So I’m just getting into actual play of D&d but I’ve been researching the books for a few months now. I absolutely love Arcane Tricksters, and I’ve come up with a somewhat-working way to improve your roguery. Every time you level up or get a new spell or two, always set one selection aside and pick it at random. A Trickster is just a rogue with an arcane toolbox, so why limit yourself to your favorite tools? Branch out, try to see how you can approach a situation with different spells. So here’s one to get you started.
Try taking Find Familiar and later on Flock of Familiars. Why do the infiltration work yourself when you can have a three man team of murderous octopi armed with meat cleavers and molotovs do it for you?
Or boost your combat effectiveness with flock of familiars and a pile of impact explosives and smoke grenades? You essentially become a drone operator in D&D and it is VERY FUN.
Carnwennan was actually the name of my first ATR, with Tellaro the Octopus.We stole many fish and grappled three guys at once. He would sit on my shoulder with a spray bottle full of sea water so he could perpetually stay out of water and I spent a small fortune on towels. I hollowed out a creepy doll and stuffed him inside, taught him to walk on land, and then sent him screaming and running down hallways after people. We were like Scully and Mulder, Butch and Sundance, Tango and Cash, and Tom and Jerry all rolled into one. I miss the beaky little bastard.
It’s a quick and dirty way to boost your “situational value” in any given circumstance, and a great way to give a bit of flair to your role playing.
Apologies for the clickbait title, but I figured it was worth it to get people to read and think of a different school of thought for ATR. Hope you found this useful, and please consider the unpopular option in future, it may lead to sone very memorable moments.
Familiars can't attack, so no using the tentacle attack from the octopus statblock. This also means they can't replace one of their attacks with a grapple and even if they could, the generally negative str mod with no athletics would make it pointless.
I had talked to my DM and we allowed for some homebrew with the octopus idea given I put in the time and resources to actually pull it off. Increasing land movement speed, teaching it to wield a weapon (more for utility like cutting rope than murder), increases to the stat blocks, and it was primarily used for second story work rather than combat. Pointless is a strong word I feel. Like I said, ATR is a toolbox. Find new ways, even if they aren’t necessarily the most effective, to do things. As for the athletics things, we made the judgement call that since I was essentially throwing the octopus like a net and it could actively attempt to lock up an enemy’s equipment with its tentacles, it could be considered a grapple with a dex check initially from me and then from the octopus. We did remove the tentacle attack from the statblock though.
If you're going to Homebrew something to allow it to attack when the spell specifically says it can't attack, why not homebrew that Mage Hand can hold weapons and attack with them? Turn your cantrip into an equivalent of a level 2 spell Spiritual Weapon just because your DM is apparently super super nice to you.
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So I’m just getting into actual play of D&d but I’ve been researching the books for a few months now. I absolutely love Arcane Tricksters, and I’ve come up with a somewhat-working way to improve your roguery. Every time you level up or get a new spell or two, always set one selection aside and pick it at random. A Trickster is just a rogue with an arcane toolbox, so why limit yourself to your favorite tools? Branch out, try to see how you can approach a situation with different spells. So here’s one to get you started.
Try taking Find Familiar and later on Flock of Familiars. Why do the infiltration work yourself when you can have a three man team of murderous octopi armed with meat cleavers and molotovs do it for you?
Or boost your combat effectiveness with flock of familiars and a pile of impact explosives and smoke grenades? You essentially become a drone operator in D&D and it is VERY FUN.
Carnwennan was actually the name of my first ATR, with Tellaro the Octopus.We stole many fish and grappled three guys at once. He would sit on my shoulder with a spray bottle full of sea water so he could perpetually stay out of water and I spent a small fortune on towels. I hollowed out a creepy doll and stuffed him inside, taught him to walk on land, and then sent him screaming and running down hallways after people. We were like Scully and Mulder, Butch and Sundance, Tango and Cash, and Tom and Jerry all rolled into one. I miss the beaky little bastard.
It’s a quick and dirty way to boost your “situational value” in any given circumstance, and a great way to give a bit of flair to your role playing.
Apologies for the clickbait title, but I figured it was worth it to get people to read and think of a different school of thought for ATR. Hope you found this useful, and please consider the unpopular option in future, it may lead to sone very memorable moments.
Familiars can't attack, so no using the tentacle attack from the octopus statblock. This also means they can't replace one of their attacks with a grapple and even if they could, the generally negative str mod with no athletics would make it pointless.
I had talked to my DM and we allowed for some homebrew with the octopus idea given I put in the time and resources to actually pull it off. Increasing land movement speed, teaching it to wield a weapon (more for utility like cutting rope than murder), increases to the stat blocks, and it was primarily used for second story work rather than combat. Pointless is a strong word I feel. Like I said, ATR is a toolbox. Find new ways, even if they aren’t necessarily the most effective, to do things. As for the athletics things, we made the judgement call that since I was essentially throwing the octopus like a net and it could actively attempt to lock up an enemy’s equipment with its tentacles, it could be considered a grapple with a dex check initially from me and then from the octopus. We did remove the tentacle attack from the statblock though.
If you're going to Homebrew something to allow it to attack when the spell specifically says it can't attack, why not homebrew that Mage Hand can hold weapons and attack with them? Turn your cantrip into an equivalent of a level 2 spell Spiritual Weapon just because your DM is apparently super super nice to you.