[RPG] Assassin using Arcane Trickster’s Mage Hand: Is it Unbalanced

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So a friend of mine for an upcoming campaign was going to be a rogue, specifically arcane trickster. However, he has changed his mind and now is going to be assassin and cross class to wizard.

That's fine with me, my problem is that he wants a special allowance to still have the unique arcane trickster mage hand, which will give him more abilities for no reason in my opinion.

He says it's balanced and there's no lore reason why not. I've argued saying it makes the unique nature of arcane trickster less valued.

Is it unbalanced to allow an Assassin to adopt Mage Hand Legerdemain?

Best Answer

Although many tables allow some degree of tweaking in order to make a build match a concept, they usually involve some degree of horse trading, i.e. giving up something to get something else. Assassins get the Assassinate ability at third level. Arcane Tricksters get Mage Hand Legerdemain. Wizards get their own specialties. Unless he is willing to give up something from one of his other classes in order to justify the Legerdemain, you are certainly on firm ground to call him on this. Getting something for nothing is the definition of unbalanced.