D&D 5E "Fixing" assassinate.

[NotAYakk]

So the Rogue assassin level 3 feature has some issues. The biggest of which is that the best use of it is in a non-rogues hands, like a Gloomstalker/Paladin.

But another important issue is that it relies in a lot of DM and Party cooperation in getting surprise.

Here is a go at it:
Assassinate (Enhancement)
As a bonus action you can plan a telling blow on a target who isn't hidden from you. Roll 1d20 and keep it as your assassination die on that target for 1 minute. You can use the value of this assassination die to replace an attack roll on the target, and then it is expended. At the start of each of your turns you may increase the value of the assassination die by 1, to a maximium of 20. If you use this bonus action again you can choose to keep the old assassination die and target, or use the new roll and target. If you are hidden from the target or the target is unaware you are hostile to them, roll twice and keep the better result. At 9th level you instead increase your assassination die by up to 1d4 at the start of your turn, at 13th by up to 1d6, and at 17th up to 1d8.

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The bonus action gives you another chance to land your on-turn sneak attack (competing with a bonus action off-hand weapon attack or similar). It also grants another chance at criting if you are lucky.

If you don't spend it, it inflates. A 19 on it means next turn you can guarantee a crit on it. Which is pretty nice.

Starting at higher levels, it starts growing faster than 1 per turn. This encourages investment in more levels of Rogue.

Against mooks, it acts as a 2nd chance to hit or crit (because the mook drops). Against bigger foes that last more rounds, it can scale slightly better.

The anticipation it gives should be fun. "Oh, I got a 19, next turn this guy is SO DEAD".

There are a few mini-games involved. You can attack before or after you do assassination plan on a turn; if you do it before, you have another chance to drop a 20. If you do it after and it was a hit, it is a backup chance to hit, and you can refresh the die afterwards (for a next turn extra die).

Against a foe you don't want to be exposed to, you can action-hide, bonus action plan the assassination (with advantage), and next turn drop a "super-quad-advantage" attack on it.

Out of combat, you can start a plan to drop someone (repeatedly rolling 2d20), and start a fight with an auto-hit, or an auto-crit (even if they aren't surprised).

Is it too strong?

 

[ad_hoc]

The main benefit of the Assassinate feature is to gain Advantage when winning Initiative.

The auto crit is a small side benefit for fun for when the Rogue would already have Advantage from Hiding successfully before a battle and also winning Initiative. This is important to have as having double advantage doesn't do anything.

Focusing on the auto crit is the error.

 

[Krachek]

Look to complicated for 5ed.
Add simply some extra dice to the sneak attack for the first round of of a combat.

 

[Charlaquin]

The main benefit of the Assassinate feature is to gain Advantage when winning Initiative.

The auto crit is a small side benefit for fun for when the Rogue would already have Advantage from Hiding successfully before a battle and also winning Initiative. This is important to have as having double advantage doesn't do anything.

Focusing on the auto crit is the error.

I agree with this assessment, but the problem is that having advantage against creatures that haven’t acted yet in the first round of combat feels like a really weak benefit compared to being able to Use an Object as a bonus action, having an invisible mage hand you can command with a bonus action, being able to Help from 30 feet away as a bonus action, or adding Charisma to Initiative and not provoking opportunity attacks from creatures you hit.

 

[ad_hoc]

I agree with this assessment, but the problem is that having advantage against creatures that haven’t acted yet in the first round of combat feels like a really weak benefit compared to being able to Use an Object as a bonus action, having an invisible mage hand you can command with a bonus action, being able to Help from 30 feet away as a bonus action, or adding Charisma to Initiative and not provoking opportunity attacks from creatures you hit.

Thief - I think Second Story Work is quite good. Use and Object as a Bonus Action is situational but can open up options in situations. This becomes quite powerful if the DM determines that some items when used as a weapon attack still count as the Use an Object Action. I don't think that is the intent though.

I like Thief as the archetypal Rogue and think it works well.

Arcane Trickster - Having a bunch of spells is quite good. I would rate the Bonus Action Mage Hand as less good than that but it does replicate the Use an Object Action in many cases. I think this is the strongest Rogue Subclass.

Mastermind - Help as a Bonus Action is good but Rogues have a lot of uses for their Bonus Action in combat as it is.

Swashbuckler - Charisma to Initiative is a good combat bonus but going first could be more trouble than going later and it isn't going to be a huge bonus either. A new Sneak Attack option is good to have but Rogues are designed to be able to Sneak Attack a lot of the time. It still doesn't help if multiple enemies are adjacent to you. Being able to move away from a creature you have attacked is good but Rogues already have Disengage as a Bonus Action so it is a bit of a duplication of power.

The only 3rd level Rogue power that gives more damage is the Assassin's auto crit ability. I think that is why people hone in on it and I think it doesn't fit into the rest of the Rogue subclasses. If we're going to buff the Assassin I don't think it should be with more raw combat power. No Rogue has an increased Hide mechanic so perhaps they could have something like the Skulker of being able to Hide if only lightly obscured. I think that is the way to go.

 

[Charlaquin]

Help as a Bonus Action is good but Rogues have a lot of uses for their Bonus Action in combat as it is.

Being able to move away from a creature you have attacked is good but Rogues already have Disengage as a Bonus Action so it is a bit of a duplication of power.

The only 3rd level Rogue power that gives more damage is the Assassin's auto crit ability. I think that is why people hone in on it and I think it doesn't fit into the rest of the Rogue subclasses. If we're going to buff the Assassin I don't think it should be with more raw combat power. No Rogue has an increased Hide mechanic so perhaps they could have something like the Skulker of being able to Hide if only lightly obscured. I think that is the way to go.

That would be cool.

 

[Fenris-77]

Assassinate is ok if you focus your whole build on it, are allowed to MC, and have a DM and party that will cooperate to get you the surprise stealth tactical approach you need. Barring that, which is a pretty perfect storm, it gets a little meh.

Hmm. Easy fixes... perhaps allowing the use of a bonus action to use Sneak Attack when you don't have advantage. I know that sounds a little extreme, but it could represent the Assassin finding weak spots and whatnot, and the BA cost prevents stacking it with TWF.

 

[NotAYakk]

Poisons?

You have learned how to created poisons. You know up to half your Rogue level in poisons. When you learn a new poison, its effects can match an existing poison whose price per dose must be no higher than 10 gp per Rogue level.

You can keep up to your intelligence bonus (min 1) doses of poison stable at a time, but no more than one dose of each poison you know. You can create or change which poisons you have during a long rest. These poisons can only be used by you and must be maintained with at least a minute of work every hour, as they are less stable than standard poisons, and stop completely working after 24 hours.

 

[Fenris-77]

Poison is cool, but it's a bit of a Pandora's box. If the PCs are using the bad guys probably should too. It is a cool way to buff the concept of the assassin, but it needs to be carefully balanced.

 

[ad_hoc]

That would be cool.

That ability is better on a character who does not have the option to Disengage as a Bonus Action already.

The ability to Help as a Bonus Action would also be better on a character who doesn't already have abilities tied into Bonus Actions.

Both of these statements can be true.

I didn't say it was useless. It does help for dual wielding which is nice.