Assassins Evil?

[Diamond Cross]

Why should an assassin be required to have an evil alignment?

It seems to me that their motivations would be varied from individual to individual. And here's an example.

A sniper could be considered a modern day assassin because they are sent to kill a specific human target from long range.

However, to my knowledge, snipers are not drafted to be one, they often volunteer for the job, often out of a sense of patriotism.

And is that not a good thing?

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Characters with the assassin class kill people for money (i.e. their motivation is money).

Characters who kill people for other reasons have different classes.

 

[Crothian]

The problem is you are confusing the profession with the class. An assassin class is evil by definition of the class, but niot everyone in a gaming world that is an assassin by trade will be an assassin class.

 

[OSEZNO]

If it makes you feel any better, the 4E assassin isn't inherently evil, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Snipers are that little bit more evil than conventional soldiers. Because of the surprise element, the personal nature of picking out a single target (it's quite possible a sniper could see his victim's face before he pulls the trigger) and because their job is specifically to kill rather than, say, to destroy vehicles or buildings.

 

[billd91]

A sniper could be considered a modern day assassin because they are sent to kill a specific human target from long range.

However, to my knowledge, snipers are not drafted to be one, they often volunteer for the job, often out of a sense of patriotism.

And is that not a good thing?

You might not want to really get into sniper ethics. Snipers on the other side of the conflict are usually reviled and probably executed upon capture. And that's just the snipers local to a hot battlefield where you can expect death to be whipping around with no notice. Add in the psychological effects snipers have during insurgencies, counter-insurgencies, guerrilla warfare, and other forms of asymmetrical conflict and the line blurs between soldier and assassin.
Is that not a good thing? Not in an unqualified sense, no.

 

[barrowwight]

Snipers are that little bit more evil than conventional soldiers. Because of the surprise element, the personal nature of picking out a single target (it's quite possible a sniper could see his victim's face before he pulls the trigger) and because their job is specifically to kill rather than, say, to destroy vehicles or buildings.

So am I reading this correctly? Conventional soldiers are evil but snipers are more evil?

 

[Doug McCrae]

So am I reading this correctly? Conventional soldiers are evil but snipers are more evil?

Or 'less good' if that works better for you. It's all relative. Let's say a conventional soldier is doubleplus good, then a sniper would be merely plus good, ie a little less good. Or more evil, depending on how you look at it.

 

[Herobizkit]

Killing in general is BadWrong, no matter the reason. In a game world where Good and Evil exist in a real, palpable sense, Assassins are Evil, people who kill PEOPLE are Evil, and people who kill monsters who are Evil are not necessarily Evil.

 

[ppaladin123]

The problem is you are confusing the profession with the class. An assassin class is evil by definition of the class, but niot everyone in a gaming world that is an assassin by trade will be an assassin class.

Well yes, but look at the class features of the assassin class. You get a spell list filled with deception enhancing magic, you get skill in poison use, and you can make special particularly lethal attacks. What about any of those abilities is inherently "evil?" Dimension door? Why does a character need to be evil to gain access to those abilities? The special requirement (kill someone for the sole purpose of joining the assassin's guild) seems like a completely unnecessary tack-on and is about the only thing that is evil about the class. It's just flavor, and considering that dread necromancers (of all things) can be neutral, it isn't even particularly internally consistent or good flavor.