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Although I haven't played one yet, I've seen a few in play and they're not that impressive. After a few levels and some feats, a revenant githzerei assassin could be pretty awesome, but for the most part, they're a bit of a gimmicky wannabe rogue without the damage potential.
When I first saw the Assassin I just wanted to make a Rogue / Assassin Hybrid. I wonder if there are any plans for this, or if it is going to be intentionally omitted?
We have just had one join our 4e Eberron game. He's a native of Sharn (and was actualyl a rogue, until the player found that he didnt like the rogue that much because of all his damage extras were too conditional)
So far I havnt seen much combat with him in the group, but when I do I will keep you informed.
I, personally, have not though a PC in the party is one.
She (the PC) moves around the battlefield doing big damage. However, she is a paper doll and goes down quickly (she has fewer hit points and surges than pretty much everyone else in the party). Add in the fact that our party has very few melee combatants, so the assassin in our group finds herself targetted/surrounded fairly often.
Skills wise (at least the particular skills she has chosen) she doesn't have too much variety, so she is often trying to figure out how to use the skills she does have when it comes to a skills challenge that doesn't involve "stealth"
She's only gotten to level 3 so far, so I don't know what she'll be like further up.
It's been fun to watch her in action, and the player seems to enjoy it as well.
(Obviously, your experience may vary).
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I've been playing one for the last couple of sessions. 12th level human Night Stalker Soul Hunter.
It's pretty keen. You've got pretty much everything you need to get anywhere you need to be on the battlefield and attack and stay Hidden meaning you're going to be very very hard to hit.
I don't know what the other builds do, but I pick an enemy and that dude will not get into combat with everyone else. I can pull him toward me, immobilize him, slow him, or otherwise strongly encourage him to stay away from his brothers. All the while beating the crap out of him.
I do pretty substantial damage but not on the order of a Barbarian. I'm typically doing 2d8+2d6+11.
We did a Halloween level 5 adventure with characters the DM made, consisting of mostly classes that were new (to the party). This meant we had a monk, an assassin, a psion, a swordmage, a warden, a hybrid cleric/paladin and an artificer. The situations weren't ideal (the first fight started with the group tied up and waking up from the effect of a poison, the second fight was a swarm of minions) however the first fight did give the assassin an opportunity to shine.
The fight was inside a tavern, so a lot of the terrain was blocked by tables and chairs. This meant none of the melee guys were able to get to the boss (coupled with the fact that they had to get untied, on their feat and get their weapons). The assassin was dropping shards on the boss while teleporting around to get the weapons, before finally going insubstatial, getting next to the boss, and unleashing 4 shrouds at once with a daily attack, followed by an action point into anothe attack and finished the boss off in a single turn (the boss had only recieved a bit of damage earlier from a ranged attack). It's an interesting class, but it requires group cooperation to make maximum use out of him. You don't want to waste the shrouds by killing his target ... but at the same time, you don't want the party to suffer because no one is attacking an enemy just because the assassin "called it".
It does do okay damage, but one of it's big benefits is really in the mobility department. It's a bit like a fey warlock I guess, in terms of the teleporting, but you have better control and depending on power selection you can have a mix of melee and ranged attacks. I'd say mix feylock with avenger and you get a bit of an idea of what the assassin is like.
Edit:
Re: Davachido's question
The assassin is the first DDi exclusive class. At the moment, there is no intention for assassin stuff to show up in any of the books.
Our group has a hunch that the Assassin class will show up in the Dark Sun book, like the Artificer for Eberron and the Swordmage for FR.
One of my PCs has been playing a level 9 changeling assassin for the last couple sessions since his wizard died. He mostly focuses on stealth and invisibility, meaning for several rounds early in the combat he's invisible and has a ridiculously high stealth check that most monster's active perception checks would have a tough time beating, much less their passives.
Once he's out of invisibility-granting powers, he gets a bit more fragile, though his teleport at-will gets him out of trouble pretty easily(like last session when he teleported out of a brute's grab).
As mentioned before, his damage can't compare to that of the group's barbarian, but the assassin is a bit more versatile and can pretty much pick which ever target he wants and get to it whenever he wants. Changeling doesn't do too much for him mechanically (no racial assassin feats - heck, only 1 heroic racial feat period), but when you mix in the non-combat role-playing/stealth/infiltration aspects, it's tough to beat.
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None of the above. They've stated that there will be no new class in Dark Sun, but there will be some interesting new mechanics. I would assume that they're talking unique options like the Forgotten Realms Spellplague stuff.
So basically this class runs around inflicting while not being exposed to attack himself? Sounds like it has major "get old real quick" potential. It would have to be really well-executed.
We have an assassin in our "optimized" mini/maxed group and he's the scariest of them all. He goes around one shotting artillery type monster at level 1, putting shroud on elite monster if there is one instead. His teleport at-will means he will never remains grabbed, or even immobilized if any character is next to him. His biggest hit was around 50 something at level 2 against a level 4 elite brute, putting him from just bloodied to dead in a single turn.
His ki-focus as implement is kinda confusing so we stayed with melee power only. Where he becomes a big damage dealer is when you combine a greatsword with shroud, secondary stat bonus to damage and an at-will that has a damage bonus in itself. We are talking 1d10+1d6+5+3+number of adjacent creature (at least you) for a 1st level at will with no magic weapon.
Sure he does have lower hp than the rest of the striker, but often the target will be dead before they know what hit them.
A glass cannon if we ever saw one, but an invisible glass cannon with insubstantial.
So basically this class runs around inflicting while not being exposed to attack himself? Sounds like it has major "get old real quick" potential. It would have to be really well-executed.
That only lasts for as many encounter powers you have that do it. Once you're out of encounter powers, it's a bit harder to avoid damage, but you can still always teleport behind a nearby ally...
__________________ Robots, assassins, hobgoblins, the Ashen Tower, polite beholders, land pirates, gnome genocide, the Corpse Ramp, artifacts, exploding zombie dragons, flying islands, dying heroes, blood feuds, vanished races, the Black City: Rise of Felskein.
This thread kind of disappoints me. I am working on an assassin to bring in if my current PC dies, and I thought they looked pretty good. He would be the closest I could get to my old dagger throwing 3.5 rogue, and the mechanics (hide and throw, move, hide and throw) seemed spot on.
The thing I liked most about their power selection is the availability of so many concealing/invisibility powers every time they gain a new utility power. They really look like they could be great Lurkers. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it performs in an actual game to make my judgement, but this kind of took the wind out of my sails a bit.
This thread kind of disappoints me. I am working on an assassin to bring in if my current PC dies, and I thought they looked pretty good. He would be the closest I could get to my old dagger throwing 3.5 rogue, and the mechanics (hide and throw, move, hide and throw) seemed spot on.
The thing I liked most about their power selection is the availability of so many concealing/invisibility powers every time they gain a new utility power. They really look like they could be great Lurkers. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it performs in an actual game to make my judgement, but this kind of took the wind out of my sails a bit.
The problem with this is that the assassin partly relies on large weapons for their damage since shrouds are slow to stack and often either get wasted by a miss, overkill or from other PC's who are focus-firing the mob and kill it before you can invoke your shrouds.
I'd try a rogue for the build you want and use Distant Advantage in combination with Fleeting Ghost. You could perhaps multi into assassin for some invisibility powers but I think you'll find that a ranged dagger rogue works quite well using the standard stealth/cover rules and Deft Strike.
im playing one this weekend. im thinking focusing on minions when my shrouds are not stacked yet and out of encounters. because our party has hardly any aoe.
This thread kind of disappoints me. I am working on an assassin to bring in if my current PC dies, and I thought they looked pretty good. He would be the closest I could get to my old dagger throwing 3.5 rogue, and the mechanics (hide and throw, move, hide and throw) seemed spot on.
The thing I liked most about their power selection is the availability of so many concealing/invisibility powers every time they gain a new utility power. They really look like they could be great Lurkers. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it performs in an actual game to make my judgement, but this kind of took the wind out of my sails a bit.
Jay
As I posted earlier, I've been playing one for a little while now and it's a blast. Has anyone in this thread said "I played one and it sucked?"
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