Warlock arcane trickster?

[Corsair]

Has anyone tried to modify the Arcane Trickster to be accessible by a warlock? The simplest way to do it I'd figure would be allow a 3rd level equivalency invocation to count as 3rd level spells (so you'd have 6 levels of warlock, much like 6 levels of sorcerer) plus you'd need an invocation which mimics mage hand (which I think could be cool to have anyways regardless)

Really I want to make a rogue/warlock who focuses on the rogish side, not the combat side of warlockdom. As it is, the only way I can do that is with Daggerspell Mage, which gives me bucketloads of useless abilities (since I don't technically cast spells). I want to get at least 4 skill points per level, and ideally have the ranged ledgerdemain ability. Rather than create a PrC from scratch, I want to modify the Arcane Trickster.

 

[Thia Halmades]

Hrm. Well, it seems you've already figured most of this out. As you pointed out, +1 of existing class doesn't help you. However, IIRC, the general rules of a PrC is that they don't grant additional abilities (feats, other abilities (invocations), etc.), so what would "+1 level of existing class" really mean? Would you modify it to include the extra invocations? In that case, the over-powered argument comes into play. I know, I know - it's not that different from gaining spells, but by the rules as I understand them, it's a significant difference.

I see no problem with the Eldritch Blast itself gaining additional power. I don't know if Precision Damage stacks with Eldritch Blast; I can't imagine reasonably that it would, however, there's nothing in the Rogue description of the ability that says it has to be a "physical" attack, i.e., with a weapon. Hence Eldritch Blast (unless someone posts errata or knows otherwise, which they may) should stack with Sneak Attack.

Mage Hand could easily be turned into a least invocation - it's a cantrip, after all. You're still burning an Invocation on it, but hey. That's simple enough to fix. After that, it's a question of how to work in the Invocations. If you rule that they keep the Invocations, the problem immediately becomes there's no loss from taking the PrC, and that would be the major sticking point for me.

Allowing Major/6th level Invocations to replace the 3rd level arcane requirement also seems fine to me. Mind you, I'm completely sidestepping any flavor arguments here and going straight at the throat of the problem; if this is what you wanna do, than that seems the best avenue. Besides, I agree that the Warlock is a better Sorceror than the Sorceror.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Hrm. Well, it seems you've already figured most of this out. As you pointed out, +1 of existing class doesn't help you. However, IIRC, the general rules of a PrC is that they don't grant additional abilities (feats, other abilities (invocations), etc.), so what would "+1 level of existing class" really mean? Would you modify it to include the extra invocations? In that case, the over-powered argument comes into play. I know, I know - it's not that different from gaining spells, but by the rules as I understand them, it's a significant difference.

Eldritch blast damage and invocations known are both advanced by classes that provide +1 spellcasting level.

The OP was referring to the Daggerspell Mage abilities, which modify spells being cast and therefore wouldn't be useful to a character whose spellcasting progression consisted entirely of spell-like abilities.

I see no problem with the Eldritch Blast itself gaining additional power. I don't know if Precision Damage stacks with Eldritch Blast; I can't imagine reasonably that it would, however, there's nothing in the Rogue description of the ability that says it has to be a "physical" attack, i.e., with a weapon. Hence Eldritch Blast (unless someone posts errata or knows otherwise, which they may) should stack with Sneak Attack.

And it does.

 

[Corsair]

Doc pretty much got what I was saying.

Anyways I created a slightly more powerful version of Mage Hand as an Invocation (but made sure to keep it weaker than the 3rd level Psionic power Telekinetic Force, to keep it in the 0-2nd level range which the Least Invocations are pegged in) and just tacked on a line to the Spellcasting requirement which now says "3rd level spells (or equivalent level invocations)". As a DM, I think it'll be fine for my game, I'm just waiting to hear back from the other DM about his game.