The Jackflash (The fastest class ever) PEACH

[Ziegander]

The Jackflash

HD: d8

Alignment: Any.

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+0|+0|+2|+0|Quick Strike 1d8, Quick Step, Speed Boost +5
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+0|Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Impairment (Weakness)
3rd|+2|+1|+3|+1|Quick Strike 2d8+2, Speed Boost +10
4th|+3|+1|+4|+1|Evasion, Sudden Impairment (Clumsiness)
5th|+3|+1|+4|+1|Quick Strike 3d8+4, Speed Boost +15
6th|+4|+2|+5|+2|Improved Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Impairment (Sluggishness)
7th|+5|+2|+5|+2|Quick Strike 4d8+6, Speed Boost +20
8th|+6/+1|+2|+6|+2|Sudden Impairment (Stupidity), Burst of Speed
9th|+6/+1|+3|+6|+3|Quick Strike 5d8+8, Speed Boost +25
10th|+7/+2|+3|+7|+3|Sudden Impairment (Senselessness), Quick Lunge
11th|+8/+3|+3|+7|+3|Quick Strike 6d8+10, Speed Boost +30
12th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Improved Evasion, Sudden Impairment (Brashness)
13th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Quick Strike 7d8+12, Speed Boost +35
14th|+10/+5|+4|+9|+4|Greater Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Impairment (Seizure)
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+5|Quick Strike 8d8+14, Speed Boost +40
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+5|Sudden Impairment (Madness), Improved Quick Step
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+5|Quick Strike 9d8+16, Speed Boost +45
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+6|Improved Quick Lunge, Improved Burst of Speed
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+6|Quick Strike 10d8+18, Speed Boost +50
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+6|Supreme Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Death[/table]

Class Skills (6+Int): Balance, Climb, Craft, Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Move Silently, Open Lock, Perform, Profession, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Swim, Tumble, Use Rope

Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, light armor, no shields

Quick Strike (Ex): The first attack a Jackflash makes in an encounter deals extra damage equal to the listed value. Further, whenever a Jackflash attacks a foe denied his dexterity bonus to AC he deals half the extra damage. The bonus damage on the first attack made by a Jackflash is not considered precision damage, and therefore damages all creatures equally, though any other bonus damage from Quick Strike is considered precision damage. If the Jackflash's first attack during an encounter is against an opponent denied it's dexterity bonus to AC he only deals the listed damage (not 1.5 times the listed damage).

Quick Step (Ex): The first time during an encounter a Jackflash is the target of an attack he may spend an immediate action to move up to 1/2 his speed (rounded down to the nearest 5ft). If he does, the attack automatically fails.

Speed Boost (Ex): A Jackflash gains the listed bonus to his base speed, and as a swift action, can double the bonus gained from this ability for 1 round.

Uncanny Celerity (Su): 2nd level. As Uncanny Dodge ability. Further, a Jackflash can produce a Lesser Celerity effect (New Spell, PHB2) once per encounter.

Sudden Impairment (Ex): At 2nd level, and every even level up to 16th, a Jackflash gains a new debuff ability triggered whenever he deals extra damage from Quick Strike. He chooses only one of these abilities to take effect per trigger and the effects last 1d4 rounds if the Jackflash gained the full bonus from Quick Strike, or 1 round if the Jackflash gained only half the bonus from Quick Strike. A single creature can only be effected by Sudden Impairment once per round.

Weakness: 2nd level. Foe takes a -4 penalty to Strength.
Clumsiness: 4th level. Foe takes a -4 penalty to Dexterity.
Sluggishness: 6th level. Foe's movement speeds reduced by 1/2.
Stupidty: 8th level. Foe takes a -6 penalty to Intelligence.
Senselessness: 10th level. Foe takes a -6 penalty to Wisdom.
Brashness: 12th level. Foe takes a -6 penalty to Charisma.
Seizure: 14th level. Foe becomes Dazed.
Madness: 16th level. Foe becomes Confused.

Evasion (Ex): 4th level. As Monk. Becomes Improved Evasion at 12th level.

Improved Uncanny Celerity (Su): 6th level. As Improved Uncanny Dodge ability. Further, a Jackflash can reroll his first initiative roll during an encounter and can always act during a surprise round.

Burst of Speed (Ex): 8th level. Once per encounter, as a swift action, you may make a Dexterity check, adding any bonuses you have to Initiative. If this check meets or exceeds the highest Initiative roll among creatures in the encounter the next round is considered a surprise round during which you, and any creature with a higher initiative than you, are aware.

Quick Lunge (Ex): 10th level. As a swift or immediate action a Jackflash can increase his reach and threatened area by 10ft for 1 round.

Greater Uncanny Celerity (Su): 14th level. A Jackflash gains an extra move or standard action during a surprise round. Further, instead of producing a Lesser Celerity effect, a Jackflash can choose to produce a Celerity (New Spell, PHB2) effect once per encounter.

Improved Quick Step (Ex): Once each round, when a 16th level Jackflash is the target of an attack he may spend an immediate action to move up to 1/2 his speed (rounded down to the nearest 5ft). If he does, the attack automatically fails.

Improved Burst of Speed (Ex): 18th level. Whenever a Jackflash creates an additional surprise round in the middle of an encounter using his Burst of Speed ability, all enemies lose their dexterity bonus to AC against the Jackflash for the rest of the encounter.

Improved Quick Lunge (Ex): 18th level. Whenever a Jackflash uses his Quick Lunge ability he increases his reach and threatened area by 20ft for 1 round.

Supreme Uncanny Celerity (Su): A 20th level Jackflash gains an extra swift action, and an extra immediate action each turn. Further, instead of producing a Celerity or Lesser Celerity effect, a Jackflash can choose to produce a Greater Celerity (New Spell, PHB2) effect once per encounter.

Sudden Death (Su): 20th level. Whenever a Jackflash deals extra damage from his Quick Strike ability the damage creature must make a Fort save DC 10+1/2 Jackflash levels+the Jackflash's Dexterity modifier (+2 if the Jackflash gained the full bonus from Quick Strike), or be slain. A single creature can only be effected by Sudden Death once per round.

[SilentNight]

Cool concept but it looks freakishly overpowered. Quick strike is way better than sneak attack, even with it's more limited use. Right now all that needs to be done is a major debuff.

[Primal Fury]

Okay. Let me say this first. It looks like fun. I like the whole focus on speed. Though I'm not sure how it stands up to a monk in that repsect. I think a class called "Jackflash" should be able to beat a "Monk" in a foot race. (Also, I'm just assuming that the monk is faster, I don't actually have the stuff in front of me.)

Now let me say this. Great Googly Moogly. Why the crap is Quick Strike so high??? Like the guy above me said, it's ALOT better than sneak attack, even if you halve it when they're flat-footed, that's still more.

[Ziegander]

Cool concept but it looks freakishly overpowered. Quick strike is way better than sneak attack, even with it's more limited use. Right now all that needs to be done is a major debuff.

Let me begin by saying I balance classes against the Tome of Battle, that's fine if you don't like that, but I'm not going to balance against anything less, while at the same time I don't want any class I make to be more powerful than those classes.

Now, Quick Strike does deal more damage than Sneak Attack. A little more than double the average when you get the full bonus (once each encounter), and a little more than average when you get half the bonus. However, as you pointed out, it has a much more limited use.


Okay. Let me say this first. It looks like fun. I like the whole focus on speed. Though I'm not sure how it stands up to a monk in that repsect. I think a class called "Jackflash" should be able to beat a "Monk" in a foot race. (Also, I'm just assuming that the monk is faster, I don't actually have the stuff in front of me.)

While the Monk does have a slightly better base speed which is on all the time, the Jackflash has much higher "reaction speed" in that it can move more often and more effectively, especially as movement applies to combat (see Quick Step, Uncanny Celerity, Quick Lunge, etc).


Now let me say this. Great Googly Moogly. Why the crap is Quick Strike so high??? Like the guy above me said, it's ALOT better than sneak attack, even if you halve it when they're flat-footed, that's still more.

It started so high because in the beginning it was limited simply to the first attack the Jackflash made each encounter, but then I realized that was MUCH too large a limitation. All that can be proven is that it does more damage than sneak attack (although not much more when halved), but at the cost of being harder to pull off. Still, I am considering lowering it slightly.

[Zeta Kai]

1) Speed Boost has no listing for how often it can be used, so as written, it can be used at will, effectively granting the JF a constant speed bonus as long as they're willing to forgo other swift/immediate actions.

2) Speed Boost is indeed slower than a Monk, which tops out at +60' while unarmored. This class has no such armor restriction, but I still think that it needs more speed. It is not actually the fastest class ever, & is being beaten at its own game by monks, which is kinda sad.

3) Quick Strike is so absurdly overpowered that it drags down the credibility of the entire class. Here's a more acceptable progression:
{table=head]Level|Quick Strike
1st|+1d4
2nd|
3rd|+1d6
4th|
5th|+2d4
6th|
7th|+2d6
8th|
9th|+3d6
10th|
11th|+4d6
12th|
13th|+6d6
14th|
15th|+8d6
16th|
17th|+10d6
18th|
19th|+12d6
20th|[/table]
This damage curve starts off slower than a Rogue's, but eventually overtakes them. It also keeps the opportunistic attack from becoming the party's damage-crutch.

4) Here's a fully-coded table, just because I'm nice:
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Reflex Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+0|+0|+2|+0|Quick Strike 1d8, Quick Step, Speed Boost +5
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+0|Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Impairment (Weakness)
3rd|+2|+1|+3|+1|Quick Strike 2d8, Speed Boost +10
4th|+3|+1|+4|+1|Evasion, Sudden Impairment (Clumsiness)
5th|+3|+1|+4|+1|Quick Strike 3d10, Speed Boost +15
6th|+4|+2|+5|+2|Improved Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Impairment (Sluggishness)
7th|+5|+2|+5|+2|Quick Strike 4d10, Speed Boost +20
8th|+6/+1|+2|+6|+2|Sudden Impairment (Stupidity), Burst of Speed
9th|+6/+1|+3|+6|+3|Quick Strike 5d12, Speed Boost +25
10th|+7/+2|+3|+7|+3|Sudden Impairment (Senselessness), Quick Lunge
11th|+8/+3|+3|+7|+3|Quick Strike 6d12, Speed Boost +30
12th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Improved Evasion, Sudden Impairment (Brashness)
13th|+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Quick Strike 7d12+12, Speed Boost +35
14th|+10/+5|+4|+9|+4|Greater Uncanny Celerity, Sudden Impairment (Seizure)
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+5|Quick Strike 8d12+12, Speed Boost +40
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+5|Sudden Impairment (Madness), Improved Burst of Speed
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+5|Quick Strike 9d12+24, Speed Boost +45
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+6|Sudden Death, Improved Quick Lunge
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+6|Quick Strike 10d12+24, Speed Boost +50
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+6|Supreme Uncanny Celerity, Supreme Quick Step, Improved Sudden Death[/table]

5) Unless it has ToB features, like stances & maneuvers, don't balance against ToB. Balance against Core instead.

[Raistlin1040]

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas...

Carry on.

[Zeta Kai]

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas...

Carry on.

Yeah, I think we were all waiting for that one. Thank you, Raistlin, for getting that out of the way. :smallamused:

[Raistlin1040]

You're welcome. I aim to please.

[Arbitrarity]

Ring of Blinking. That is all.

Wait. I need to kill myself now. Ring of Blinking denies dexterity bonus, not flatfooted. I feel dumb now.

[Ziegander]

1) Speed Boost has no listing for how often it can be used, so as written, it can be used at will, effectively granting the JF a constant speed bonus as long as they're willing to forgo other swift/immediate actions.

Yes, it can be used at will, that's exactly the point.


2) Speed Boost is indeed slower than a Monk, which tops out at +60' while unarmored. This class has no such armor restriction, but I still think that it needs more speed. It is not actually the fastest class ever, & is being beaten at its own game by monks, which is kinda sad.

Again, while it may have a slightly lower base speed than the Monk, it has much more effective movement options, and the ability to gain more actions per round than any other class. The combination of lots of base speed and lots of actions is what makes it "the fastest class ever."


3) Quick Strike is so absurdly overpowered that it drags down the credibility of the entire class.

You have presented absolutely no proof and I simply don't believe your statement to be true.


This damage curve starts off slower than a Rogue's, but eventually overtakes them.

Why should it start off any lower? In fact, if it doesn't start off higher, and isn't always higher, the ability is worse than a Rogue's Sneak Attack.


4) Here's a fully-coded table, just because I'm nice:

Thank you very much! :smallbiggrin:


5) Unless it has ToB features, like stances & maneuvers, don't balance against ToB. Balance against Core instead.

I'm sorry to say this, but this is the most nonsensical thing I've ever heard you say, for a myriad reasons, not the least of which being that the Core PHB is the least balanced book ever published for 3.5.

[Ziegander]

Ring of Blinking. That is all.

Wait. I need to kill myself now. Ring of Blinking denies dexterity bonus, not flatfooted. I feel dumb now.

Well, I did read your original post, and since I am changing Quick Strike to work with attacks against creatures denied their dex bonus to AC (flat-footed only applies during the first round of combat, or in other extremely specific situations), all it takes is a Ring of Blinking to break the class. Even then... it isn't 100% broken, but it is more powerful than I'd like. Considering a way to fix that.

[Arbitrarity]

Ok, now that easy methods to deny dex are out, I need to figure out how to make people flatfooted.

In the meantime:

Quick Strike is no longer nearly as easy to trigger. I think it should still be limited to around 1/round, owing to all the triggers off it. Alternatively, reduce the number of times each ability triggering of Quick Strike to 1/round.


20'th level has too many capstones. Indeed, the class feels weak at lower levels, and could use better scaling.

Uncanny Celerity, at level 2, beats Quicksilver Motion. Wut.
Quick Step is like Abrupt Jaunt. Pretty potent.

Nice use of swift action management.

Burst of Speed and its improved version confuse me greatly. What's this about extra turns?

[Zeta Kai]

I'm sorry to say this, but this is the most nonsensical thing I've ever heard you say, for a myriad reasons, not the least of which being that the Core PHB is the least balanced book ever published for 3.5.

Then you haven't read many of my posts, have you? :smallwink:

Seriously though, my reasoning is simple: If you're gonna balance your class against supplemental material, then you should include that supplemental in your class. The opposite is also true: If you're gonna include supplemental in your class, then you should balance your class against that supplemental material.

Are you with me so far? Good. Well, if you're NOT gonna include supplemental in your class, then you should NOT balance your class against that supplemental material. What you're saying is "I'm presenting a class that does not use anything from Tome of Battle, but it's supposed to be balanced against the classes from that book". Which is a lot like saying "I'm balancing this non-psionic class against the Expanded Psionics Handbook" or "I'm balancing this non-incarnum class against Magic of Incarnum". It just doesn't make much sense.

Lastly, you didn't actually tell anyone what you were balancing this against at first. You waited until people started pointing out how overpowered it was before mentioning that crucial detail. Now, I have no levels in a psionic class, so I assumed, like many people, that you were balancing against Core. Regardless of your thoughts on the Core books, you should have mentioned that little tidbit at the very beginning, & saved your readers some time.

[Ziegander]

I think it should still be limited to around 1/round, owing to all the triggers off it. Alternatively, reduce the number of times each ability triggering of Quick Strike to 1/round.

This would make it severely, severely weaker than Sneak Attack.


20'th level has too many capstones. Indeed, the class feels weak at lower levels, and could use better scaling.

20th level has three "capstones" but then every level has at least two class features. If you feel that the class seems weak at lower levels please explain why.


Uncanny Celerity, at level 2, beats Quicksilver Motion. Wut.

This is just not true. Quicksilver Motion can be recovered and doesn't leave you dazed during your next turn.


Quick Step is like Abrupt Jaunt. Pretty potent.

I agree. But this class is still no spellcaster.


Nice use of swift action management.

Thank you, I like that about the class as well.


Burst of Speed and its improved version confuse me greatly. What's this about extra turns?

Maybe re-read it? I'm not sure if the ability is poorly written or just difficult to understand or what exactly. Sorry.

[Ziegander]

Then you haven't read many of my posts, have you? :smallwink:

Well, not too many, no, I am still only a Halfling. :smallwink:

It seems you misunderstand what I mean by "balancing against." When I say I am balancing a class against another class that means I am shooting for the same level of power. If you are suggesting that it is impossible to compare the levels of power of two classes that use different systems then you aren't far from saying that classes with different system can't ever be played together because there is no way of knowing how they will compare. I want this class to have a comparable level of effectiveness during encounters as classes presented in the Tome of Battle, not glaringly less, not glaringly more. That's what I mean.


Lastly, you didn't actually tell anyone what you were balancing this against at first. You waited until people started pointing out how overpowered it was before mentioning that crucial detail. Now, I have no levels in a psionic class, so I assumed, like many people, that you were balancing against Core. Regardless of your thoughts on the Core books, you should have mentioned that little tidbit at the very beginning, & saved your readers some time.

Well, as a newbie, I had no idea that this was proper etiquette for the boards. If it would be appropriate I'll add a designer's note to the original post.

Lastly, I will be lowering the Quick Strike damage to 1d8/two levels for now. Does this make it too weak compared to Sneak Attack? (EDIT: Modified this slightly)

[Arbitrarity]

Stupid. I keep forgetting the side effects of celerity, lol. Mental fail, this is what I get for seeing all the TO threads where they bypass that.

Ok, rereading :smallsigh:

Trigger Quick Strike effects, like Sudden Impairment and Sudden Death 1/round. Damage can be multiple attacks, fine, (though I would nerf it a bit if it's just denies dex to AC), but throwing around 3-6 save or dies/round isn't cool. Heck, dazing most creatures around you isn't either.

Really, most of the lower level "class features" that you have two of are like monk speed. Minor speed boosts, damage increase, and minor ability scaling. It's admittedly on par than rogue at lower levels, but without the standard rogue role, and better defenses.

Ok, let's see. Speed boost comprises 1 of the four abilities you gain every 2 levels. Increase in Quick Strike damage is another, and Sudden Impairment is another. This leaves 1 feature/2 levels. These duplicate rogue abilities, defensively, with minor boosts, and give other odd abilities. This feels fairly OK compared to rogue, except the capstones and the save or die, which is almost at will. Weakening powers are about on par, maybe worse than maneuvers. With extra damage, not too bad...


8th level. As a swift action a Jackflash can make a new Initiative roll, acting in the Initiative order as this new roll dictates. This ability only allows a Jackflash to take an additional turn if his new Initiative would cause him to act before a creature he previously acted after, and only if that creature has not acted yet this round. After using this ability a Jackflash can't use this ability for 1d4 rounds.


So if his initiative jumps above a creature, he gets a free turn next round at the position he took in initiative? Does his initiative roll change?


I don't understand how quick lunge fits, thematically.

[Ziegander]

Trigger Quick Strike effects, like Sudden Impairment and Sudden Death 1/round. Damage can be multiple attacks, fine, (though I would nerf it a bit if it's just denies dex to AC), but throwing around 3-6 save or dies/round isn't cool. Heck, dazing most creatures around you isn't either.

This is a fine idea, and most certainly will make the class harder to break, without really taking away from the power I want it to have. Will be limiting Impairment/Sudden Death to once per enemy per round.


So if his initiative jumps above a creature, he gets a free turn next round at the position he took in initiative? Does his initiative roll change?

Okay... yeah, this doesn't make any sense at all. The ability is supposed to allow the Jackflash to take additional turns during the same round he uses it, but as written it does nothing but change his initiative order. Which... is dumb. I'll have to work on this.


I don't understand how quick lunge fits, thematically.

He darts in and out extremely quickly striking opponents at greater distance than normally allowed and before they can do anything to react.

[RMS Oceanic]

So, as a swift action, the Jackflash gains the noted bonus to his base speed for one round, reaching 50 feet at level 20.

Well, the monk gets a +60 bonus to speed at level 20, and it's active all the time. If you want the Jackflash to be considered the fastest, I suggest you bump this up. :smalltongue:

Otherwise, pretty cool class.

[Baron Corm]

Well, as a newbie, I had no idea that this was proper etiquette for the boards.

I don't think it is necessary. Most people can just look at your class and decide for themselves what the power level is, whether it's more like a bard, warblade, or wizard. They will then proceed to tell you whether or not it is balanced according to the power level they most prefer, throwing all that out the window :smallbiggrin:. However, if they give their reasons, it doesn't matter what either of you are balancing against, because you can pick and choose which of their things you like and dislike. If they don't give their reasons, their comment was useless anyway.

About your actual class, I think it would be better if dealing Quick Strike damage took up a swift action. This way, it can only be done once per round, and prevents him from doing some other quick maneuvers that his class is riddled with. A rogue's sneak attack is now stronger because he will be hitting with it multiple times per round. This is good though, because your class has other things which it focuses on (not to mention Sudden Impairment), while sneak attack is the biggest part of a rogue.

I would also change the Quick Strike damage to be:

Not first round, denied Dex bonus to AC: Xd4 + Dexterity Bonus
First round, not denied Dex bonus to AC: Xd6 + Class Level
First round, denied Dex bonus to AC: Xd8 + Dexterity Bonus + Class Level

Or something similar to that. It's just prettier I think, and fits thematically, but leave what you have if you have some reason for it.

I think that the class needs at least a small bonus to initiative. Probably a static bonus. As it is, a wizard with celerity still breaks even with you, and we can't have that (not to mention there are some initiative-granting spells and familiars in splatbooks, nothing too bad though). Not sure where to fit it in though, because your levels are pretty filled to the brim.

Speaking of which, I think you should take the Sudden Impairment progression off the table, and change the wording of Speed Boost to say "equal to 5 feet per 2 class levels", and take that off the table. This just clears up the table so it's easier to read.

One final thing; Improved Quick Step is just too good. It's just like being immune to melee attacks, especially with Supreme Uncanny Celerity. I would tweak that somehow.

[Radar]

I'm not very experienced with D&D, but there is something, that worries me:
Improved Burst of Speed used only once per encounter actually grants you ability to deal Quick Strike in every attack. Making enemies loose their AC bonus is a big bonus in itself, but you get Sudden Impairment on every creature you attack as well and save or death at level 20. Strongly increased threat area backs it up too. These bonuses appear in full force at high levels, so it might be just fine.

As far as i can tell, Quick Strike would work on creatures that Sneak Attack wouldn't apply to at all, so it doesn't feel that restricted.

[Ziegander]

Okay, I am going to respond to all the new comments, but I'm really sleepy right now.

In other news, Monks can no longer beat Jackflashes in any foot races. Suck on it.

[Stycotl]

spiffy. i like the idea of what you are doing here, but i think that i'd just use skirmish damage, and then give an ability that allows double that damage during the surprise round so long as the jackflash is under the effect of a speed boost. said ability could also have the ability to bypass precision damage-immunity as an effect.

as it is though, i don't find it to be overpowered, just not as smooth as i'd like it to be. especially where you mention at the end that it doesn't do x1.5 damage. maybe i'm too impatient, but i didn't get what you were referring to.

aaron out.

[Realms of Chaos]

I can see where the power curve is coming from with this. If someone wants to make something blatantly more powerful than the rogue, that isn't a problem as there are already classes far more powerful than the rogue. So long as you don't try to make the most powerful class, I understand perfectly well.

However, here is something to consider for quickstrike damage progression. Why not start with 2d4+2 damage at first level and increase the damage by 2d4+2 at every odd level (up to 20d4+20 at 19th level). This way, the average damage completely evens out with the rogue for all attacks other than the first attack, which actually deals more average damage than it does right now (as it should). Also, take note that it is easier to find half of 2d4+2 (1d4+1) than it is to find half of 1d8 (1d8/2).

Also, something about quickstrike that catches me as a bit odd is that you get the diminished damage from it by basically making a sneak attack. The only logic I can think of for this is that you are striking a vital point the moment it reveals itself and before the opponent can react, a bit of logic that some people may not catch. I think that something more akin to the scout's skirmish ability would make more sense for quickstrike, needing to move 10 feet before making the attack. This ability seems to fit in more with the flavor while not significantly lowering its power level. In fact, it would make it easier to apply this damage against multiple foes.

One thing to note about about flash step is that though it causes the attack against you to miss, it provokes an attack of opportunity from the person you're running away from (as currently written). Although this is better than a full attack, I am guessing that this was not your intention.
Also, one flavorful "balancing measure" you may consider is imposing a -4 penalty to ac against all AoOs provoked by your flash step movement (you are too busy running away from your foe to pay others much mind). This makes you think about how you move a bit more carefully but isn't that big of a deal as it is completely offset by the mobility feat.

One more nitpick that I'd like to make is that I only think sudden impairment/sudden death should be usable on the first successful attack each round. This nitpick is made with the comparison to Tome of Battle in mind. Right now, it is possible for a Jackflash to make a full attack, hitting three separate foes and subjecting each of them to a death attack. I don't have the Tome of Battle in front of me right now but I'm pretty sure it is devoid of death attacks that target multiple foes simultaneously. While this isn't too bad compared to what some spells can do (see wierd or wail of the banshee), this seems to be slightly overstepping what any maneuver or stance can accomplish. Similarly, confusing or dazing multiple foes may be going a bit far (especially if these guys go with two weapon fighting or seek out a speed weapon for extra attacks). Though the lower level abilities look more inoccuous, keep in mind that comparable spells such as ray of feebleness or ray of stupidity have only a single target (unless chained, that is).

Edit: Also, just realized that greater uncanny celerity doesn't make much sense. If I'm interpreting it right, this ability makes it so you are somehow faster than normal when you are ambushed (as you always act during surprise rounds). How does this work?

Edit: Just realized that one of these guys at 20th level dishes out sudden impairment and sudden death whenever he deals extra damage. Taking into account the extra damage from quickstrike, this seems to push the envelope a bit, even when compared with 9th level maneuvers (tons of damage and death to a foe you hit, or merely confusion if they succeed on a saving throw).

Edit: Stocyl, the x1.5 thing is trying to say that if your first attack is against a flat-footed foe, you don't deal full damage (first attack) plus the additional one half full damage precision damage (foe is denied dex modifier).

[Stycotl]

ah. gracious. my brain only runs on about 30% efficiency, so occasionally, i need to have stuff like that explained to me. thanks.