Arane Trickster

[pauljathome]

I'd like to get some opinions on how balanced the Arcane
Trickster is.

At first blush, it seems quite overpowered. Its MUCH more
powerful than a rogue/wizard would be. If you compare it
to a character who advances two levels of spell caster
for every level of rogue it
1) Gets better spell progression
2) Gets slightly less hit points
3) Gets as many skill points and more flexibility in using them
4) Gets better sneak attack progression
5) Gets better saving throw bonuses
6) Gets all the extra class bennies.

I'm presuming the argument is that a rogue/wizard is significantly
weaker than either a straight rogue or a straight wizard. But I'm
not at all sure that I buy that. What the character loses in raw power
they more than make up in flexibility.

 

[Mystery Man]

The arcane trickster in my group is currently a weakened pile of jelly on the floor of the lesser assemblies of Hellgate Keep, that can only move when he has bulls strength cast on him. To be fair he did get caught with his pants down.

 

[Patlin]

Arcane Tricksters are supposed to be more powerfull than rogue/wizards. They exist to fix the problem of underpowered spellcaster multiclassing with rogues, just as the Mystic Theurge exists for wizard/clerics and the Eldritch Knight exists for Fighter/Mages.

Basically, these combinations became a lot less viable under 3e, and the prestige class mechanic was used to fix it. How well it works is an open question, of course, but personally I like the Trickster.

A fairer comparison, IMO is a trickster against either a straight rogue or a straight wizard.

 

[Sir Elton]

The arcane trickster in my group is currently a weakened pile of jelly on the floor of the lesser assemblies of Hellgate Keep, that can only move when he has bulls strength cast on him. To be fair he did get caught with his pants down.

Arcane Trickers who TPK themselves. You got to love them.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Wizard-based arcane tricksters are about equivalent to single-classed sorcerers in power, IMX. Somewhat weaker than a pure wizard at everything but damage-dealing, although they do have some out of combat uses a sorc wouldn't, thanks to their skills.

Arcane Trickster Class Power by level
Low: Weeeeeak
Mid: Very Good
High: Okay
Epic: Good

At low levels, arcane tricksters are incredibly hard to work because they're so easy to kill. At mid levels, they have a nice mix of spells, skills and special abilities. At high levels, they're delayed in reaching the best spells, making them weaker than a pure caster. Finally, in (low-)Epic levels the AT comes back into his own, effectively advancing spellcasting and skills.

And a rogue/wizard is *vastly* weaker than a pure wiz, weaker than a rogue at most levels.

 

[Impeesa]

I'm told by many people that the AT is a mixed bag. It looks cool on paper, and does start to pull ahead of the curve at high levels, but levels 3-12 or so will be very painful. The only real path to the AT costs you a number of caster levels, , which always sucks, but at the same time you don't really have enough rogue in your build to take advantage of any synergy.

--Impeesa--

 

[Thanee]

The arcane trickster looks good until you figure out the opportunity costs.

But even then it's still a very good class (combination), but surely not overpowered. It's exactly right.

Bye
Thanee