Help me create a Trickster character

I was thinking in replaying Arcanum lately, and I wondered what kind of character I was thinking of. I thought of a "Trickster" archeotype which is still a little vague at the moment.

The Trickster opposes the excessive use of brute force, instead relying on his smarts, wits, tricks and tactics. So no use of things like going melee-dodge and simply beheading anyone on my way. I was thinking more along the lines of using fun tech or magic (or both) to use traps, do wacky things, use my persuasion powers to get cool stuff, etecetera...

Any tips? Magic, tech? Both? Which skills would be good?

 

Max Charisma.
Max/high Intelligence.
Pretty high Beauty might work.
Max Persuasion.
If you're thinking classic trickster/joker, a higher agility seems reasonable (tumbling and whatnot).

Phantasm magic might be interesting, as far as trickster'ing goes. Temporal and Mental might be good additions. Divination/Conveyance as distant 3rds.

 

If you decide to take spells, the various (Quality) of (Element) spells will be helpful in both role-playing and combat situations. White Necromancy will keep you alive, Black Necromancy will make them dead, and Temporal is EPIC FUCKING WIN. Alright, the first couple of spells aren't brilliant, but Tempus Fugit is something of a gamebreaker.

 

I would just like to say...

Harm spamming and vorpal bunnies.

 

if you are OK with taking some inspiration of Coyote, Loki and Hermes, AFAIK commonly referred to as trickster gods, I'd suggest not to invest into BE but to use thieving skills, as those three have a lot of legends about stealing things for the fun of it and the aggravation of the owner

 

Skills: Gambling, Pickpocket, Persuasion
Magic: Phantasm, Temporal, Divination

 

No way I'm going to harm spam, that's just gay.

Are party members of use or just a load for a trickster play?

I'm thinking of Pickpocket and Persuasion. I'm thinking if Throwing or Gambling is better.

It also depends on wherever I'm going to go all tech, all magic or a mix. Right now, I'm thinking of a mix.

 

You could go for gambling, but if you're not a techy you'll just use up a bunch of cp for something not that useful. The party members would be a load to a trickster, I believe, being as tricky as your character will be if you do it right, you won't need followers to bail you out. I'd say go just with magic, but that's me.

Magic: Phantasmal, Mental, Temporal, Conveyance for Unlock Cantrip if you're going for a sneaky tricky man, and Conveyance for the Sense/Read Aura and Spot Traps Spell.

Skills: Pick Pocket, Persuasion, Gambling if you go for a cheater, who when lose steal all of his things back. If you want to handle yourself at combat, you could put some points in Throwing and use the Aerial Decapitator and maybe Dodge if you're not feeling like dying when the enemy get near you.

 

I do not think that using the spell Unlock Cantrip is a good idea. This spell makes such a loud noise, that it will alarm any NPC who are near.

 

I haven't played with a mage for a while, but I do recall it bringing unwanted attention to me. In that case he can just go for picklocks. I'll do this trickster character tomorrow, and in later levels I'll save some points and try unlock cantrip and max picklocks skill.

But, in my point of view, if he goes for all the spells we're suggesting he'll have a very high magickal aptitude, making unlock cantrip very useful, and if he invest in picklocks his MA will go down.

And can't he just use Invisibility and unlock cantrip the hell out of the doors/chests without anyone noticing?

 

The sound will alert people to your presence, but the Invisibility should protect you. I promise nothing, though.

 

the Unlocking Cantrip spell produces a sound from your position, while the owner of the locked item usually pays attention to the said item. try to make use of the spell's range - don't stand next to the item. in my exprience, you only provoke hostilities if the NPC has both you and the item in sight/hearing range. nonetheless, save often

my suggestion goes to Conveyance (all 5 spells make sense for a trickster) and Phantasm (illusions and general tricks). Summoning to get your own army and Black Necro, Nature and Mental spells to control undead, beasts and NPC's might work too, as IMHO a trickster makes others fight.
IMHO Temporal, Divination, as well as White Necro, Meta and the elements don't really fit the trickster.

 

Thanks, I'll try the unlocking cantrip spell later. I agree with you about Divination, White Nectro and Meta not fitting a trickster, but I don't think being able to control undeads and ripping souls (Quench Life) suits a trickster as well. I don't think Nature has anything to do with a trickster, I can see your point about controlling beasts, but I believe that's much more of a druid ability than a trickster's.

About the Temporal, I think it's perfect for a trickster, 'cause with Temporal he's partially able to play tricks with time, which is FUN. In Arcanum, the Temporal school is much more turned to combat, but IMO it suits a Trickster roleplaywise.

Meta is a necessary mistake if you want to make your tricks/jokes a little more... permanent, but otherwise it sucks roleplay.

Have to start a druid, a monk and a trickster now, oh boy.

 

I played as a technologist trickster a while back - extremely high Charisma, Dexterity, and Perception (at the cost of neglecting my Strength, Constitution, and Willpower), plus the Intelligence necessary to make my gadgets. Put plenty of points into Prowl, Persuasion, and Pickpocket, a couple into Backstab, some into Lockpick, and then focused on the Mechanical discipline for a while to get all the cool underhanded gadgets available therein (traps, the Trap Springer, Auto Skeleton Key). Equipped him with a boomerang (for breaking stuff he couldn't pick) and a dagger (in case my party of tanks failed me, or if I needed to make a silent takedown). Much fun was had once I got the character leveled up to the point that I had most of what I wanted, though it was slow going for a while beforehand.

 

If you trickster happens to know both the teleport and mind control spell, he can be quite a annoying little fellow. Imagine someone you don't like. Mind control, teleport to Thanatos, tell him to wait, teleport back, turn off mind control, image the look on his face.