D&D 5E Comparing classes for an "Enchanter/Illusionist" concept

[tagwort]

What class/subclass would you personally choose (for fun and/or effectiveness) for a character designed around "trickery" magic to confuse and control enemies? It seems like there's a large number of ways to go about it with 5th ED classes: Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Land Druid, Trickery Cleric, and Arcane Trickster all seem like viable options, depending on what sort of twist you want to put on it.

I'm personally concerned only with the Charisma-based casters because I feel the "party face" roll suits enchanters/illusionists/tricksters well, but for the sake of discussion, I don't want to exclude any options.

Some of my thoughts comparing the CHA casters:

BARD seems like the most obvious embodiment of the tricky caster, with a spell selection focused on illusions, deception, control, and support. Expertise and Jack-of-all-Trades enables the bard to function as both the "face" and the "rogue" (or whatever other utility the player wants to provide). Musical magic fits the flavor well (Pied Piper, Demon Fiddler, Siren, etc), and spamming "Vicious Mockery" sounds like a lot of fun.

SORCERER has been labeled "just a blaster", but Metamagic opens up a lot of powerful options for a tricky-minded caster: Twin Phantasmal Force, Quickened spells while Eyebiting, Heightened Suggestion, etc. Subtle Metamagic also enables Sorcerers to be the only truly stealthy casters (and I imagine a trickster wants to be stealthy). An Ice Dragon-blooded's Frostbite cantrip functions like a more damaging/narrower version of Vicious Mockery, and Draconic Presence finishes the concept perfectly. A Wild Mage has more accurate control spells than any other caster in the game.

WARLOCK is severely lacking in spells, but bursting with "beguiler" flavor and at-will utility. Though combat might get dull spamming Eldritch Blast, Archfey and Old One patrons enhance the concept both mechanically and conceptually (Greater Invisibility or Telekinesis/Black Tentacles, combat charms or telepathy/Create Thrall). At-will Disguise Self and Silent Image compensate somewhat for the lack of spells, and Chain/Book pact options both provide immense out-of-combat utility on top of that.

TL;DR I'm indecisive, and this game strikes me as infuriatingly well-balanced. So what would your pick for Enchanter/Illusionist/Beguiler be?

 

[abirdcall]

I would pick Warlock for the at will spells. Archfey has a good spell list for it too.

 

[Jester David]

Wizard. Because it's the only one with an (official) build dedicated to that school.

 

[Saeviomagy]

You also have a wizard enchanter and illusionist as possibilities, and I wouldn't discount the non cha-based casters - there's nothing stopping you from having a good charisma on them. Wizards in particular are very stat flexible once you've got a decent intelligence.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The sorcerer is better than it may seem - my gnome wild mage doesn't do much blasting. It has subtle spell, too, though it's been more useful for casting in areas of silence or when confined in a net than it has been for tricking observers.

Ultimately, if you're set on a CHA-based caster, it's all about the secondary traits.

As a Bard, you'll be a little gishy - charm and trick and hack and slash.

As a Sorcerer, magic is your bread and butter - charm and trick and pew pew pew.

As a Warlock, your thing is to spam at-will things. Whatever you do, you do over and over again, but you can pick if you want to hack and slash or pew pew pew.

So: do you want to charm person in every encounter, or do you want to mix it with blades or fireballs?

 

[tagwort]

Well I'm not personally set on anything because everything seems fun to me (except wizard which does not appeal to me at all, despite arguably being the strongest mechanically). At the moment I'm choosing between Arcane Trickster vs one of the CHA casters, depending on whether my party needs a sneak or a talker more.

It's just an archtype I love so much, I'm a little overwhelmed by how many different ways a player can build it in 5th ED. Trickery clerics get clones, land druids can be very slippery/tricky, arcane tricksters are the perfect mix of illusionist/thief flavor, etc.

I'm just curious how other players would build their "Beguiler".

 

[PnPgamer]

Id pick wizard with enchanter school. You would be able do that hypnotic gaze thingy in and out of combat

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I second enchantment school wizard as my choice.

 

[77IM]

If you want maximum effectiveness, go bard: lots of skills, EXPERTISE, lots of spells known and most of the illusion/enchantment is on their list, MAGICAL SECRETS, decent weapon and armor proficiency and d8 hit dice, etc.

For fun, I'd try sorcerer or warlock, although neither has the spell selection to be truly great. The nice thing about bard is you have enough spells known to cover all your beguiller bases plus have healing word and thunderwave for encounters where that won't work and then Magical Secrets your way into fireball and other real zappity spells, and even if you run out of spells you've got the mundane skills to still be useful.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm just curious how other players would build their "Beguiler".

At the moment, I'm partial to bards. The bard spell list in 3e is very "fey"-themed, and it feels closer to the ranger or the druid than to the wizard or the sorcerer. I want to play a classic legendary musician of otherworldly power, who walks the line between life and death, this world and the otherworld, who is friends with nymphs and satyrs...that kind of bard hasn't really been strongly represented since about 1e, probably, and it's an archetype that I haven't had a chance to play yet.

I also like the idea of a kender warlock mentioned in the kender-thread, but I am reckless and weird like that. Warlocks have narrative baggage in the form of their patron, though, and rely a lot on their (rather limited) spell selection.

I'm currently actually playing a gnome wild sorcerer, and I think there, the subclass choices aren't quite as strong. Neither wild magic or draconic scales speak to being charming and otherworldly per se.

Arcane Tricksters strike me as more "mischief" and less "beguiling," though I guess they could be either/both.

Yeah, I'd probably go with Bard, if it was me.