The Trickster: Hype Up!
So, there is a lot that can be done to buff the Trickster, but my big question is, what can we do to him that doesn't just make him a lot more like an existing killer? Well, thanks to that_lich, who mentioned that in his lore he put the screams of his victims in his music, I came up with an idea that fits his theme as a pop star, and the concept of him being a 'trickster'.
So, here is my suggestion to emphasize what makes him different!
"Hype Up: The first time The Trickster downs a survivor with his knives, he gains a stack of Hype Up as their screaming inspires his soul. Each stack of Hype up has two effects;
It reduces the number of knives needed to down a survivor by .5
On the Survivors HUDs, that survivor will randomly begin gaining lacerations in the eyes of other survivors every so often (Killer always sees accurate numbers, and the survivor always sees their own number accurately). After their fake laceration bar fills, they scream and appear injured to other survivors in the HUD (Or downed if they were already injured). This scream alerts the killer. After 10 seconds, their actual injury status is corrected. Once Trickster gets his fourth stack, this happens so chaotically, it becomes difficult to tell who actually has laceration stacks. Similar to ghost doctors, if someone is (fake) 'downed' by this power, a random copy of their character's body appears on the map, like you would normally see a downed survivor. If a survivor gets too close to this fake corpse, they scream, and become hindered. This would also REALLY fit the idea of him being a trickster.
Once the Trickster has all four stacks of Hype Up, he becomes a 115% killer. Let the chorus begin."
Unrelated, but Lacerations should require a healing effect, similar to deep wounds, but survivors should be unable to do this themselves. Instead of counting down, Lacerations will give The Trickster minor natural slowdown by requiring survivors to spend .5 seconds removing each stitch from another survivor, taking 2 people off the gen for a total of one second per hit, so splitting the damage has actual effect.
All Add Ons currently affecting Laceration time can affect the screaming from Hype Up (Above) or how long it takes per laceration to stitch up. Make one so that when they get too close to a fake body, their aura is revealed. Make one so that actual downs from lacerations don't produce screaming, downed corpses, or HUD changes.
Make an ultra rare add on that makes it so someone who would normally do a 'fake death' doesn't scream, doesn't appear dead to their allies, and instead has their aura highlighted to the killer, and is Oblivious without knowing it.
Comments
So, here's the thing about the word Trick... and by extension the word Trickster as one who does tricks. It has at least two definitions that describe very different things. There's the acts of misdirection and deception. Picture magic tricks, card tricks, sleight of hand... all that stuff. There's also performing physical feats that are flashy, over the top, and usually completely unnecessary. Think skateboard tricks, bicycle tricks, motorcross tricks and the like. Judging from his weapon wipe animation being over the top, just how ridiculously fast Trickster throws knives in Main Event, and how... kinda ridiculous his Mori is, I would say that Trickster is perfectly embodying his name... when taking the 2nd definition into account.
Your idea is good, great even, but I think you're working off the wrong definition of the word trick.
What I'd like to see instead is more over the top ridiculous physicality from him. Especially in Main Event. Like... in Main Event give him a 1 time use of a forward somersault that somewhat slows his throw speed afterwards. Let him do over the top fast vaults of both windows and pallets while in Main Event. That sort of thing.