GRAY JESTER

Gray Jesters
A gaunt figure clad in gray-hued jester’s
motley, capering wherever it pleases. Its
feet move silently on the stones and it
grips a scepter with a doll’s head atop
it in one hand.
Unseelie Fey. Gray jesters are fey creatures belonging
to the Unseelie Court. They look like jesters, clowns, or
mimes clad in gray, black, and white. They tend to be
extraordinarily thin, bordering on emaciated. Their eyes
are cold and empty, their smiles wide and filled with
rows of broken but perfectly white teeth. All gray jesters
wield a scepter of some sort which often appears as a
crude distortion of the one wielding it.
Joyless. Gray jesters are incapable of feeling joy or other
genuine positive emotions on their own. In order to fill
this void, they seek out mortals they can make laugh with
their twisted magic. Once they are able to force another
creature to laugh, they siphon the joy from them like a
blood-sucking leech. If a creature has all of their joy
siphoned away, they may find themselves unable to
feel positive emotions, much like the gray jester. Victims
on the weaker end of the spectrum also run the risk of
being distorted into beings known as Bleak Ones. A
bleak one is essentially a servant to the gray jester that
stole their joy, doomed to servitude with the false hope
one day their master might return their stolen happiness.
Hideous Laughter. It is rumoured that the originators
of Tasha’s Hideous Laughter were actually the gray jesters
of the Unseelie Court. Some think they merely taught
the witch how to weaponize joy, thus explaining the
true origins of the
spell.
Gray Jester
Medium fey, neutral evil

Armour Class - 16
Hit Points - 55 (10d6 + 20)
Speed - 50 ft.

STR 10 (+0)
DEX 22 (+6)
CON 14 (+2)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 11 (+0)
CHA 18 (+4)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical weapons.

Senses passive Perception 10
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Actions
Scepter.
Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature.
Hit: 9 (1d6 + 6) bludgeoning damage and the creature must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom
saving throw or become unable to stop laughing hysterically for 1 minute. While laughing in
this way the creature falls prone and becomes incapacitated. At the end of each of its turns,
and each time it takes damage, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. The
target has advantage on the saving throw if it’s triggered by damage. On a success, the
creature stops laughing.

Empathic Feeding.
The jester feeds on the joyous emotions of up to three creatures within 30 feet of it who are
laughing. The targets must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or have their Charisma
score reduced by 1d4. This reduction is permanent until the jester dies or chooses to return
the stolen joy as an action. A creature reduced to 0 Charisma loses the ability to laugh or feel
joy. If a creature reduced to 0 Charisma has fewer than 5 Hit Die, that creature becomes a
Bleak One and is permanently charmed by the jester. Bleak Ones retain all game statistics
and abilities, however, they take no actions aside from those commanded by the jester that
drained them. A single jester can control up to 10 Bleak Ones.