Warlock Spy/Grifter with one level of UA Psionic Sorcerer?

[Wasp]

Hi everyone!

I really like social skill monkeys that are sneaky and could fit in a heist movie or a cold war spy movie - characters that go "undercover" or simply pretend to be someone else. And I love to combine that with Magic (or Psionics, see below) - meaning my favorite things in 5e are:

a) Mask of Many Faces/Disguise Self (or Changelings)
b) Mage Hand Legerdemain, and
c) Subtle Spell

for doing magic stuff sneakily.

To get all three things effectively you normally have to get AT, Warlock and Sorcerer, which may not be optimal --- for basically anything everything else...

But as someone pointed out to me, the UA on Psionics (yeah, yeah, I know this is not going to see print, but I think I may be able to use it anyway) does contain

a) the Psionic Soul Sorcerer who gets this ability at first level:

Psychic Sorcery. When you cast a spell, you can use your mind to form it, rather than relying on words, gestures, and materials. To do so, roll your Psionic Talent die. The spell then requires no verbal component, and if you rolled the level of the spell or higher, the spell doesn’t require somatic or material components either.
which is like 1/2 to 3/4th of "subtle spell" for just one level of sorcerer instead of three (I am assuming the ability does apply to non-sorcerer spells as well).

b) the Telekinetic Feat that gives you

- Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You learn the mage hand cantrip. You can cast it without verbal or somatic components, and you can make the spectral hand invisible. If you already know this spell, its range increases by 30 feet when you cast it. Its spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
- As a bonus action, you can try to telekinetically shove one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. [yada yada yada..]

which gives me basically a Psionic Mage Hand Legerdemain, without getting 3 levels of Rogue.

So therefore I was thinking of playing a Warlock (to get the Mask of Many Faces as I feel it's more helpful than Changeling as the ability to change your whole appearance including clothes is quite strong) and do a 1 level dip of Psionic Soul Sorcerer - but haven't thought of much else? I was kinda thinking Tome Celestial maybe? And maybe Half-Elf for Sills and Darkvision? What would you do with this?

Rules are Point Buy and every source allowed (obviously). Starting Level would be 1 going to 12 but maybe beyond.

[king_steve]

Hi everyone!

I really like social skill monkeys that are sneaky and could fit in a heist movie or a cold war spy movie - characters that go "undercover" or simply pretend to be someone else. And I love to combine that with Magic (or Psionics, see below) - meaning my favorite things in 5e are:

a) Mask of Many Faces/Disguise Self (or Changelings)


What do you want out of those features specifically? If you're looking more for a skill monkey, would you consider Bard as the base class? How many casts of Disguise Self do you think you'll need in a day? It's nice to have it at will, but a bard is a full cast with lots of spell slots so maybe that could cover being able to disguise yourself plus the bard gains access to expertise and jack of all trades to improve your skill checks.



b) Mage Hand Legerdemain, and


I guess again, a bard, sorcerer or warlock could pick up mage hand at level 1, is there a specific quality of Mage Hand Legerdemain you're after? If you want an invisible mage hand you could look at the Gith as your race, that gives you Mage Hand and some other spells innately, plus its available at level 1 so your not waiting for the Telekinetic Feat.



c) Subtle Spell


This is a hard one, not much replicates Subtle Spell. If you're playing with the most recent set of UA Feats then you could pick up the Metamagic Adept (UA) feat and have 2 points for subtle spell. You'd be limited to at most 2 casts per day that would be subtle.



for doing magic stuff sneakily.

To get all three things effectively you normally have to get AT, Warlock and Sorcerer, which may not be optimal --- for basically anything everything else...

But as someone pointed out to me, the UA on Psionics (yeah, yeah, I know this is not going to see print, but I think I may be able to use it anyway) does contain

a) the Psionic Soul Sorcerer who gets this ability at first level:

which is like 1/2 to 3/4th of "subtle spell" for just one level of sorcerer instead of three (I am assuming the ability does apply to non-sorcerer spells as well).

b) the Telekinetic Feat that gives you

which gives me basically a Psionic Mage Hand Legerdemain, without getting 3 levels of Rogue.

So therefore I was thinking of playing a Warlock (to get the Mask of Many Faces as I feel it's more helpful than Changeling as the ability to change your whole appearance including clothes is quite strong) and do a 1 level dip of Psionic Soul Sorcerer - but haven't thought of much else? I was kinda thinking Tome Celestial maybe? And maybe Half-Elf for Sills and Darkvision? What would you do with this?

Rules are Point Buy and every source allowed (obviously). Starting Level would be 1 going to 12 but maybe beyond.


I think the biggest issue is your build wouldn't come online until potentially level 8 if you needed to pick up two feats to get to Telekinetic or at least level 5 if you did 4 warlock + 1 Psionic Soul (UA) Sorcerer, which is a lot of the campaign without achieving your goal.

As a sorcerer or bard you'd still be able to pick up Disguise Self, it just wouldn't be free.

If you went with a Gith (either subclass) and picked up the Metamagic Adept (UA) at level 4 I could see this working for either a Bard or a Warlock by level 4. If you went with the College of Whispers you could lean into the somewhat psionic feel of that subclass (nots not explicitly psionic, but it kinda has some of that flavor). Bard also helps out the skill monkey aspect by picking up Jack of All Trades and Expertise.

Or if your not interested in a Gith then you could go straight Psionic Soul so you could pick up Telekinetic at level 4.

[Stattick]

I have a similar character. Lore Bard Changling. I have Glamoured Studded Leather too, so that helps with disguises. I'm dipping 2 levels of Sorcerer, and will pick up the Metamagic Adept feat, grabbing Subtle and something else. That also means that I will eventually get 9th lvl spells and at 20th lvl (18th lvl Bard), with Magical Secrets, will be able to pick up Wish.

[Wasp]

I have a similar character. Lore Bard Changling. I have Glamoured Studded Leather too, so that helps with disguises. I'm dipping 2 levels of Sorcerer, and will pick up the Metamagic Adept feat, grabbing Subtle and something else. That also means that I will eventually get 9th lvl spells and at 20th lvl (18th lvl Bard), with Magical Secrets, will be able to pick up Wish.
Are you dipping two levels of the Psionic Soul sorcerer or what did you pick?

[Stattick]

Are you dipping two levels of the Psionic Soul sorcerer or what did you pick?

For story and background reasons, I'm dipping Wild Sorcerer. My character's mother was primarily a Wild Sorcerer. She was a prior PC in the same campaign.

[Wasp]

How do people feel about the psionic sorcerer? The UA discussions seem mostly about the other classes...