Best Assassin Build

Amroth said:

Something that people can often miss with this build is the versatility of throwing in a level or two of monk... besides the good saves, a monk/rogue/assassin will get the monks iterative attacks every +4 BAB... more attacks mean more sneak attack dice, and you can flurry of blows

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Actually, they DON'T gain iterative attacks at the Monk's rate. Monk BAB stacks in a funny way with other classes, but the bottom line is that if you multiclass a Monk, you lose out on your unarmed attacks (even multi-classing with Fighter). Check the example in Oriental Adventures.

Still, a couple levels of Monk is VERY useful, and works perfectly for a ninja-feel. Hey, free shuriken proficiency.

Rekiem
Human
str 14
dex 18
con 12
int 18
wiz 12
cha 14

Lv1 rogue dogde mobilty 1d6 SA
Lv2 rogue Evasion
Lv3 Rogue Telling Blow 2d6 SA
Lv1 SwashBuckler Weapon Finesse
Lv2 Ranger Track
Lv3 Ranger Two-Weapon Fighting Spring Attack
Lv1 Assassin Death Attack 3d6 SA , Poison Use , Spells Lv1 (snipershot + DA)
Lv2 Assassin Uncanny Dogde
Lv3 Assassin Improve Two Weapon Fighting 4d6 SA , Spells Lv2
(Invisibility + wraithstrike combo recommended in a full attack round)
Lv4 Assassin at this point use two keen kukries for 15 -20 crit range
Lv5 Assassin 5d6 SA , Spells Lv3 , Improved Uncanny dogde
Lv6 Assassin Blind Fight
Lv7 Assassin 6d6 SA , Spells Lv4 ( at least Greater invisibilty )
Lv1 Telflammar Shadow Jump , Shadow sight ( let combat in deeper Darkness)
ShadowLord
Lv2 Telflammar Shadow Blur , Greater Two Weapon fighting
ShadowLord
Lv3 Telflammar
ShadowLord
Lv4 Telflammar Shadow Punce (the greater of your combos can make full attacks after
ShadowLord a teleportation spell or ability)
Lv2 Swashbuckler Grace +1, ability focus (death Attack)
Lv3 Swashbuckler Insightful strike (add your great inteligence to the damage)
Lv5 Telflammar / base +1 class level Shadow Discorporation / ???
ShadowLord

Now for level 21 i recommend the last Telflammar shadowlord level to stack the 6 levels with the 7 levels of assassin for the Dc of you Death attack.
Put all your efforts in upgrade your INT and secondary your DEX
BAse attack 15 if you take the death attack way or BA 16 if you prefer one more attack

Pros : The combo of numerous attacks ( Six attacks if Death attack Way or Seven with any other plus one from a good boot of haste) So lots of attack great chances of score crits with a keen kukries and with the combos for flat flooting you can make devastating damage with Sneak attacks and crits + TElling Blow feat.

Pros : Good Dc for spells , Death Attack and more Hp than a normal Rogue / Assassin build
Pros : and a skillful Character plus Track Feat and some survival options You are the Bounty Hunter

Pros : now assassin can be neutral so get fun in a normal party you charcater can do all cast spells... kill with quickness and lethalness... infiltrate... and track you do all except tanking and healing =D

Cons : Terrible Will Base bonus this is your principal weak point so the strategy i use is always be sneaky and try to devaste the supossed enem caster i ask my cleric for protection from alignment yo evade severals mind affecting attacks

Cons : some may think that i have few dice of Sneak Attack (SA) but it compesates largely with the quantity of attacks... the resources telflammar and assassin spells give me for flat footing and obvioslu the Telling Blow Feat with keen kukries by the way A crti Score to a flat footed character stack the sneak attack and another Dosis of sneak attack thanks the Tellling blow feat so start calculating the masive damage and damage per round

You know the tactics and now you know the way for a perfect Assassin maybe are better builds i am sure but this one guarantice Lots of fun and Deadly combat all will fear you. (even the Tank of your team)

Take care all

WIth Love for Rol

Zahk

A friend of mine came up with a pretty good build that he never played, it went Ranger->Paladin->Assassin->Blackguard at 11th level. I'd have to dig up the stats to see the specifics.

Trine said:

How would you qualify for the Assassin or Blackguard PrC's with only a single level of Paladin? (In that list, Paladin is the only class that can be taken at level 1.)

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Still trying to figure that one out myself. All of the ASN prereqs are crossclassed for pallys.

I've always been partial to the Monk/Rogue/Assassin, myself.

Always loved the Lawful Evil hitman image, and yeah.. being able to Death Attack with your bare hands is just beautiful. Particularly if you've got any decent ability with disguise.

Ho-hum, just a simple, innocuous, unarmed peasant or other social invisible. Walk by. Snap. Vanish.

silvertable81 said:

Assassin9/ex=Paladin1/ Blackguard 10

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You mean this friend?

Green Dragon Shaman 7/ Assassin 8/ Dragon Disciple 5 would be interesting. It is a build that yields you a lot of HP, (D10 for Dragon Shaman, D12 for DD), w/o a lot of overlap in abilities.


1) Water breathing as an EX

2)Draconic Aura, Touch of Vitality, 3d6 Breath Weapon from Dragon Shaman usable 1d4 rounds.

3) Hide in Plain sight , Improved Uncanny Dodge, Sneak Attack 4d6, Death Attack, Posion Use, Spontaneous Spells from the nifty Assassin Spell List.

4)+4 Natural Armor increase,(+1 from Dragon Shaman, +3 from DD), +4 STR Bonus, Blindsense, and a once per day Breath weapon for 2d8 damage. Claw/Claw/Bite Routine.

Another option if you have access to Dragon Magic would be to replace some of the Dragon Disciple and/or Assassin levels with the Hand of the Winged Master PrC levels. 5 levels in that PrC will get you d8 HPs and an extra 2d6 Sneak Attack.

A Draconic Assassin seems like it would be a fun character to play.

I would think a Ninja would be a better base class than Rogue if you are worrying about assassinating someone. If you just want to do Sneak Attack damage in melee, then a Rogue is better, but I don't consider that an "assassin".

Someone that can poison their target's food is how I picture an assassin. Someone who sneaks into a targets home and kills them in their sleep. Someone who "snipes" and takes out their target in one hit (a la Death Attack). All of these a Ninja/Assassin I think can do better than a Rogue/Assassin. MHO

Just want to Note: I am not even a big fan of the Ninja as written, because they seem like a solo class to me, with a specific purpose in mind (sneaking into someone's home and killing them for example) as highlighted above. Something that isn't very common in a party-based campaign, or a non-urban based one.

rekiem_deos,

You have a very admirable post-count/post-necromancy ratio at the moment. Welcome to the boards.

And this thread nearly 4 years dead...

Felix said:

rekiem_deos,

You have a very admirable post-count/post-necromancy ratio at the moment. Welcome to the boards.

And this thread nearly 4 years dead...

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I'm sure Complete Scoundrel can provide some newfound insight into what would be considered the "best" assassin build. Can anyone here lend some suggestions from this source?


Being that I do not have access to this book, I can only offer up what I consider to be the quintessential Assassin build without it:

Rog 3/Ftr 2/Assassin 9/Telflammar Shadowlord 6

This build focuses entirely on the Death Attack ability, evensofaras to include the Ability focus: Death Attack feat and utilizing Assassin Daggers. Int>Dex>Con>Cha>Str>Wis

Either way...just my 2 cp