Patch notes, world events, and updates from Achaea — delivered to your inbox.
Name Please enter your name. Email Please enter a valid email address.Unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of any email.
The Jesters of Achaea
Jesters weaponise absurdity. They flip into combat with handsprings and backhandsprings, throw concussion bombs and butterfly bombs and webbombs, lift their enemies into the sky with balloons, command magical puppets to break their victim’s bones from rooms away, and tell jokes bad enough to strip an opponent’s defences. The class is unlike anything else in Achaea.
Jester lore and origin
The Jester class originated when an anomalous timequake brought Silvestri Carnivalis — court jester to the House of the Seleucarian Empire six hundred years before — into the present day. In the years since the fall of the Empire, the precious arts of a Jester had been lost. Silvestri founded the Jesters guild to restore these arts to the world, and thus the class was reborn in 299 A.F.
Modern Jesters are a rollicking lot, often silly and carefree. Some wander the highways putting on impromptu shows for passersby. Others plan and carry out entire theatrical productions. They may be citizens of any city or cityless wanderers. They are devoted to amusement, high jinks, and humour — but the lore is clear that a trained Jester is not to be underestimated on the battlefield.
The class is one of the most flexible in Achaea: no factional pressure, no alignment lock, and one may encounter Jesters worshipping the Lord of Evil as easily as Jesters travelling the path of Light. The ideal of fun, in the class’s framing, transcends alignment. Many Jesters prefer outright neutrality.
What a Jester does, in plain terms: combines bodies trained in acrobatics with crafted tools of their trade. Backflips become evasions. Handsprings become attacks. Balloons lift enemies to the clouds. Jack-in-the-boxes conceal lethal surprises. Magical puppets manipulate opponents to hilarious or fatal ends. The lore explicitly notes that bad jokes are mechanically functional — Badjoke can strip defences “with your terrible jokes alone.”
Signature combat identity: acrobatics, bombs, and the puppet
Three things make a Jester a Jester.
The first is acrobatics. The Pranks skill is built on a body trained for movement. Handspring leaps to neighbouring rooms. Backflip vaults obstructions. Backhandspring strikes someone on the way out of the room. Somersault dodges past obstacles. Arrowcatch literally plucks arrows from the air. Balancing maintains superior balance. Acrobatics gives masterful footwork that makes the Jester a difficult target. Mobility for a Jester is bodily, not magical.
The second is the toolkit. A Jester carries bombs (Concussion, Smokebomb, Webbomb, Butterflybomb, Dustbomb, Suicidemice — brainwashed mice that carry bombs), balloons (Balloonhandoff launches foes to the clouds; Balloons take the Jester to the skies), and a roster of strange tools (Bananas for banana peel terrain, Itchpowder for irritating sensory disruption, Jackinthebox for innocent-looking lethal surprises, Mickey for slipping someone an unauthorised substance). Each item is a discrete combat option.
The third is Puppetry. This is where the Jester gets serious. Through Puppetry, the Jester fashions a puppet from wood, refines the link to a specific target, and then affects that person from afar: Break their arms or legs, Throttle them, set them on fire (Burn), Bleed them, Mangle a limb, Concussion, Paralyse, Cripple all limbs, Travel instantly to them, even Summon them to you. The puppet is small, easy to lose track of, and devastating in the hands of a Puppetmaster who knows what they’re doing. If someone holds a puppet of you, your options are to retrieve and destroy it, or to slay the Puppetmaster.
Add Tarot — shared with Occultists — and you have a class that fights at three layers: physical acrobatic mobility, dispersed environmental tools, and remote-effect Puppetry.
The three skills of a Jester
A Jester commands three skill sets: Pranks, Puppetry, and Tarot. A fledgling Jester gains Tarot and Pranks; Puppetry is granted upon embracing the class.
Signature abilities: Handspring, Props, Balloons
Pranks is an amusing mish-mash of acrobatic abilities, prop-based combat (balloons, mice, jack-in-the-boxes), and the science of bomb-making. Practiced solely by Jesters. The skill includes seriously bad jokes and the ability to scrawl graffiti on city walls.
Abilities (36)
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Handspring | Leap at your foes in neighboring rooms. |
| Props | Wish for the props that every good jester needs. |
| Balloons | Take to the skies with balloons. |
| Slipperiness | Slip out of that which would bind you. |
| Bop | Deliver a vicious blow with a blackjack. |
| Giraffes | Twist a balloon into a giraffe. |
| Backflip | Flip over obstructions. |
| Hocuspocus | Cast coloured illusions to dazzle those about you. |
| Runaway | Make a swift retreat. |
| Concussionbomb | Momentarily stun everyone in the room. |
| Butterflybomb | Blast people from the skies and trees. |
| Balloonhandoff | Launch your foes to the clouds with a balloon. |
| Backhandspring | Leap out of the room striking someone on the way out. |
| Balancing | Maintain superior balance. |
| Envenom | Coat a weapon in venoms. |
| Smokebomb | Choke all in the room with a plume of smoke. |
| Juggling | The ancient art of juggling. |
| Webbomb | Explode strands of webbing to bind everyone in the room. |
| Acrobatics | Masterful footwork to make yourself a difficult target. |
| Vent | Sometimes you have to just let it all out. |
| Badjoke | Strip defences with your terrible jokes alone. |
| Mickey | Slip someone a mickey. |
| Traps | The ability to search for traps in your location. |
| Disarm | Attempt to disarm a trap. |
| Graffiti | Scrawl messages on walls. |
| Somersault | Quickly somersault past obstructions. |
| Arrowcatch | Pluck arrows from the air. |
| Bananas | Litter the floor with banana peels. |
| Firecracker | Construct festive firecrackers. |
| Itchpowder | Employ the irritating itchpowder. |
| Dustbomb | Numb the sense of your victims with a bomb. |
| Jackinthebox | An innocent musical toy with a vicious bite! |
| Timers | Give your bombs a delayed effect. |
| Gallowshumour | A tough crowd, this one. |
| Suicidemice | Brainwash mice to carry bombs on their backs. |
| Liberate | They weren’t using it anyway. |
Signature abilities: Fashion, Gripping, Confusion
Puppetry creates an empathetic link between a puppet and a person. By making the link stronger through repeated refinements, the Puppetmaster can affect that person from anywhere. If someone obtains a puppet of you, you must retrieve and destroy it — or slay the Puppetmaster.
Abilities (32)
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Fashion | Fashion puppets from wood. |
| Gripping | Grip your puppets tighter than ever before. |
| Confusion | Muddle the thoughts of your victim. |
| Dizzy | Cause your enemy to become unsteady on his feet. |
| Sleep | Put someone to sleep. |
| Illusion | Cause your victim to see an image of your choosing. |
| Spy | See the surroundings of your target. |
| Status | Find out what the health and mana of your target is. |
| Strip | Strip someone’s defences. |
| Paralyse | Lock up the muscle system of your victim. |
| Break | Break both the arms or both the legs of someone. |
| Throttle | Choke the life out of your victim. |
| Reckless | Induce a sense of extreme bravado in your opponent. |
| Tickle | Tickle the feet of your puppet. |
| Burn | Set them ablaze. |
| Bleed | Make them bleed. |
| Travel | Instantly travel to your target. |
| Tonguetie | Sorry, say that again? |
| Cripple | Break all the limbs of some unlucky victim. |
| Command | Make a victim obey your orders. |
| Slow | Make a victim move in slow motion. |
| Puncture | Damage your target’s internal organs. |
| Blackout | Rob your victim of some of his senses. |
| Summon | Summon your victim to you. |
| Bind | Tie up your hapless opponent. |
| Listen | Hear talking through your target’s ears. |
| Inventory | See the inventory of your target. |
| Imbibe | Prick your target to make them sick. |
| Mangle | Viciously mangle one of your victim’s limbs. |
| Concussion | Give your victim a concussion. |
| Leech | Leech the experience from your victim. |
| Truefashion | Fashion faster than ever before. |
Signature abilities: Hierophant
Tarot is the magical-card art shared between Jesters and Occultists. The Jester inscribes cards with magical inks (INSCRIBE ) and flings them at targets or the ground (FLING ). Cards are stored in decks (IND/OUTD ).
For the full shared ability table, see the Occultist spoke’s Tarot section — the skill is identical across both classes. Jesters specialise into a single unique card: Hierophant, “compel your victim to do your bidding.”
Jester-specific specialisation:
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Hierophant | Compel your victim to do your bidding. |
Jester Houses and cities
See Achaea’s city-states for the cities where these Houses recruit.
Jester is unrestricted by alignment. 16 Houses, same wide acceptance as Serpent.
| House | City | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Dawnblade | Targossas | Targossan martial House. |
| The Harbingers of Redemption | Targossas | Targossan succour House. |
| The Dread Legates | Mhaldor | Mhaldorian military House. |
| The Insidium | Mhaldor | Mhaldorian rites House. |
| The Esoteric Consortium | Ashtan | Ashtan martial House. |
| The Savants of the Wheel | Ashtan | Ashtan academic House. |
| The Nemesian Vanguard | Ashtan | Ashtan front-line House. |
| The Vashnarian Shield | Cyrene | Cyrene guardian House. |
| The Virtuosi | Cyrene | Cyrene artistic House. Often a natural Jester fit. |
| The Discurean Outriders | Cyrene | Cyrene explorer/academic House. |
| The Krymenian Academy | Hashan | Hashan academic House. |
| The Somatikos | Hashan | Hashan body-discipline House. |
| The Scions of the Ithmia | Eleusis | Eleusis forestal House. |
| The Heartwood Kin | Eleusis | Eleusis nature House. |
| The Grand Merchant Collective | (cityless) | The trader House. |
| The Carnivalis Institute of Jestering | (cityless) | The Jester-founded House. Silvestri Carnivalis’s legacy. The most distinctive Jester home. |
To check current House availability in-game: HOUSE LIST JESTER.
A note on Carnivalis: The Carnivalis Institute of Jestering is named after Silvestri Carnivalis, the time-quaked Seleucarian court jester who founded the modern class. It’s a cityless House that often takes Jesters who lean hardest into the class identity.
What an Achaea Jester might look like
Class shapes silhouette; race shapes everything else about a character’s appearance. The art below shows what a Jester can look like across two of Achaea’s 14 playable races. These are illustrative examples. Any race can play a Jester.
How to roleplay a Jester in Achaea
A Jester’s identity is performance. Your character is the centre of attention by design. The class lore is explicit: Jesters are devoted to amusement, high jinks, and humour. The combat is incidental to the show, even though the combat is dangerous.
Three things make Jester roleplay distinct:
Your humour is your character. Jesters who play earnest characters with jokes attached are doing the class half-strength. Jesters who treat the joke as the point — who would rather get a laugh than win a fight — get the strongest material. The Badjoke ability, where bad jokes literally strip defences, is the mechanical encoding of this principle.
Your tools have personality. The brainwashed mice. The balloons that lift opponents into the sky. The jack-in-the-boxes. Each prop is named, distinctive, and worth treating as more than a weapon. A Jester whose mice have names and whose balloons are colour-coordinated is playing the class at its richest.
You don’t fit anywhere. Or you fit everywhere. The lore’s framing — neutrality and the ideal of fun transcending alignment — gives the Jester the deepest “wanderer” identity in Achaea. Many Jesters end up cityless, joining the Carnivalis Institute of Jestering, and treating cities as venues rather than homes.
A few practical notes:
Combat is mechanically demanding. Acrobatic positioning, bomb timing, puppet preparation — the toolkit is wide and the class rewards players who can hold a lot of options in mind at once.
Other classes will underestimate you. The clown identity is part of the misdirection. Players who haven’t fought a competent Jester rarely respect the class as a real threat. Use that.
Puppetry has lore stakes. If someone else holds a puppet of you, the lore says you must retrieve it or kill the Puppetmaster. Don’t lose puppets of your character casually — the class trusts you to protect them.
If you want a class with a strong performance identity, the broadest “weird combat” toolkit in Achaea, and complete factional flexibility, Jester delivers.
Other classes to consider
Three classes worth a look if Jester is on your shortlist (or browse all 21 Achaea classes for the full comparison):
Serpent: Heir of the Serpentlords
The other trick-combat class. Same wide House acceptance, same factional flexibility. Where the Jester uses bombs and acrobatics, the Serpent uses venoms and stealth. Different fiction, similar “I am hard to pin down” combat philosophy.
Occultist: Ashtan’s Chaos Scholar
The other Tarot user. Where the Jester’s Tarot serves chaotic combat (with the Hierophant specialisation that compels victims), the Occultist’s Tarot serves dark-scholar work (with Heretic and Ruinate specialisations). Choose Occultist if you want Tarot inside a more philosophical, less playful framework.
Bard: Achaea’s Rapier-and-Song
The other performance-arts class. Where the Jester weaponises absurdity, the Bard weaponises song and saga. Both classes treat performance as combat material. Choose Bard if you want the literary/musical version of the same impulse.