Harlequin Class

[pygmybatrider]

Hey mate,

I love the concept, but it does feel too strong for a PC class as-is. I agree with pretty much everything Moba said. His critiques were fair and I think probably deserved more consideration than they received.

For example, when you say the Freedom of Movement feature is awesome when needed, but otherwise useless - sure, but you could say the same for Death Ward. A permanently-on feature that lets you straight up ignore multiple common elements of combat is too powerful for a 14th level feature in an already strong base class.

For the movement speed question, one of your subclasses has a feature that works off opportunity attacks provoked. The more speed you have, the more opportunity attacks you provoke. You could run past up to 55 hobgoblins - or 54 hobgoblins and one lich, and then stack 55 attacks on the lich and one-shot the campaign's BBEG. Sure, that specific scenario is unlikely, but there are enough issues with it to warrant a second look. If your argument is they don't have to make opportunity attacks, and you expect DMs to actually follow that rule, then this feature becomes useless and should probably be replaced.

Only getting hit 48% of the time - from something/body with a +13 to hit (i.e. CR 16+), for a very offensively-focused class, is probably a pretty big deal.

For things that Moba didn't touch on, I have a few thoughts.

- Laughing Jest is huge considering Vicious Mockery scales with level. At the level you get it, a bonus action 2d4 attack with a disadvantage rider is better than dual wielding in most cases. It becomes better than another hit with a greatsword/axe at 17. This makes Solitaire's level 20 feature pretty much redundant.

- For Precise Shots and Deadly Aim, you can grab an effective +17 modifier. 90% (I made that up but it sounds close) of the MM has an AC lower than 20, meaning you only have to roll a 9 to get the benefits of Deadly Aim.

- Horrifying Kill/Truly Horrifying and Laugh Together both feel like they should run off a class resource like Bardic Inspiration that you get limited uses of a day. If you went down that track, you could then potentially give the Solitaire something linked to that as well, maybe extra attacks ala War Cleric.

- what fighting style do you expect a Death Jester to take?

It might be useful to consider a few questions to help you work out the kinks of the class.

1. a) What are the weaknesses of the harlequin?
b) What does the harlequin attempt to achieve as class, that other classes can do better?
2. Why would you play a monk when you could play a harlequin?

I want to reiterate that I like the idea, and there are some solid and interesting mechanics in there, but it definitely needs some polish - and you've gotta be open to the idea that it needs some polish too before the polishing can start.