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Look Very Carefully: The Shroud Assassin's Handbook (by erachima)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nibelung" data-source="post: 6711914" data-attributes="member: 74499"><p><strong>Originally posted by erachima:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Visualize the Kill: The Underpinnings of Assassination</strong></span></p><p>The Assassin class has four class features, three of which can be switched out for alternate versions and none of which are even remotely internally balanced. In keeping with its title, this guide will ignore the ability to trade Assassin's Shroud for Attack Finesse.</p><p></p><p>Short Version: select <strong>Assassin's Shroud</strong>, <strong>Night Stalker</strong>, and <strong>Black Flame Form</strong>.</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Assassin's Shroud</strong></span></p><p>Assassin's Shroud represents the Assassin's mystical ability to analyze the best way to attack a target. They are the Assassin's core damage feature, and the biggest thing which people have cried endlessly to fix about the class. Understanding <em>exactly</em> how this unique and oddly worded feature functions is necessary if you intend to build an Assassin that won't disappoint you.</p><p>"If you invoke your shrouds, the attack deals 1d6 damage per shroud, minus one shroud if the attack misses, and all your shrouds then vanish from the target. This damage roll never benefits from bonuses to damage rolls, and is in addition to the attack’s damage, if any."</p><p>There are five things to note in these two sentences.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>"the attack deals 1d6 damage"</strong>. The attack, not the shrouds, deal the damage. This is important for two reasons. First, modifications to the attack will affect the shrouds. Second, it proves that Assassin's Shroud is not itself an attack power according to the definition in the rules compendium, which would get in the way of any other free action attacks you picked up.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>"and all your shrouds then vanish from the target"</strong>. The shrouds do not vanish from the target until after the damage is dealt. This is important for certain timing interactions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>"This damage roll"</strong>. Shrouds are explicitly their own damage rolls, and therefore their own instance of dealing damage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>"never benefits from bonuses to damage rolls"</strong>. Alright, that means we can't add anything to our shroud damage, right? Wrong. It means we cannot add "bonuses to damage rolls" to it. This is huge, because it means shrouds are free to be increased by extra damage, vulnerabilities, critical hit damage bonuses, and all the miscellaneous dregs of the system that are not "bonuses to damage rolls". In short, if a source of damage benefits brutal barrage, it generally benefits a shroud roll.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It is clear that you recieve at least one additional damage instance. It is unclear whether each shroud is its own damage roll or if the shrouds together are a damage roll. <strong>Expect table variation on this.</strong> (My personal advice to DMs? Let it be per shroud, because otherwise you're removing all incentive to stack them and essentially castrating your poor stealth Assassin who took Hidden Insight and persuaded the entire party to hold back for three rounds so he could build up. The occasional one-shotted monster with preptime from a character named "Assassin" is a good thing.)</li> </ul><p>This realization will form the core of the Assassin's DPR optimization. If your DM rules that each shroud is a roll, it with also make you an excellent critfisher and nova character, but I won't aim my general advice towards that idea.</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Shadow Step</strong></span></p><p>Shadow Step allows the Assassin to walk unseen paths from one place to the next, teleporting at-will as a move action. It's quite tactically useful and opens a couple of damage options at higher levels. They haven't invented a thing to screw yourself over by trading it for yet, so that's all I need to say here.</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Guild Training</strong></span></p><p>There are three guilds that teach the way of the Assassin, each of whose insights will grant you a benefit. Unfortunately, only one of the three guilds is competent.</p><p>The <strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Night Stalker Guild</span></strong> teaches Assassins that fear and deception are key tools in the Assassin's arsenal, but more importantly, that dealing damage is a good thing. This guild gives a +CHA bonus to damage rolls against isolated foes, and should be the choice of all standard Assassin builds, due to giving a large and continuously valuable benefit from chargen to retirement.</p><p>The <strong>Bleak Disciple Guild</strong> teaches Assassins that the key to successful assassinations is gaining small amounts of THP each round. This goes about as well as one would expect. While <span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>worthless</strong></span> in heroic, this guild is <strong>black</strong> rather than <span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>red</strong></span> overall because there are feat, item, and paragon path options that can allow the Assassin to deal +CON damage all the time, at which point you've achieved close parity to Night Stalker, and the guild rider effect simply becomes a minor freebie to help offset your lousy HP.</p><p>The <span style="color: #993366"><strong>Executioner's Guild</strong></span> teaches Assassins to channel all their energy into a single devastating strike in each battle, rather than learning more varied shadow magic. This build has the opposite progression of the Bleak Disciples, being <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">reasonably powerful</span></strong> in heroic tier due to the fact that Assassins Strike's extra damage is doubled by application to the shroud roll, but becomes a <strong><span style="color: #ff0000">c</span></strong><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>omplete trap option</strong></span> at level 13, when you gain a single encounter power that does more damage than Assassin's Strike all by itself.</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Assassin's Forms</strong></span></p><p>The last, and flashiest, of the Assassin's class features is the ability to manifest an otherworldly form once per encounter. As with the guilds, there is a clear default option.</p><p>Assuming the <strong><span style="color: #ff9900">Black Flame Form</span></strong> enshrouds the Assassin in the black flames of death, blunting attacks directed at them and harming all who attempt to touch them. This form would already have the edge on a striker due to granting a free use of Assassin's Shroud as a minor action, but there's a trick to it: the sustain line's wording, "The form persists until the end of your next turn." is phrased such that it overrides the form's ending clause, meaning that for an Assassin with the patience to not attack between triggering the form and their next turn, the Black Flame Form can be maintained indefinitely at the cost of a minor action each round.</p><p>Assuming the <strong>Shade Form</strong> allows an Assassin to "step back" from the material plane, becoming difficult to harm or notice. It has strong utility for characters who wish to be stealthy, and gives the otherwise unattainable ability to hide in the shadow of another creature, but it cannot match the incredible power of the black flame.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nibelung, post: 6711914, member: 74499"] [b]Originally posted by erachima:[/b] [CENTER][Size=4][b]Visualize the Kill: The Underpinnings of Assassination[/b][/size][/CENTER] The Assassin class has four class features, three of which can be switched out for alternate versions and none of which are even remotely internally balanced. In keeping with its title, this guide will ignore the ability to trade Assassin's Shroud for Attack Finesse. Short Version: select [b]Assassin's Shroud[/b], [b]Night Stalker[/b], and [b]Black Flame Form[/b]. [Size=3][b]Assassin's Shroud[/b][/size] Assassin's Shroud represents the Assassin's mystical ability to analyze the best way to attack a target. They are the Assassin's core damage feature, and the biggest thing which people have cried endlessly to fix about the class. Understanding [i]exactly[/i] how this unique and oddly worded feature functions is necessary if you intend to build an Assassin that won't disappoint you. "If you invoke your shrouds, the attack deals 1d6 damage per shroud, minus one shroud if the attack misses, and all your shrouds then vanish from the target. This damage roll never benefits from bonuses to damage rolls, and is in addition to the attack’s damage, if any." There are five things to note in these two sentences. [LIST][*][b]"the attack deals 1d6 damage"[/b]. The attack, not the shrouds, deal the damage. This is important for two reasons. First, modifications to the attack will affect the shrouds. Second, it proves that Assassin's Shroud is not itself an attack power according to the definition in the rules compendium, which would get in the way of any other free action attacks you picked up. [*][b]"and all your shrouds then vanish from the target"[/b]. The shrouds do not vanish from the target until after the damage is dealt. This is important for certain timing interactions. [*][b]"This damage roll"[/b]. Shrouds are explicitly their own damage rolls, and therefore their own instance of dealing damage. [*][b]"never benefits from bonuses to damage rolls"[/b]. Alright, that means we can't add anything to our shroud damage, right? Wrong. It means we cannot add "bonuses to damage rolls" to it. This is huge, because it means shrouds are free to be increased by extra damage, vulnerabilities, critical hit damage bonuses, and all the miscellaneous dregs of the system that are not "bonuses to damage rolls". In short, if a source of damage benefits brutal barrage, it generally benefits a shroud roll. [*]It is clear that you recieve at least one additional damage instance. It is unclear whether each shroud is its own damage roll or if the shrouds together are a damage roll. [b]Expect table variation on this.[/b] (My personal advice to DMs? Let it be per shroud, because otherwise you're removing all incentive to stack them and essentially castrating your poor stealth Assassin who took Hidden Insight and persuaded the entire party to hold back for three rounds so he could build up. The occasional one-shotted monster with preptime from a character named "Assassin" is a good thing.) [/LIST] This realization will form the core of the Assassin's DPR optimization. If your DM rules that each shroud is a roll, it with also make you an excellent critfisher and nova character, but I won't aim my general advice towards that idea. [Size=3][b]Shadow Step[/b][/size] Shadow Step allows the Assassin to walk unseen paths from one place to the next, teleporting at-will as a move action. It's quite tactically useful and opens a couple of damage options at higher levels. They haven't invented a thing to screw yourself over by trading it for yet, so that's all I need to say here. [Size=3][b]Guild Training[/b][/size] There are three guilds that teach the way of the Assassin, each of whose insights will grant you a benefit. Unfortunately, only one of the three guilds is competent. The [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Night Stalker Guild[/COLOR][/b] teaches Assassins that fear and deception are key tools in the Assassin's arsenal, but more importantly, that dealing damage is a good thing. This guild gives a +CHA bonus to damage rolls against isolated foes, and should be the choice of all standard Assassin builds, due to giving a large and continuously valuable benefit from chargen to retirement. The [b]Bleak Disciple Guild[/b] teaches Assassins that the key to successful assassinations is gaining small amounts of THP each round. This goes about as well as one would expect. While [COLOR=#ff0000][b]worthless[/b][/COLOR] in heroic, this guild is [b]black[/b] rather than [COLOR=#ff0000][b]red[/b][/COLOR] overall because there are feat, item, and paragon path options that can allow the Assassin to deal +CON damage all the time, at which point you've achieved close parity to Night Stalker, and the guild rider effect simply becomes a minor freebie to help offset your lousy HP. The [COLOR=#993366][b]Executioner's Guild[/b][/COLOR] teaches Assassins to channel all their energy into a single devastating strike in each battle, rather than learning more varied shadow magic. This build has the opposite progression of the Bleak Disciples, being [b][COLOR=#0000ff]reasonably powerful[/COLOR][/b] in heroic tier due to the fact that Assassins Strike's extra damage is doubled by application to the shroud roll, but becomes a [b][COLOR=#ff0000]c[/COLOR][/b][COLOR=#ff0000][b]omplete trap option[/b][/COLOR] at level 13, when you gain a single encounter power that does more damage than Assassin's Strike all by itself. [Size=3][b]Assassin's Forms[/b][/size] The last, and flashiest, of the Assassin's class features is the ability to manifest an otherworldly form once per encounter. As with the guilds, there is a clear default option. Assuming the [b][COLOR=#ff9900]Black Flame Form[/COLOR][/b] enshrouds the Assassin in the black flames of death, blunting attacks directed at them and harming all who attempt to touch them. This form would already have the edge on a striker due to granting a free use of Assassin's Shroud as a minor action, but there's a trick to it: the sustain line's wording, "The form persists until the end of your next turn." is phrased such that it overrides the form's ending clause, meaning that for an Assassin with the patience to not attack between triggering the form and their next turn, the Black Flame Form can be maintained indefinitely at the cost of a minor action each round. Assuming the [b]Shade Form[/b] allows an Assassin to "step back" from the material plane, becoming difficult to harm or notice. It has strong utility for characters who wish to be stealthy, and gives the otherwise unattainable ability to hide in the shadow of another creature, but it cannot match the incredible power of the black flame. [/QUOTE]
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Look Very Carefully: The Shroud Assassin's Handbook (by erachima)
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