, isn't it? By vomiting or using hard drugs -- which I can't afford." - Amy Schumer |
| 6 | "I believe in the institution of marriage, and I intend to keep trying till I get it right." - Richard Pryor |
| 7 | "I don't set out to offend or shock, but I also don't do anything to avoid it." - Sarah Silverman |
| 8 | "Only dumb people try to impress smart people. Smart people just do what they do." - Chris Rock |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Clean comedy is the best comedy. It requires true wit and cunning. (Good) |
| 2 | Dark humour is like a salve to a burn. But you need to be burned to get it. (Evil) |
| 3 | Goofy comedy is the best. You don't know where the next laugh will come from! (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Self depricating comedy is sublime. Everyone loves it when you can laugh at yourself. (Neutral) |
| 5 | High brow humour is the best humour, because if you get the joke you feel smart. (Lawful) |
| 6 | Low brow humour. Be honest. Try to tell me with a straight face you've never laughed at a fart. (Chaotic) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My agent. By that I mean myself. (Evil) |
| 2 | Art. I am dedicated to my routines. I use them whenever I can, both for money, and to be lauded. (Chaotic) |
| 3 | My Troupe. I will do anything at the drop of a hat for those who I consider friends (Good) |
| 4 | Mysterious old comic. In my youth a travelling comedian inspired my love for humour. I am looking for any evidence for who they are, and if they're still alive. (Neutral) |
| 5 | I have a rival who will occassionally show up for shows, and we heckle each other. On such nights, performance checks have disadvantage. |
| 6 | I have fans who follow my exploits of wit. I definetly take them for granted. (Evil) |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I once made a patron laugh so hard they keeled over dead. My reputation grew, but I hide a strong guilt in my conscience from it. |
| 2 | I have angered more than a few powerful people enough to try injure me. More people still want me dead. |
| 3 | I have bad timing. The worst. Whether with punchlines, or people. |
| 4 | I once slept with a beautiful young lady of 18... before I met her mother, with whom I had slept with 19 years previous. I ran before I asked any questions. |
| 5 | I may play as helpful, but I am terribly unreliable. |
| 6 | I don't tend to filter my thoughts before I pronounce them aloud. |
Previous Versions
| Name | Date Modified | Views | Adds | Version | Actions |
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8/8/2022 7:44:50 PM
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