Hi there

I'm both new to the board and the game as a whole. I have a concept of a court jester type character who was actually the body guard for his noble lord. I've been looking through the classes and noticed that the freelancer is a general catch all class and suggests the jester in it's write up.

I am looking for something slightly different some one who is good with a weapon and magic. I thought of illusionist as a class because it kind of fits the jester type persona.

Does anyone agree or have a different suggestion for me to consider?

Cheers

Ripcord

The Illusionist (who don't need to do Illusion at all, it's just a class name) is a good "furtive mage". I have one in my game table, he is average in Combat skills and quite good in magic, with a little clandestine competences. Maybe it will be your best choice.

Or, you can pick up any class you want if you think it will fit better. Don't forget there are advantages that can reduce costs for some secondary skills, so you can use it with some class you've chosen to fit your ideas.

The freelancer and illusionist are both definitely the most obvious choices for the character you describe.

You could also think about using the Warlock class for the combination of combat and magical skills. It could be hard to be a good jester as a warlock since the class has no innate bonuses to appropriate secondary skills, but if you take the "Aptitude in a Field" advantage you could lower the cost of the subterfuge group to 1 and easily catch up to an illusionist or other prowler-type character without spending too many points. Of course you then need 2 creation points for The Gift, but I'm sure you could think of a disadvantage to take for the extra point you need. That's my best suggestion.

I also just had the thought that you could consider the Paladin class. Good combat skills, innate Zeon bonus, and makes a great bodyguard. The lack of subterfuge makes the jester aspect difficult, but you could emphasize the Style and Persuasion skills combined with Dance and Music to be more of an "Entertainer" type of jester and less of a "Clown" type of jester. You'd never be an amazing spellcaster, but you could definitely get Shield of Light (a must for any bodyguard!) and a handful of illusion spells (really helps compensate for the lack of subterfuge skills).

Come to think of it, a paladin dancing around in colorful armor playing a little mandolin sounds just as entertaining as some guy juggling with his feet. Paladins make better jesters than I thought ^^.