How would you build a magician?

[Wartex1]

As topic, but to clarify, I mean a "Pick a card, any card" magician, and specifically not a spellcaster.

I'm thinking alchemist might work, but I'm looking for more mundane options, and the more viable and mundane the better.

[Zaq]

What effects do you want this magician to be able to perform? Parlor tricks and nonmagical illusions would generally fall under Sleight of Hand (does SoH still exist in PF? I forget.), so any class that's good at SoH (or the PF equivalent) could pull this off.

[Geddy2112]

Without magical assistance, it is going to come down to using sleight of hand, perform:act/oratory, and escape artist. For small "pick a card" style or palming objects, sleight of hand. For more grandiose stage magic, your "saw a person in half" stuff, it would be perform. For Houdini escape from a straightjacket or locked safe tricks, escape artist. Maybe disable device or sleight of hand depending on the trick.

You would be best off with a rogue- a lot of skill ranks and dex build. You could also go with a charlatan style that "acts" like they are casting but uses wands and the like, if you wanted to use actual magic.

The spell prestidigitation covers a lot of generic magic tricks, but you want mundane.

[Elysiume]

What effects do you want this magician to be able to perform? Parlor tricks and nonmagical illusions would generally fall under Sleight of Hand (does SoH still exist in PF? I forget.), so any class that's good at SoH (or the PF equivalent) could pull this off.Sleight of hand does still exist in Pathfinder, and it calls out performing magic tricks:

You can also use Sleight of Hand to entertain an audience as though you were using the Perform skill. In such a case, your "act" encompasses elements of legerdemain, juggling, and the like.

To be clear, you explicitly don't want magic involved? Are there any characteristics you're looking for other than a non-magical magician?

[Psyren]

Does the "not a spellcaster" stipulation still allow for different kinds of magic, like items and SLAs? If so I'd recommend an Unchained Rogue with the Counterfeit Mage archetype, which makes you quite skilled at using wands. You can also use Minor Magic Talent to get Prestidigitation at-will, thus performing all kinds of magic tricks whenever you want.

[TheFederalist]

Wouldn't a bard work really well for this? Perform for the showmanship, Sleight of Hand for the acts, and easy access to prestidigitation!

[Malimar]

Wouldn't a bard work really well for this? Perform for the showmanship, Sleight of Hand for the acts, and easy access to prestidigitation!
I am amused by the idea of using Perform(stage magic) as your bardic performance in combat. The fascinate effect actually kind of makes sense, but Inspire Courage and Inspire Competence are silly to imagine. "That card trick was so amazing I am inspired to hit harder and more accurately!"

[JonathanPDX]

I am amused by the idea of using Perform(stage magic) as your bardic performance in combat. The fascinate effect actually kind of makes sense, but Inspire Courage and Inspire Competence are silly to imagine. "That card trick was so amazing I am inspired to hit harder and more accurately!"

As a real-life (amateur) magician, I've done card tricks that made me want to hit somebody harder and more accurately!

"Now cut the deck and place your card back-" [Audience member simultaneously shows me his card and knocks half the deck onto the floor.]

"Okay, I have two silver coins and you have one, but watch closely and-" [Audience member prematurely opens his hand, gawks at the two coins, and drops both rare coins straight down a sewer grate]

It would be so much easier with a couple Wizard levels.

[Wartex1]

Bard could work, but I'm also trying to limit the amount of supernatural to better fit the concept (poor unlucky soul who was thrown out into a battlefield since he was a magician and his superiors thought he was a mage).

[Grod_The_Giant]

The Deadly Dealer feat seems like a given for a build like that. You might need to power it off a race or something if you really want to avoid magic.

[Wartex1]

After some looking, the standard (sadly not the superior Unchained Rogue) can get Deadly Dealer as a bonus feat without the requirements through the Card Sharp talent (this also explicitly ignores that Deadly Dealer normally requires you to use Arcane Strike for the cards).

There are also two other card related talents (Harrowing Strike and Papercraft Tools) that would fit.

Though I can just ask my DM if I can use an Unchained Rogue with Rogue Classic (TM) Talents and Archetypes (all would still be compatible).

I plan on using Counterfeit Mage, but does anyone else have any compatible archetype suggestions (I've considered Scroll Scoundrel, but I'm not sure if it's worth it).

[theasl]

The majority of vanilla Rogue archetypes and talents work with UnRogue, the only exceptions being talents that already have Unchained variants (which are mostly the same anyways) and archetypes/talents that modify class features that were changed (with the exception of Danger Sense, since that's strictly an upgrade from Trap Sense, and since Paizo ok'd it). And...I guess anything that Paizo specifically says doesn't work. Can't think of any off the top of my head.

Depending on which kind of stage magician you make him, I think Sczarni Swindler (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Rogue%20Sczarni%20 Swindler) (under the generic "Swindler" on d20pfsrd) could be a better archetype for this than Counterfeit Mage, since the latter specifically mimics a "real" magic user (i.e. fake verbal and somatic gestures) while the former is more of the sleight-of-hand stage magician type. Unfortunately, they don't stack.

[Wartex1]

Swindler would work rather well with a more proper stage magician, though I don't know if it'd be compatible since one of the features (Quicker Than the Eye) does basically the same thing as Sleight of Hand Unchained, except more gradually but not as effectively. Though I could check to see if it applies to the immediate action version of SoHU with my DM.

[JonathanPDX]

I'm curious about the goal here. Is this a non-magical character trying to pass himself off as a spellcaster via mundane means? Or is he trying to compete with real magic? If commoners see real wizards making objects vanish and reappear, or magical effects that move, transform, or change the appearance of people or objects, how can sleight of hand compete with that? "Is THIS your card?" doesn't stack up against a wizard who can make a horse appear out of nowhere, or performs "quick change" (altering clothing) without hiding behind a curtain.

[Wartex1]

The character is a stage magician who performs as an entertainer, using mundane methods to create "magic" and adding creative flair and presentation skills to make it interesting.

[Wartex1]

I had several ideas going on as to what kind or reason the stage magician character exists (though, to be honest, the original inspiration came from one of those "Awful Fantasy" tweets or something). However, it didn't really become too much more than a silly idea until I started reading more about applied stage magic in fiction, such as the character Mister Miracle who, while not a traditional stage magician, employs spectacular Escape Artist skills as an entertainer and hero. The thing is, to my knowledge, he's also entirely mundane.

As for in-universe justification, the setting consists of a very large archipelago with many smaller islands dotting the ocean. Its possible that one of the islands does not have any traditional fantasy magic users, so the "magic" performed there is really just real-world stage magic.

[Afgncaap5]

Is this for a PC or an NPC? Whenever we ask "How would you build X profession?", I think it's worth it to consider the Expert NPC class.

It can just pick 10 class skils of its choosing and go from there. So... here's a list of 11 that might make good choices.

Bluff - Misdirection!
Disguise - No, I'm not the performer, just an audience member...
Escape Artist - As you can see, I'm firmly secured in this straight jacket...
Handle Animal - Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!
Knowledge (Engineering) - Examine this perfectly ordinary briefcase. [Might swap for Perception]
Perception - Make sure you don't show me the card! [Might swap for Knowledge (Engineering)]
Perform (Pretidigitation) - To know the patter that actually makes it interesting
Profession (Stage Magician) - To know how to book shows
Sense Motive - Let me guess the number you're thinking of... [Might swap out for a different thing...]
Slight Of Hand - Pick a card, any card!
Stealth - I will stay completely within the urn as it submerges and try to escape before running out of air.