How would you build Oscar "Oz" Diggs, from Oz The Great and Powerful?

[Reksew_Trebla]

I'm thinking maybe an alchemist, as he clearly isn't a wizard, just posing as one, and the alchemical gear of an alchemist can simulate that. While I do recognize it would be easier to be an actual wizard and fluff that you are merely posing as one, it kind of goes against the intent of the character.

But I don't have anything specific so far. So how would you build him?

[Phoebus Alexandros]

I’ve never watched the show, but from what I gather Franko’s Oz is a con artist and a stage magician, right?

So maybe a Bard is a better starting point for that? Or better yet, a Rogue with either the Charlatan or the False Medium archetypes?

[Reksew_Trebla]

Phoebus Alexandros wrote:

I’ve never watched the show, but from what I gather Franko’s Oz is a con artist and a stage magician, right?

So maybe a Bard is a better starting point for that? Or better yet, a Rogue with either the Charlatan or the False Medium archetypes?

He is a con artist and stage magician, yes, but he is also a tinkerer and inventor.

He knew how to make fireworks, a smoke machine, and a moving image projector (projected onto the smoke from the smoke machine). He also knew how to make a pulley system for dummies to make it seem like they were alive and moving.

This isn't exactly what was said (I don't have access to the movie), but this conversation is helpful to knowing the theme of his skills:

Conversation:

China Girl: Do you grant wishes? The old wizard granted wishes.

Oz: No, I'm not that kind of wizard.

CG: Didn't think so.

*Small skip in conversation*

Oz: In fact, where I come from, there aren't any real wizards. *Pauses* Actually, there is one. Thomas Alva Edison. He made creations with electricity, like the light bulb, and even a picture that moves.

CG: A moving picture?

Oz: Yeah. And the best part of it all, he did it with nothing but a few bits of wire. He was a great man. That's the kind of wizard I want to be.

CG: You are that kind of wizard.

Oz: You think so?

CG: I know so.

[Phoebus Alexandros]

Hmmm… a Tinkerer Alchemist, perhaps?

[Dragonchess Player]

I would say (from what I remember from the books, rather than any of the movie adaptations), that rogue with the charlatan and underground chemist archetypes could work pretty well. Maximum skill ranks in Craft (Alchemy) and Craft (Clockwork) might also fit for various "magic tricks."