Discord
Changelog
Assassin - "The assassin is a master of dealing quick, lethal blows. Assassins often function as spies, informants, killers for hire, or agents of vengeance. Their skill in a variety of dark arts allows them to carry out missions of death with shocking, terrifying precision. Unlike the blackguard, the assassin is not evil due to devotion to an evil power, but rather due to a complete lack of morals or ethics."
Ok, except assassins are really just rogues that know fewer skills and have a few minor extra powers. I have played a character in Thay who took Assassin, it was that experience that showed me how "meh" the assassin is.
So let's assume I want to play an Assassin, I have to take a minimum of 5 levels of something else prior to it to get 8 ranks of Hide & MS. And for the sake of argument, let's assume they're all rogue levels because I think that's the standard path. Monks actually make AMAZING assassins... as least as long as they don't dilute their monk levels with levels in the Assassin class. Let's bask in that irony for a moment. Ok, done. Irony enjoyed.
Assassins get Use Poison, so first, let's talk poisons. I'd really, really like to hear how effective players think they are. I know poisons can be hideously expensive to purchase and use willy-nilly, but they at least they drop as treasure sometimes. If the consensus is that poisons just aren't too useful, then bumping up the power a smidge or how long a blade stays envenomed might make both assassins and blackguards more viable.
Now my rogue/assassin is progressing in levels. At level 3 assassin (8 total levels) I get Ghostly Visage, a 1/day spell that's... just barely ok for someone at 8th level and it will become progressively more useless as levels increase. I also get a poison save I'll discuss below, and... Uncanny Dodge I. Which would be great except I already got it at Rog3. In fact, if I keep progressing I can max out my Assassin levels and then what? Well, I go back to Rogue levels and find out that Uncanny Dodge 2 & 3 are also duplicated between Rogue and Assassin. THREE duplicated feats when feats are so valuable? Painful.
Like I said you also get a minor bonus to Poison saves. Ok, so at level 6 assassin (11 total levels) you'd have a +3 to poison saves. That's pretty minor, especially when you realize that a monk of 11th level just became completely immune to poisons.
What else do you get with Assassin? You get Death Attacks, which really are just very slightly improved Sneak Attacks. A Fortitude save or be paralyzed for a short time. And oh BTW "A death attack only triggers a paralysis save if the target is not engaged in combat". So if you're in a group it's really no better than a sneak attack, and if you're solo... better pray that the target is paralyzed b/c you can't stand toe-to-toe with much.
Beyond that, Darkness at level 5, Invisibility at level 7, Imp Invisibility at level 9. Those all might just seem barely ok, but now add in the 5 levels you had to take previously and rethink it. I just hit 10 total levels, I'm fighting some pretty tough stuff and I get DARKNESS? Holy crap that's useless. And oh BTW I'll probably have an invisibility item long before I get it as a class feat.
Having gone through all that I think I now hate the Assassin class more than ever. But as a bonus on top of all those not-so-great class features, by taking Assassin levels I'm losing 4 skill points per level over taking Rogue levels, but the skills list for assassin is almost as long as for rogue. Ouch. I say "No thank you, sir!"
How to fix Assassin? Tough call. The problem is that a true assassin generally works alone and relies on killing swiftly and silently. The assassin class really can't do that as it's designed.
Here are some ideas:
* Get rid of all Uncanny Dodges and replace them with Bonus Feats that allow Rogue feats to be taken including Uncanny Dodge.
* Better yet get rid of all Assassin feats and make them Bonus Feat choices instead.
* Create new assassin feats like
+ Expert Poisoner (all poisons used by the character are harder to save against).
+ Sniper (Any ranged attack by the character has a chance of being a Death Attack)
+ Throat-slitter (Death attack with a dagger does extra damage)
* Make Death Attack not quite so useless. Please.
+ Maybe consider the blade poisoned on any successful Death attack?
+ Harder fort saves?
+ Death Attacks follow the same rules as sneak attacks (i.e. They work even against foes in combat)?
+ Most scary/powerful: Give death attacks a chance of insta-kill based on Assassin level.
I think I'll try to tackle Shifter in the next couple days. I've always/never wanted to play a Shifter ;)
An alternative idea - rather than making Death Attack more powerful out of the box, add Assassin-specific feats that allow them to grow it in power OR just make it a sneak attack that the assassin feats build on.
Let me know if that's not clear :)
Ok, except assassins are really just rogues that know fewer skills and have a few minor extra powers. I have played a character in Thay who took Assassin, it was that experience that showed me how "meh" the assassin is.
So let's assume I want to play an Assassin, I have to take a minimum of 5 levels of something else prior to it to get 8 ranks of Hide & MS. And for the sake of argument, let's assume they're all rogue levels because I think that's the standard path. Monks actually make AMAZING assassins... as least as long as they don't dilute their monk levels with levels in the Assassin class. Let's bask in that irony for a moment. Ok, done. Irony enjoyed.
Assassins get Use Poison, so first, let's talk poisons. I'd really, really like to hear how effective players think they are. I know poisons can be hideously expensive to purchase and use willy-nilly, but they at least they drop as treasure sometimes. If the consensus is that poisons just aren't too useful, then bumping up the power a smidge or how long a blade stays envenomed might make both assassins and blackguards more viable.
Now my rogue/assassin is progressing in levels. At level 3 assassin (8 total levels) I get Ghostly Visage, a 1/day spell that's... just barely ok for someone at 8th level and it will become progressively more useless as levels increase. I also get a poison save I'll discuss below, and... Uncanny Dodge I. Which would be great except I already got it at Rog3. In fact, if I keep progressing I can max out my Assassin levels and then what? Well, I go back to Rogue levels and find out that Uncanny Dodge 2 & 3 are also duplicated between Rogue and Assassin. THREE duplicated feats when feats are so valuable? Painful.
Like I said you also get a minor bonus to Poison saves. Ok, so at level 6 assassin (11 total levels) you'd have a +3 to poison saves. That's pretty minor, especially when you realize that a monk of 11th level just became completely immune to poisons.
What else do you get with Assassin? You get Death Attacks, which really are just very slightly improved Sneak Attacks. A Fortitude save or be paralyzed for a short time. And oh BTW "A death attack only triggers a paralysis save if the target is not engaged in combat". So if you're in a group it's really no better than a sneak attack, and if you're solo... better pray that the target is paralyzed b/c you can't stand toe-to-toe with much.
Beyond that, Darkness at level 5, Invisibility at level 7, Imp Invisibility at level 9. Those all might just seem barely ok, but now add in the 5 levels you had to take previously and rethink it. I just hit 10 total levels, I'm fighting some pretty tough stuff and I get DARKNESS? Holy crap that's useless. And oh BTW I'll probably have an invisibility item long before I get it as a class feat.
Having gone through all that I think I now hate the Assassin class more than ever. But as a bonus on top of all those not-so-great class features, by taking Assassin levels I'm losing 4 skill points per level over taking Rogue levels, but the skills list for assassin is almost as long as for rogue. Ouch. I say "No thank you, sir!"
How to fix Assassin? Tough call. The problem is that a true assassin generally works alone and relies on killing swiftly and silently. The assassin class really can't do that as it's designed.
Here are some ideas:
* Get rid of all Uncanny Dodges and replace them with Bonus Feats that allow Rogue feats to be taken including Uncanny Dodge.
* Better yet get rid of all Assassin feats and make them Bonus Feat choices instead.
* Create new assassin feats like
+ Expert Poisoner (all poisons used by the character are harder to save against).
+ Sniper (Any ranged attack by the character has a chance of being a Death Attack)
+ Throat-slitter (Death attack with a dagger does extra damage)
* Make Death Attack not quite so useless. Please.
+ Maybe consider the blade poisoned on any successful Death attack?
+ Harder fort saves?
+ Death Attacks follow the same rules as sneak attacks (i.e. They work even against foes in combat)?
+ Most scary/powerful: Give death attacks a chance of insta-kill based on Assassin level.
I think I'll try to tackle Shifter in the next couple days. I've always/never wanted to play a Shifter ;)
An alternative idea - rather than making Death Attack more powerful out of the box, add Assassin-specific feats that allow them to grow it in power OR just make it a sneak attack that the assassin feats build on.
Let me know if that's not clear :)