Barber Prestige Class

The roguish barber is a tradition in the orient. One or more of them may be found in any bazaar, flashing their blades as well as their wit. Boldly they hawk their abilities and prowess - often while performing said tasks on their customers.

Beleive it or not, the oly surgeons avaiable in medieval times were barbers. Their talent with blades accounted in part for this medical bent. Equally important, barbers were well versed in the folk treatments and herbal medicines of the time. Though this class has access to the heal skill, any deeper medical knowledge must be sought elsewhere.

Members of this discipline are founts of information, that they gather while practising their trade at the bazaar. Often Barbers can advise one on the best course of action; certainly they are eager to do so. Just as often, they may recommend a course of action that would prove disastrous if followed. Barbers are nearly always entertaining, but rarely are they all-knowing.

In folk tales, Barbers are often portrayed as mad or insane, threatening their customers with their tools - or, worse yet, driving customers to distraction with long, unproductive, meaningless stories, each of which digresses into another tale, and then another and another, thereby trapping the unfortunate customer, who becomes desperate for escape. Not all Barbers are mad, of course. But their reputation as being even a bit crazed helps ensure that their customers hold still for their ministrations. (Hence, a little deliberate flamboyance never hurts.) Furthermore, a touch of insanity suggests that Barbers know of what they speak of when describing genies, their fabulous riches, and other wonders - phenomenon that could certainly leave a person addled.

Hit Die: d6

Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, restricted skill), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex) , Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Innuendo (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Profession (Wis), Read Lips (Int, restricted skill), Scry (Int, restricted skill), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language, Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha, restricted skill), Use Rope (Dex).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Barbers are proficient with the dagger, club, dart, sap, sword (short), and kukri and with light armor. Note that the standard armor check penalties to skills apply. Barbers do not gain proficiency with shields.

Trivia (ex): Like a bard, a barber picks up an incredible lore of trivial facts in his daily routine. These facts contain tidbits of information, but most of it is more or less useless personal gossip. This is the same as the bard's Bardic Knowledge, PH p. 29, and stacks with that ability if you are both a bard and a barber (or anothe class with the same ability).

Grooming (ex): By spending half an hour and making a Profession (barbering) skill roll with a difficulty equal to the target's charisma score, the barber gives that person an enhancement bonus to charisma. For every five points of margin on the skill roll, the recipients Charisma is temporarily increased by one. A margin of less than five improves appearance, but not enough to increase Charisma. This lasts until the recipient's next rest period (never more than 24 hours) and is an extraordinary ability.

Example: Wuzzat the young barber (profession (barbering) skill 6) tries to do some grooming on Az'irat the gnome (charisma 8). A profession (barbering) result of 8 indicates successful grooming, but no beneficial effect. A roll of 13 indicates an enchantemet bonus to charisma of +1, a roll of 18 gives a bonus of +2 and a roll of 23 gives a bonus of +3, the maximum possible in this case.

Enthrall (ex): By speaking continuously, the barber can enthrall his audience. This is an exceptional ability, but works just like the spell. The Will Saving throw DC is 10 + half the barber's level + the barbers charisma modifier. If you are currently grooming someone, the save DC is at +3, and they can't get out of the enthrallment automatically in case of danger (though they get a chance to save each round); after all, they have your razor at their throat.The barber can use this ability as often as he likes, but a target that passes the Saving throw is immune to further enthrall or suggestion attempts from him for 24 hours.

Master of Diguise (ex): If the barber helps someone put on a disguise (including himself), there is a +5 circumstance modifier to all disguise rolls. You can use this exceptional abiliy on yourself or another. It is not cumulative with the bonuses provided by spells like change self, alter self or polymorph-type spells.

Suggestion (ex): By clever wording and verbal trickery, the barber can make almost any proposition seem reasonable (or at least preferable to having to listen to more of the barber's banter). In this way, the barber can use suggestion on anyone he has first enthralled. The Will Saving throw DC is 10 + half the barber's level + the barbers charisma modifier. The barber can use this ability as often as he likes, but a target that passes the Saving throw is immune to further enthrall or suggestion attempts for 24 hours.

Makeup Artist (ex): At this level of ability, your grooming skills have become legendary. Even if one of your assistants does the actual grooming, you get to make the skill roll and decide what the final bonus is, as long as you spend at least a minute making final touch-ups