Evil performer - sick sense of humor

[Spore]

Greetings playground,

I've been looking for a quite mystical and mean spirited performer dabbling in the dark arts while having a twisted sense of humor. But let me show you the kind of fluff I'm aiming for.

At first glance Twiddle looks like a fun guy. He wears colorful costumes, does magic tricks, juggles, makes children smile. But something's off. He doesn't smile. Nor does he make eye contact. He just - stares into the void. Then a glimpse of genialty flickers through his eyes. He shouts: "CATCH!" at the first kid in sight and throws some juggling balls. One, two, three, then a knife. He doesn't want to hurt the kid but the kid gets cut and runs off crying.

Twiddle starts to smile. He doesn't kill kids, he is no psychopath (yet). But he LOVES the sense of fear, ridiculing young and old. Laughing at misfortune, death and poverty. Some say it's the envy because he never had a happy childhood. Others claim he is pacted with darker, more sinister powers.

The question stands:
Which class(es) and spells suit him the most? So far the bard (yet I feel that the standard inspire courage isn't really what I'm looking for), antipaladin, maestro/abyssal sorcerer or dark tapestry oracle come to mind. All focussed on fear. What I personally want is some kind of either melee combatant using knives (shortsword's fine too) or a fully blown caster.

[Kudaku]

Flying Blade swashbuckler could do a decent job at the knife-throwing.

Prankster bard (gnome-only) may work for the mockery, but it's more infuriating than frightening.

Finally, a Skald who focuses on the Dirge of Doom song can pull off some pretty cool things.

[Madbranch]

Just build an evil bard?
Also, obligatory song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAY-78zhmw

[Spore]

Prankster bard (gnome-only) may work for the mockery, but it's more infuriating than frightening.

This may possibly work for the concept, too. Laughing at misfortune is pretty infuriating. Like that one time our BBEG necromancer sacrificed a whole part of town to Abaddon just to find the heroes. Flew out of my reach, killed my mount, destroyed the city and laughed at my inability to do anything against it.

I MIGHT delve into unplayably evil.


Just build an evil bard?
Also, obligatory song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAY-78zhmw

Never seen that movie (might have my evening entertainment though). But that singular scene SCREAMS Infernal Sorcerer.

[Red Fel]

Just build an evil bard?
Also, obligatory song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAY-78zhmw

Not bad, not bad. But if you really want "evil entertainer who does it for kicks," you need look no further than Voltaire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWYCS6k1IOA).

[Deophaun]

He shouts: "CATCH!" at the first kid in sight and throws some juggling balls. One, two, three, then a knife. He doesn't want to hurt the kid but the kid gets cut and runs off crying.

Twiddle starts to smile. He doesn't kill kids, he is no psychopath (yet). But he LOVES the sense of fear, ridiculing young and old. Laughing at misfortune, death and poverty.
The bolded portion does not fit.

If it wasn't grossly inferior to the Bard, I'd recommend Jester simply because the fluff fits so well. If you go Bard, Doomspeak would work well for this character, but you need to get Intimidate on your class list if you want it before level 14, such as grabbing a Devoted Spirit maneuver through Martial Study.

[Spore]

The bolded portion does not fit.

Well, maybe I paraphrased that wrong. He is no murderer.


If it wasn't grossly inferior to the Bard, I'd recommend Jester simply because the fluff fits so well. If you go Bard, Doomspeak would work well for this character, but you need to get Intimidate on your class list if you want it before level 14, such as grabbing a Devoted Spirit maneuver through Martial Study.

That looks like a cool class. As I'd have to port it to PF using PF spell lists, I guess I could make an argument on how this should be a bard archetype.trading off inspire courage for a charisma bonus on saves plus sneak attack seems fair.

[Hiro Quester]

The bard is a great resource for creating a malicious and fearsome character. (I already posted about this elsewhere today.)

Check out the fear handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809). A fear-based bard can do some awesome things. Haunting melody. Inspire awe. And yes, Doomspeak is awesome.

Find a way to get intimidates a class skill, and go to town. There's someki d of Tome of Battle thing with Martial study, I think. (Out of my wheelhouse, bug I've heard tell of such shenanigans)

It's possible to refluff bard music as other kinds of performances. The jester tricks you describe are one possibility. Perform (acrobatics)?

[Spore]

It's possible to refluff bard music as other kinds of performances. The jester tricks you describe are one possibility. Perform (acrobatics)?

Of course I'd do that. The singing/music part is what deterred me from playing a bard for far too long. Also I feel like you'd have to be mental to exert the added effort to perform in live-or-death situations. I know D&D isn't realistic but why should you sing or dance when even a minor distraction might get your head chopped off or your sorry behind burned alive?

This being a PF thread and my DMs only allowing first party PF stuff besides anything translated and approved from 3.5 or splashbooks limits my access to feats somewhat. I can only defend feats and classes that can't be reproduced by those sources. E.g. there's the dirge bard. It gives you a penalty on any fear related check but has also enough undead crunch that it disqualifies itself. Paizo is great in writing highly specific and thusly narrow ACFs.

[BWR]

You are obliged to play an evil bard and ham it up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsT36v_l3Q).

[Spore]

You are obliged to play an evil bard and ham it up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsT36v_l3Q).

Noted for fascinate fluff. :D Though I'd prefer a rendition of river dance.

[Aka-chan]

The Dread Witch prestige class from HoH could fit well with Twiddle's enjoyment of causing fear.