Non-Magical Magic Talent

[FireHorse]

Anybody ever made up a Talent for Stage Magic? Stuff like coin and card tricks, pulling a rabbit out of a hat, sawing your assistant in half, that kind of stuff. You know, "Illusions", but not the… uh, real (?) kind.

One of my players wants a traveling Bard-like character who, rather than singing or reciting poetry, performs magic tricks for entertainment — but who actually has no magical powers at all.

It seemed like a simple proposal at first, until I started thinking about how many different kinds of magic tricks there are, and how varied the skills involved are. Oddly enough, I think the only rational way to do it would be to have a different Talent each particular trick (or closely-related category of tricks) much like Spells.

Plus, there's the problem of how to model the performance. I mean, how would you determine whether a trick was successful? "Magician's" DX versus spectator's IQ…?

[Shostak]

I'd use the Mundane Talent option.

[TippetsTX]

From one of the old Interplay mags...

IQ10 - Sleight of Hand (2)
On 3d6 vs. DX, the character can palm small objects, pick pockets, etc. This resembles the Thief skill, but is more theatrical, and substitutes palming of items for lockpicking.