Character Idea Help: The Magician

[Xavrias]

So I'm sure this is by no means a new or revolutionary idea, but been browsing around and haven't found a lot of great options for how to manage it. So of course, I've come to ask the playground and see what comes up.

I'm starting a new game soon with an old group of friends, and for once I'm not Dming, so I get the chance to play, and as I get to play hundreds of characters most of the time, I wanted to come up with something special for myself, hence the Magician.

The character is a magician (not a sorcerer or a wizard, completely unmagical), he's an illusionist, but not in the fun gnome way. What I have so far is, probably Rogue, maybe multiclass into Monk for fun things like catching arrows. High deception and sleight of hand of course, and probably alchemy for pyrotechnics and engineering fun things to play around with. I want him to not have any magic, I don't want to have abilities that cast spells. If an Npc were to cast detect magic, I want nothing to come off of him.

Now we're starting at level 2, so in the short term I'm sure not a lot will be possible, but I'd like more ideas to grow into. So if you have any insight into how you might make it work, and various cool tricks and such he could do, I'd be greatly appreciative.

As always feel free to ask questions if I haven't covered anything, and thanks in advance!

[Unoriginal]

Thief or Mastermind Rogue are probably your best bet. Maybe Inquisitive?

[nickl_2000]

My initial thought on this was to choose Arcane Trickster Rogue, but since you want no magic skills whatsoever, that is out. So, we are down to Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian, and Monk (everything else is at least a half caster). From what you are describing Monk and Rogue make the most sense.

Rogue Thief gives you fast hands and use magic device - This seems like the most ideal choice.

Kensei Monk could be an interesting choice, maybe the knife thrower kind of magician. You can get sleight of hand and stealth from the Urchin background, then be Variant Human with the Prodigy feat for expertise in sleight of hand, prof in playing card set (card tricks), and a language of your choice.

I'm not sure if it fits with your no casting rule, but a shadow monk would also be an interesting choice since you get Darkness, Minor Illusion, and Shadow Step. Go with the above feat and background from Kensei and that would be a decent feel on the character.

[Vogie]

I would like to suggest starting with Monk, going into Way of the Shadow at level 3. After Level 5 (for an extra attack and stunning strike), going into Rogue for at least 3 levels to pick up Inquisitive Fighting. Then keep going up the Monk tree!

It certainly helps that monk weapons (shortsword + simple weapons) are also largely those weapons you can sneak attack with.

At an early point when you're leveling up Rogue, and need to bypass simple resistance, you can bump monk up to 6 - this will give you Ki-Empowered Strikes and the Shadow Step feature, which is only as useful as your DM lets it.

At some point, you may want to increase Rogue to 5 for uncanny dodge and to bump up your sneak attack bonus to 3d6. However, this will take away your ability to get the Opportunist Way of the Shadow Feature.

[Sigreid]

Thief rogue entertainer.

[MagneticKitty]

Don't forget spellless ranger varient as a nonmagical option.

Not sure if mystics register on detect magic.

[Specter]

Thief Rogue, expertising Sleight of Hand and Acrobatics.

[tabrumj]

Make sure to pick up either the Charlatan or Entertainer background. And I disagree with the others slightly, take a level of Rogue and a level of Monk right off the bat. It's not optimal, but it will give you all the abilities that you need at the start to portray your character. Specifically, choose Monk first.

Suggested Build Rogue 1/Monk 1 Charlatan

Proficiencies
Monk: Acrobatics, Stealth
Rogue: Performance
Charlatan: Deception, Sleight of Hand
Tool Proficiency: Alchemy (From Monk), Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit,

You can use Performance, Acrobatics and Sleight of Hand for any of "Magic" you would want to do on stage. Alchemy can create various tricks to supplement your sleight of hand both on stage and in combat. You can use the Disguise kit and the Forgery Kit to help mimic magic to a limited degree.

It's also worth noting that a Shortsword is both a Finessed Weapon and a Monk Weapon, so you can sneak attack with it, and do an unarmed strike.

[Xavrias]

Hey everyone, thanks for the input and the help.
I have some backstory ideas, so has moved me towards a few things in particular.

I ended up going Human Variant, Rogue, Mastermind Archetype, Noble background, took the Prodigy and Performer feat (starting at level , could be persuaded to change those though) Ended up with 6 languages, 4 tools/game proficiency and 8 skills. 4 of them have expertise essentially. Performer lets me distract people, and the variant noble feature gives me 3 retainers which could work as my behind the scenes crew. All in all I think I ended up with a good feel for a Magician.

As a follow up question, what kind of tricks could, alchemical things, etc could I brew up that could replicate magic tricks? I'm working on some ideas, but I'd to have some input.

[nickl_2000]

First thing, one of you retainers needs to be a lovely assistant. A magician NEEDS a lovely assistant!


-Mirrors exist in the world, so you can easily do something with that.
-Card tricks certainly are doable
-Sleight of Hand to make stuff disappear into specially made pockets in your sleeves would be pretty easy
-Escape tricks should be easily doable with either trick manacles or a good check
-The bullet (arrow) catch would require Monk catch missile abilities
-The Alchemist from UA has a smoke stick that your DM may let you buy
-You could balance on top of a 10 foot pole
-Rope/Knot tricks should be doable
-You could certainly breath fire with lamp oil and a torch
-Quick change costumes are absolutely something you could do
-picking coppers out of someone's ear/mouth/nose

[bobofwestgate]

I really like this idea. My friends and I had an idea for a game revolving around a traveling carnival troup. The strong man (barbarian), the juggler/knife thrower (rogue) story teller (bard) someone putting on fireworks shows (wizard:illusionist) stuff like that.