Help with an Arcane Trickster with Spheres of Power Background

[Box]

Thank you first and foremost for reading this.. any constructive feedback would be appreciated!
So right off the bat I would like to establish the situation around my party. We are a varied group that has some members prioritizing min maxing and smashing while others are more concerned with role playing. Myself personally, I like to do a little of both, meaning that I find a great character concept I will roll with it, but why not make them the best they can be no? Overall yes, I know the Arcane Trickster is not by any means an overpowered class, but I would like to be the best AT I can be never the less.

OPTIONAL Character Background:

Imagine a future parallel to our own in which magic was an actual thing of the past. However for reasons unknown to us magic has continually waned until now only being a thing of myth and legend. Some individuals of wealth and museums hold artifacts from that distant past, even those have lost their power completely. Now only the social elites have but a few tarnished rings of prestidigitation that are used but once a year.
My character works for one of these social elites whose mission is to prove the myths and legends and validate that magic did and still does exist. Much effort and wasted time had been spent on the project to no avail, but once an attempted teleportation device was created to help facilitate transport from facility to facility. However after their first successful attempt the item went a few hundred feet away and caused nearby magical sensors to spike at that moment as well.
Upon investigation what appeared as teleportation was really time travel. The item had moved through its own time line to appear at that location. In addition the spike of magic that appeared was magic released from that moment of time being opened. Through theory and continued research it is speculated that magic has faded from the myths we equate it to due to a large scale magical event from the past that is somehow siphoning magic from the future to fuel the effects. This is why magic erupted out of the warp in time they created.
Magic however is a fickle thing, highly equated to radiation in a sort. It is highly volatile and wants to react. One of the scientists in the room the were the first warp in time was created started to show changes resembling that of an elf, and has lived into his mid 80's physically unchanged from that point. Theory suggests that unlike radiation magic reacts in a very systematic known fashion, thus the changes in race and abilities to control it. This means that dwarfs, elfs, and all the other races aren't gone but there just isn't any magic interacting with them to make these changes.
Just how there are those who work to unveil magic there are those that try to extinguish it. The more progress towards uncovering magics nature the more a simple protest group against magic turned into hostile terrorist unit bent on destroy all of the research and facilities dedicated to progressing magic.
The latest development was that people would be sent back in time between various points in time that were registering as large scale magical events, however just how magic is similar to radiation due to certain world events it is very difficult know the exact strength of events so far back. Therefore the participants sent back in time would be sent with a radioactive agents that they can expose to intensify the feedback from that event for us to find out the exact event and then try to change it. Before this plan could be enacted, the hostile anti-magic group struck the facility, my character attempted to escape the assault by going ahead with the plan and traveling in time.
Now my character is simply trying to search out and large scale magical events to activate the radiation unit once he finds the actual event siphoning magic to it. This in turn is his only chance at saving himself to, because if in the future there wasn't 20 locations but 3 then maybe just MAYBE he could change that he wouldn't be at that facility that day or that time. This also accounts for why he is a rogue, having knowledge from the future, this accounts for why he is a tiefling now that he is exposed to magic his true lineage is coming to light, this also explains how he starts to acquire his magical power, he always had an affinity for it but there was no magic to manipulate prior.

Starting off, I will be at lvl 5, 25 points buy, Tiefling, I'm thinking of using natural attacks to avoid the expenses of weapons, plus rogues are more about the sneak attack damage meaning more hits=good.

Unchained Rogue seems like a good start plus I'm unsure if I can select natural weapon when I reach 3rd level with Weapon Finesse, if not the Knifemaster archetype seems interesting.

Spheres of Power starting with the Incanter class having Sorcerer Blood line of Raksasha and Sphere specialization of divination to get Forewarned. In general I would focus most of my magic into telekinesis, illusion, and warp.

For telekinesis, I would take Deflect, Parry, and Quick Catch so that theoretically I could block any melee or ranged attack as an immediate action for a spell point. Getting some of the other talents like Flair or Finesse would be idea but I'm unsure how those would work in conjunction with abilities granted the AT class.

For warp, I would get the emergency teleport.

For illusion, I got Invisibility, this aids for the rogue to ensure their SA as well as all other mischief.

Feats from Protokinesis tree like Force shield, Counterweight, and Gravativic Anomaly are some fun feats I'm thinking about for mischief and flavorful fun.

Overall, I want assistance with feats, talents, and archetypes but mostly how to integrate the AT class into a sphere based caster. Anything else you wish to comment on as long feel free, I appreciate the help in making this idea come to life!

[GM Rednal]

*Rubs chin* My first thought was to suggest something from Champions of the Spheres, rather than the Arcane Trickster prestige class itself. To become an AT, you need to hit those prerequisites unless your GM is feeling generous, and that could throw a wrench into the plans. The Troubadour could make an interesting magical rogue, especially if you focus on the Scoundrel persona.

However, I don't suggest investing talents for both Telekinesis and Warp as defenses. For one, those are both very SP-intensive, which puts a sharp limit on it. For two, you get way fewer talents than spells, and you're basically just stacking effects between TK and Warp. I'd get the Extradimensional Storage instead of Emergency Teleport - what's more magically rogue-y than making things appear and disappear into thin air? XD

[Box]

Wow, the thought hadn't even occurred to me. I was thinking of trying to stay as close to the prerequisites for AT as possible, therefore the base classes of rogue/magic user (DM did approve). Thanks for the extra perspective, I will look into some of the Champion of Spheres classes to see if that fleshes out better. I'll make sure to let you know if I plan on switching that out with the rogue moving forward.

As far as the sphere usage, I hadn't noticed I was double dipping for defense. When I looked at Emergency Teleport I was thinking of being able to always be able to get into position for a full-round attack with natural attacks.

I would love a little more input on thoughts about using natural attacks or just using the bludgeon from telekinesis? As well as the sphere specialization of Divination always allowing me to be active in the surprise round I see as a HUGE benefit. However if I want to be less SP-intensive and go along the natural attack route I could get the Warp specialization, to better be in position?

[GM Rednal]

Depends on the classes you pick. If you go the Champions route, you'll also be using Spheres of Might, which favors standard action attacks over full attacks (and lets you avoid needing to spend precious magic talents on getting into position - though Warp is really handy to have anyway). There's a sneaky combo you can do with Spheres stuff (listed on the How To Build A Spherecaster page on the wiki, near the bottom) that can let you stack spell damage onto a melee attack with just a swift action each turn, and that can compensate for the loss of extra sneak attacks. There's also the Dual Wielding sphere if you want to make more attacks. Spheres is nothing if not flexible. XD SoM can also give you the Alchemy, Scout, and Trap spheres for rogue-y goodness.

The Enhancement sphere will also let you self-enchant your attacks - handy when you don't want to spend gold on an Amulet of Mighty Fists.

If you decide you want to stick with the U. Rogue and Incanter multiclassing, look into getting a sphere staff. These can raise your Caster Level (in several Spheres!) at a reasonable cost, making your magic better overall even if you aren't advancing Incanter anymore.

I wouldn't use Telekinesis as a main attack. It's not very powerful unless you do a pretty heavy investment in the Sphere.

Also, wrong subforum. Flagging for a move. XD