Arcane Trickster & Rogue trick Minor Magic: Mage Hand

[2radly]

I'm in a gaming group and we typically limit the books we can use to only Core & Advanced. I've been thinking of making an Arcane Trickster and wanted to do something besides Wizard/Rogue. I became interested in Witch/Rogue. Witch unfortunately doesn't have Mage Hand. Could I use Rogue trick: Minor Magic to get Mage Hand and make this combination work?

[Jiggy]

Given the recent rulings that SLAs can satisfy casting prereqs (Minor Magic was even referenced once in some designer commentary), yes, that should work.

[blahpers]

Sure can. You could also use the Magical Talent trait, if you were using Ultimate Campaign.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Should work. And it'd be straight up weaker than Rogue/Wizard, so it's not even problematic/overpowered.

(Witch has a much worse spell list and fewer spells per day [specialist wizard] in return for those hexes that you'd be giving up)

Note that you could do this build with the Two-World Magic trait to add Mage Hand to your Witch's cantrips list w/o needing to do anything else special.

[pH unbalanced]

I am currently playing a Rogue/Witch Arcane Trickster, and love it. StreamOfTheSky is correct, however, about the disadvantages of doing so.

But if you want to go that route, careful Hex selection makes all the difference. You'll want to pick Hexes that don't require a save, as the DC of the Hex will stop scaling, so that they will soon become useless. My favorite hex, bar none, for this character is Prehensile Hair -- it gives you a natural attack with reach, a way to substitute INT for STR in a pinch, and an extra limb for holding things. Other Hexes worth looking at are Tongues, Fly, and Healing Hex, though what I would really recommend is going Winter Witch -- you give up your 4th level Hex but get permanent Endure Elements (cold) and access to Frostfoot and Frozen Caress as Hexes, neither of which have any scaling problems. (My hexes are Frostfoot and Prehensile Hair.)

You might also consider the Half-Elf Bonded Witch -- since your familiar won't be leveling up, replacing it with an object can be a lot safer.

The important thing to remember about Arcane Trickster is not to try and play it like a primary caster -- you'll never be able to keep up. Play it as an enhanced Rogue with a variety of tricks up your sleeve and you'll be a lot more effective and have a lot more fun.