Greywander
2018-07-03, 06:03 PM
For some reason I've been thinking lately how I would go about creating a Trickster character. An Arcane Trickster rogue came to mind immediately, but I feel like the AT is missing a lot of things that make for an archetypal Trickster. Expertise, likely for Deception and Sleight of Hand, is on point, as is Mage Hand Legerdemain. But the rogue chasis doesn't really seem suited to a Trickster.
Of course, Tricksters come in a lot of flavors (AT rogue, bard, druid, wizard, sorcerer, and warlock would all be viable), but what I've got in mind is more of a social and magical manipulator and is less combat-oriented. I'm also not sure whether a Trickster's casting stat should be INT or CHA. The way I see it, Tricksters would have a high INT (they're very creative with their pranks, and are often motivated to stir up mischief out of boredom), low WIS (they often prank and insult powerful entities, and their schemes sometimes backfire on them), and high CHA (they are master manipulators, but they also tend to be unusually friendly and likable).
Some other features I think would be useful for a Trickster character would be Metamagic, specifically Subtle, Wild Shape, Improved Minor Illusion, and several warlock invocations (Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions, specifically).
Multiclassing to get all of these would be a pain, and for most of these I'm only interested in one or two features from that class. I'm thinking it might make sense to combine some of these features into a sorcerer or bard subclass. I don't think it would be necessary to create an entirely new class, but if it came to that then a full caster (probably using the bard list) would fill out half of that class's features.
So how would you do it?
Of course, Tricksters come in a lot of flavors (AT rogue, bard, druid, wizard, sorcerer, and warlock would all be viable), but what I've got in mind is more of a social and magical manipulator and is less combat-oriented. I'm also not sure whether a Trickster's casting stat should be INT or CHA. The way I see it, Tricksters would have a high INT (they're very creative with their pranks, and are often motivated to stir up mischief out of boredom), low WIS (they often prank and insult powerful entities, and their schemes sometimes backfire on them), and high CHA (they are master manipulators, but they also tend to be unusually friendly and likable).
Some other features I think would be useful for a Trickster character would be Metamagic, specifically Subtle, Wild Shape, Improved Minor Illusion, and several warlock invocations (Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions, specifically).
Multiclassing to get all of these would be a pain, and for most of these I'm only interested in one or two features from that class. I'm thinking it might make sense to combine some of these features into a sorcerer or bard subclass. I don't think it would be necessary to create an entirely new class, but if it came to that then a full caster (probably using the bard list) would fill out half of that class's features.
So how would you do it?