“If you liked that, just wait’ll you see what’s next!”

—Ameslan Trag, uncanny trickster

The uncanny trickster combines the features of his primary class with a wider range of skill tricks than any other character can achieve.

BECOMING AN UNCANNY TRICKSTER

Because of the simple requirements for entry, the uncanny trickster appeals to a wide range of characters. Rogues, bards, rangers, and other skill-focused characters are the most likely to enter the prestige class, but the entry requirements are well within the reach of intelligent members of any class. Pure spellcasters prefer the magical trickster prestige class (page 45), while warriors find the battle trickster (page 28) more to their liking.

PLAYING AN UNCANNY TRICKSTER

You know more tricks than anyone else, and you can use your tricks more frequently. Many scoundrels use tricks to augment their other abilities, but you take the opposite outlook: You rely on your tricks and use your other abilities in support of them.

You work well with others, especially those who can perform skill tricks or have abilities that emulate tricks. Becoming a trick expert instantly affiliates you with a very loose fellowship of tricksters (battle, magical, and uncanny). You don’t get along with every trickster you meet, though: Some jealously guard their secrets and view others of their kind as rivals.

Combat

“Full of surprises” best describes your fighting style. You enter combat cautiously, setting the tone of your contribution. While the fighters slug it out and the casters stay in the back slinging spells, you move around unpredictably, always looking for an opportunity to deliver a sudden finishing blow.

If you prefer fighting from range, use movement tricks to get yourself somewhere safe on the battlefield, as far from the main engagement as possible. From this more secure vantage point, you can use your ranged attacks (including appropriate skill tricks) to support your allies.

Advancement

Becoming an uncanny trickster requires hard work and sacrifice. While others devote their training to learning only skills, you seek a balance between skills and tricks. You need to invest in skills, since you need a minimum level of competence in a skill before attempting new and spectacular applications of it, but you devote as many skill points as you can to tricks. Thus, you know many skills but have mastered few (if any).

Interaction and mental tricks can be very useful in combat, but you should focus on movement tricks to get yourself safely around the battlefield. The prestige class offers both plentiful skill points and more bonus skill tricks than any other, so buy as many tricks as you can afford. Maximize your potential by picking up feats that grant bonus skill tricks as well (see Chapter 3).

Resources

Although you might not have realized it when you became an uncanny trickster, you are part of a larger (albeit very loosely organized) group. The benefits and requirements of this group are few, but it does offer the camaraderie of shared experiences as well as the chance to learn new tricks. Nevertheless, tricksters owe no more to one another than do any other people with similar, nonbinding interests.

UNCANNY TRICKSTERS IN THE WORLD

“I’ve seen his kind before. Just when you think you’ve seen everything he has to offer, he surprises you.”

—Guled Conu, retired adventurer

Depending on their moral fiber, uncanny tricksters can be anything from tumbling entertainers to second-story burglars. Adventuring characters simply continue their previous careers but use their many tricks to improve their own and their allies’ chances of survival.

Organization

Uncanny tricksters congregate with magical tricksters and battle tricksters when possible. Having come to the prestige class from different backgrounds, they have less in common with one another than they do with other tricksters. They swap techniques, introduce newly developed tricks and tricksupporting equipment and magic, and share experiences. Outside observers might assume such a meeting is part of a circus or carnival, with tricksters springing about performing for the enjoyment and education of onlookers.

These gatherings, though enjoyable, do not represent a structured organization. Uncanny tricksters looking to become part of something more permanent usually join groups that appreciate both their abilities and their moral choices: thieves’ guilds, carnivals, monasteries, ninja clans, adventuring groups, and so on. Within an organization, an uncanny trickster performs the role of his former adventuring class, enhanced with unusual techniques.

NPC Reactions

Most people look on uncanny tricksters with awe. A few conceited individuals view them with contempt and try to belittle their abilities, generally displaying indifferent to unfriendly attitudes. Adventurers respect uncanny tricksters for their discipline and training, and are generally friendly toward them.

Common folk do not understand the difference between uncanny tricksters and other trickster classes, so their attitudes span the spectrum. However, because some tricksters use their abilities to take advantage of less talented folk, a victim of such exploitation has a negative view of all tricksters, magical or otherwise, and is unfriendly at best.

UNCANNY TRICKSTER LORE

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) can research uncanny tricksters to learn more about them. When a character succeeds on a skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC 10: Uncanny tricksters know more skill tricks than anyone else.

DC 15: An uncanny trickster continues to practice his other abilities even as he masters tricks, so he’s capable of much more than just a few stunts.

DC 20: Uncanny tricksters don’t have a formal organization, but they do occasionally gather with others who respect their talents.

DC 30: Characters who achieve this level of success can learn important details about specific uncanny tricksters in your campaign, including a notable individual, the area in which he operates, and the kinds of activities he undertakes.

The easiest way to find an uncanny trickster is at a trickster gathering. Because such events are rare, however, PCs seeking out an uncanny trickster should contact groups that are likely to seek out their talents, as described above.

UNCANNY TRICKSTERS IN THE GAME

Uncanny tricksters make interesting opponents. They have such a wide variety of abilities available to them that no two are ever the same. Their abilities, particularly those that allow for escape and evasion, can make them particularly frustrating opponents and set them up well as recurring villains.

A player who likes to surprise the DM or other players or who wants to bring cinematic action into a campaign would probably enjoy playing an uncanny trickster. The prestige class offers opportunities to perform actions otherwise not covered in the rules. An uncanny trickster character can fill any number of roles in a party, depending on his other class or classes.

Adaptation

The uncanny trickster is already a very generalized prestige class that can easily fit into any campaign setting. It does rely on the new rules for skill tricks, however, so it is not suitable for a campaign that does not incorporate them. Replacing bonus tricks with extra feats that enhance movement and defense can repurpose the character as a sneaky combatant with a more generalized approach to skills.