The Entertainer was one of the container careers which had appeared in 1e. The results were not that appealing! In general, the mechanical part of the career was to get one or two, admittedly niche, skills and that was it. The advance scheme meant that acrobats wouldn't get more agile, strongmen wouldn't get stronger but hypnotists could work on their fighting skills, no problem. The 2e Entertainer was a bit better since it allowed characters to just pick a couple of entertainer-type skills (want to be a singing strongwoman? no problem ma'am) although that could have been achieved in 1e by moving through the sub-careers and having a wider range of additional skills and more advances...but it still wasn't entirely satisfactory.
ENTERTAINER (Original 1e):
|
M |
WS |
BS |
S |
T |
W |
I |
A |
Dex |
Ld |
Int |
Cl |
WP |
Fel |
|
|
+10 |
+10 |
|
|
+2 |
|
|
+10 |
|
|
|
|
+10 |
Entertainer / Skills:
Acrobat: Acrobatics
Actor: Acting
Animal Act: Animal Care, Animal Training
Bunko Artist: Blather, Palm Object
Comic: Comedian, Wit
Escapologist: Escapology
Fire Eater: Fire Eating
Fortune Teller: Palmistry
Hypnotist: Hypnotise
Impressionist: Mimic
Jester: Jest
Knife Thrower: Specialist Weapon - Throwing Knife
Pavement Artist: Art
Poet: Public Speaking
Singer: Sing
Strongman: Strongman
Tight Rope Walker: Acrobatics, Scale Sheer Surface
Troubadour: Musicianship, Sing
Ventriloquist: Ventriloquism
Wrestler: Wrestling
Basically each type of entertainer has a specialist skill and maybe an additional skill - although given the logic of the rest of the skills, I am really not sure why there wasn't a 'Poetry' skill for the poet, or why the Poet shouldn't get the Storytelling skill? The Raconteur is just 'better' than the poet in 1e, period. The Strongman should probably have access to the 'Very Strong' skill too, and the Wrestler should have that and Very Resilient as well, probably. The Entertainer Hypnotist is entirely redundant really when there is a simple Hypnotist Basic career. What I am hoping to get across here is that the Entertainer career in 1e really does feel a bit half-baked with the players being somewhat disempowered.
Looking at the 2e career, this gives us a few more ideas of additional skills that could be added: Blather, Charm, Charm Animal, Evaluate, Lightning Reflexes, Swim, Trick Riding. But before I put my suggested modifications up, I think it is worth thinking about what we might like Entertainer characters to be. In my imagination, entertainers in the days before widespread athletic competition, to which they merge into, should be the characters who are really good on one quite specialized metric. And with a bit of work, I think that they can be made into that character.
ACROBAT (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| | +1 |
| +2 | +20 |
| +10 |
|
| +20 |
|
Skills: Acrobatics, 75% chance of Lightning Reflexes, 50% chance of Dance, 20% chance of Very Strong
ACTOR (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +20 |
| +10 |
| +20 |
Skills: Acting, Etiquette, Public Speaking, 30% chance of Charm, 30% chance of Seduction, 30% chance of Sing, 25% chance of Dance, 25% chance of Read/Write, 20% chance of Blather, 20% chance of Comedian, 20% chance of Wit
ANIMAL ACT (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +10 | +10 | +10 |
| +10 |
Skills: Animal Care, Animal Training, 50% Charm Animal, 25% chance of Drive - Cart
BUNKO ARTIST (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +10 |
|
| +10 |
Skills: Blather, Palm Object, 30% chance of Public Speaking, 20% chance of Flee!
COMIC (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +10 |
|
| +10 | +10 | +10 |
| +20 |
Skills: Blather, Comedian, Wit, 30% chance of Public speaking, 20% chance of Dodge Blow
ESCAPOLOGIST (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +20 |
| +20 |
| +10 |
|
Skills: Escapology, 30% chance of Public Speaking, 30% chance of Set Traps, 20% chance of Spot Traps, 10% chance of Contortionist
FIRE EATER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +10 |
| +10 | +10 |
Skills: Fire Eating, 25% chance of Acrobatics, 20% chance of Public Speaking
FORTUNE TELLER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 |
|
| +10 |
| +10 | +20 |
Skills: Blather, Palmistry, 75% chance of Charm, 50% chance of Luck, 20% chance of Astronomy, 10% chance of Arcane Language - Magick
IMPRESSIONIST (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 |
|
|
|
| +10 | +10 |
Skills: Blather, Mimic, 50% chance of Comedian, 25% chance of Public Speaking, 10% chance of Actor
JESTER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +10 |
| +10 | +10 |
| +10 |
Skills: Blather, Dodge Blow, Jest, 30% chance of Comedian, 30% chance of Public Speaking, 30% chance of Wit, 10% chance of Acrobatics, 10% chance of Palm Object
KNIFE THROWER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| | +20 |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +20 |
| +10 |
|
Skills: Dodge Blow, Specialist Weapon - Throwing Weapons, 20% chance of Public Speaking, 10% chance of Acrobatics, 10% chance of Palm Object
PAVEMENT ARTIST (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 |
| +20 |
| +10 |
| +10 |
Skills: Art, 50% chance of Begging, 10% chance of Very Resilient
POET (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 |
|
| +10 | +20 |
| +10 |
Skills: Public Speaking, 90% chance of Read/Write, 50% chance of Consume Alcohol, 40% chance of Wit, 30% chance of History, 25% chance of Charm, 20% chance of Sing, 20% chance of Seduction
SINGER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| |
|
| +2 |
|
|
| +10 |
| +20 |
Skills: Sing, 30% chance of Dance, 20% chance of Public Speaking, 25% chance of Consume Alcohol, 25% chance of Musicianship, 20% chance of Charm, 20% chance of Seduction
STRONGMAN (Modified):
|
M |
WS |
BS |
S |
T |
W |
I |
A |
Dex |
Ld |
Int |
Cl |
WP |
Fel |
|
|
+10 |
|
+2 |
+1 |
+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
+10 |
+10 |
|
Skills: Strongman, Very Strong, 50% chance of Very Resilient, 30% chance of Wrestling, 25% chance of Street Fighting, 20% chance of Strike Mighty Blow
TIGHT ROPE WALKER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
|
| +1 | +1 | +2 | +20 |
| +10 |
|
| +20 |
|
Skills: Acrobatics, Scale Sheer Surface, 50% chance of Lightning Reactions, 30% chance of Very Strong, 10% chance of Sixth Sense
TROUBADOUR (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
|
| +2 | +10 |
| +10 | +10 | +10 | +10 |
Skills: Musicianship, Sing, 75% chance of Public Speaking, 30% chance of Charm, 30% chance of Dance, 25% chance of Read/Write, 25% chance of Seduction, 20% chance of History
VENTRILOQUIST (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
|
| +2 |
|
| +10 | +10 |
| +10 |
Skills: Ventriloquism, 50% chance of Comedian, 50% chance of Public Speaking, 20% chance of Wit
WRESTLER (Modified):
M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
| +10 |
| +1 | +1 | +2 | +10 |
|
|
|
| +10 |
|
Skills: Dodge Blow, Street Fighting, Wrestling, 80% chance of Very Resilient, 60% chance of Very Strong, 20% Strike to Stun, 10% Strike to Injure
In addition, all entertainers have the chance of the following skills (unless they already have them): 50% chance of Drive Cart, 25% chance of Evaluate, 20% chance of Speak Additional Language, 10% chance of Public Speaking.
I hope that those Entertainer careers are a more viable choice for a player character whilst also having more appropriate characteristic advances. I think I could write a couple more entertainers: Boxer and Trick Rider seem worthwhile options, at least.
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