Assassins as a Heroic Archetype?

[JoeGKushner]

Depending on your definition, the assassin is not only an archtype for D&D but is one for fantasy fiction as well.

Some of those mentioned in this thread and others.

Night Angel Triology

Farseer Trilogy

Vlad Taltos series

Paul S. Kemp did the Everis Cale and Twilight War series. While I would disagree that Cale himself is in the true assassin archtype, his ally, Riven, seems to fit the mold better.
eidt: As I noted in my blog, over here, you can get the first book in PDF free from the Wizard's site.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/TwilightFalling.pdf

As others have mentioned, the old Duelist, in this case from Dragon for 1st ed back in the day, also acted as an up front assassin and Warhammer also has a career for this where the character's goal is to stir up trouble and finish off the opposing target.

Depending on the feel, assassin's in D&D have long been associated with poison and stealth. The one hit kill isn't just an assassin trip though as recon and other teams based on stealth all need to be able to kill quickly and quitely.

4e doesn't necessarily handle things that way though. There is no % change to auto-kill an enemy. Poison can be a bit more fierce than it was mind you but then comes the 'evil' association. Stabbing someone in the neck with a greatsword? No problem. Poisoning them? You bad man you.

If D&D were another type of game, the assassin class might not be as viable as it is. The game can call for as much or as little stealth as the GM wishes to put into it. Whole parties can be formed of assassins and thieves with abilities that compliment each other.

At the end of the day, the important thing is how well does the character not only interact with the party as filling a role, but how well the character fits into the party on a role playing basis. This is just as true of 'good' characters however. Many is the time I've seen players who would try to convert others to the ways of their god when playing a LG paladin or cleric and threaten to refuse them healing in the midsts of battle. Those types of characters were immediately told afterward that they were not welcome in the group and the player wound up having to make another character as I wasn't going to GM four people here and the other player on the side.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

the steven erikson series, the malazan book of the fallen, features a member of the assassin's guild.

Kalam Mekhar is absolutely heroic! Plus Sorry/Apsalar, possessed by a once-assassin god Cotillion, she kept most of the assassin skills the god used while controlling her. Then there is Crokus, the you man who fell in love with Sorry/Apsalar and learned her talents while taking her across the world so she could get home.

 

[drothgery]

We are on page 4 and no one has mentioned Vlad Taltos of Stephen Brust's Jhereg series.

4e Vlad's a Rogue with the Ritual Caster feat who MC'd into an Arcane class just to get a familiar. Also, until the later books, is mostly a mercenary type, and is explicitly a criminal.

 

[Inyssius]

Also, until the later books, is mostly a mercenary type,

But is still a nice guy. Kinda heroic. Does the right thing, or at least some rough approximation of it. He en't always paladin good, but he's not Jayne Cobb.

and is explicitly a criminal.

So? Everyoneon this list (that I recognize, at least) is explicitly a criminal in at least one nation. He's a mob boss, yeah, but a fairly benevolent one (if I recall).

 

[Saracenus]

4e Vlad's a Rogue with the Ritual Caster feat who MC'd into an Arcane class just to get a familiar. Also, until the later books, is mostly a mercenary type, and is explicitly a criminal.

Um, his job is killing people for money (at least in the beginning of the series). He is (was) an assassin, period. How you want to build him in D&D isn't the issue, its what he is... a heroic assassin. Don't confuse mechanics with role.

 

[Krensky]

Or you can look at The Hand from the FC Iconics.

Full of rage and hatred for evil, sort of Rorschach meets Altair.

Speaking of which, Altair from Assassin's Creed, although I'm sure someone mentioned him.

 

[Dross]

Waylander from David Gemmell's Drenai novels became an assassin while seeking revenge on his family's killers.

He then turns to the light* and uses such skills to kill the bad guys.



*Infected with goodness might be a better phrase though.

 

[Derren]

A assassin can be good. Just think about it, what is more "good". Starting a war against an evil king, killing thousands of drafted soldiers on the battlefield and then besieging the castle and killing everyone in it or to send an assassin to kill the king an spare everyone who lives under his reign?

Problem with the assassin is that he doesn't mesh with 4Es play style (Skill challenges where everyone must participate, several encounters a day without resting, etc.)
A typical assassin avoids encounters when going after his target, not storm in mindlessly and hack everything apart like every other 4E class. But that is exactly what he must do as according to 4Es design it is bad when a single character gets the spotlight and is able to do something without the others (skill challenges). Not to mention that killing a non trivial enemy quickly is not possible in 4E.
So I don't think that an assassin will work in 4E. It will only be an assassin by name, not by ability.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

A assassin can be good. Just think about it, what is more "good". Starting a war against an evil king, killing thousands of drafted soldiers on the battlefield and then besieging the castle and killing everyone in it or to send an assassin to kill the king an spare everyone who lives under his reign?

Problem with the assassin is that he doesn't mesh with 4Es play style (Skill challenges where everyone must participate, several encounters a day without resting, etc.)
A typical assassin avoids encounters when going after his target, not storm in mindlessly and hack everything apart like every other 4E class. But that is exactly what he must do as according to 4Es design it is bad when a single character gets the spotlight and is able to do something without the others (skill challenges). Not to mention that killing a non trivial enemy quickly is not possible in 4E.
So I don't think that an assassin will work in 4E. It will only be an assassin by name, not by ability.

This is the point I was trying to get across (badly).

 

[Desdichado]

See, I tend to not have anything to do with heroic games. That said, heroic is a broader term than you imply. The stories of Greek heroes were as often cautionary tales about what not to do as they were exemplars of what was correct behavior. They were heroes because they did things that regular people couldn't do. It's a modern idea, the concept of heroes being regular people doing things that maybe other people wouldn't do; back in the day, heroes did superhuman things. But they weren't necessarily heroic in a modern sense.

Much of the old sword & sorcery literature that D&D is based on followed a similar routine. Conan, for example, was a thief, an assasin, a pirate... he wasn't exactly "heroic" and yet he's a hero in another sense just fine.