Assassin: a simple fix

[Horwath]

Right now Rogue: Assassin is a 3rd level dip of a mostly Frankenstein monster multiclass.

Why?

1. Assassin features above 3rd level are horrible.

2. Assassinate attacks auto crit on every attack that you can squeeze in that 1st round. So we see various extra attack combos, gloomstalkers 1st round extra attack, Action surges. Haste manipulations, battle masters maneuvers, etc...


Simple fix:

1. Assassin should be better at sneak attacking than basic rogue. in surprise and in general.
Remove all 9th, 13th and 17th level features
add +1d6 sneak attack damage at 3rd, 9th, 13th and +2d6 at 17th level.
With new rework of subclass levels in 1D&D at levels 6,10 and 14, this will work even better.

2: Most important.
In 1st round of combat, ONLY attack that carries sneak attack bonus damage is auto-crit.

This will discourage various multiclass aberrations and reward progressing in rogue class for all those extra sneak attack dice.


You will have only one attack as a crit, but it will hit like a truck.

 

[Laurefindel]

Right now Rogue: Assassin is a 3rd level dip of a mostly Frankenstein monster multiclass.

Why?

1. Assassin features above 3rd level are horrible.

2. Assassinate attacks auto crit on every attack that you can squeeze in that 1st round. So we see various extra attack combos, gloomstalkers 1st round extra attack, Action surges. Haste manipulations, battle masters maneuvers, etc...


Simple fix:

1. Assassin should be better at sneak attacking than basic rogue. in surprise and in general.
Remove all 9th, 13th and 17th level features
add +1d6 sneak attack damage at 3rd, 9th, 13th and +2d6 at 17th level.
With new rework of subclass levels in 1D&D at levels 6,10 and 14, this will work even better.

2: Most important.
In 1st round of combat, ONLY attack that carries sneak attack bonus damage is auto-crit.

This will discourage various multiclass aberrations and reward progressing in rogue class for all those extra sneak attack dice.


You will have only one attack as a crit, but it will hit like a truck.

Interesting mechanics

However - and this comment is purely anecdotal - I’ve found that many of the monster-builds I was afraid of in the beginning either never concretized, where only marginally superior for a level or two, or so situational that it wasn’t much on an issue.

By the time gloomstalker-ranger / assassin-rogue combo comes « online », the wizard has two 3rd-level slots, fighter has 2 attacks and an extra feat, and many classes have their 2nd subclass features. So this character has a strong opener but I’m not sure to what extent it’s unbalanced as is.

[edit] but that’s just me. Have you run into particular issues with that specific build?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

my experience is that assassin is one of the top rogue builds. I don't know if it needs to be improved, espcially when they said rogue in general gets high marks...

BUT if I was going to make a change I would either let assassins reroll 1's on sneak attack in surprise, or upgrade them to d8's with surprise.

 

[Pauln6]

Yeah sneak attack upgrade to d8 with surprise at higher levels, possibly even d10 eventually. Surprise isn't safe or easy if you have to go it alone.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Yeah sneak attack upgrade to d8 with surprise at higher levels, possibly even d10 eventually. Surprise isn't safe or easy if you have to go it alone.

Yeah I played with an idea of giving d4s of sneak attack equal to prof or level what ever is less at 1st level, so taking 1 level of rogue would scale all the way up to 6d4 but rogue itself if you stay in it upgrades to d6 d8 d10 and finally d12s

 

[Horwath]

Yeah sneak attack upgrade to d8 with surprise at higher levels, possibly even d10 eventually. Surprise isn't safe or easy if you have to go it alone.

I would not want to change the sneak attack die.

d6 works fine.
rather give more dice.
It is more consistent in damage.

 

[Pauln6]

I would not want to change the sneak attack die.

d6 works fine.
rather give more dice.
It is more consistent in damage.

I'm not sure. Superiority dice work fine with scaling and rogues are rolling a LOT of dice already. Do I really want to roll even more? And even more again on a crit?

 

[shadowoflameth]

We had a player do an assassin in our game. He enjoyed the character but every encounter included, 'Can I surprise him if I do x?' Jeremy Crawford laid out, in the errata and out loud that it's only in the first round of combat that this happens. In my game though, we allowed it at other times when Mr. Crawford specified that the target would just be incapacitated or otherwise helpless.

My fix to the Assassin would be to just simply drop the unneeded nerf language on the later abilities and make them actually usable i.e. :

Starting at 3rd level, You have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit you score against that target before it acts, is a critical hit.

Starting at 9th level, you can unfailingly create false identities for yourself including the history, profession, and affiliations for an identity using any resources that you have, including disguises, forged documents, or illusions without a check or save being rolled.

Thereafter, if you adopt the new identity as a disguise, other creatures automatically believe you to be that person until given an obvious reason not to.

Beginning at 13th level, you gain the ability to unerringly mimic another person's speech, writing, and behavior if you did not already have them, and roll any related checks with advantage.

At 17th level, When you score a critical hit with a sneak attack, the damage is doubled.

I understand that in One D&D there will likely be different levels when sub-class abilities kick in but hopefully, you get where I'm going with this.

 

[mellored]

Max sneak attack dice on a crit.

Encourages getting more sneak attack dice, and more crits.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'd avoid getting rid of non-combat abilities in any subclass.

Instead, the Assassin's surprise based abilities should have "or unaware of your presence" added to them, their sneak attack should be poison if they attack with a poison, and they should ignore resistance and later downgrade immunity to resistance, to poison. Combine the two disguise related feature sets into one feature level.

I'd rather do without the poison as an unavoidable part of the subclass, but if it's gonna be an automatic part of the subclass, lean into it.

Alternatively, make it better at stealth than any other rogue. Give it some of the skulker feat, basically. TBH, a Thief with Mobile is about as good an Assassin as the Assassin, as it is.

 

[Pauln6]

I think they need something more, possibly not as powerful, for opponents who are not surprised but are unaware of the assassin's presence. Maybe roll an additional weapon damage die? Not major but better than the nothing we have now. We've been allowing our warlock assassin assassinate the first time he teleports across the battlefield

 

[corwyn77]

In my last two games playing an Assassin (once an actual assassin and now playing a Swashbuckler with Assassin Armour) we tweaked it a bit so I'm not hogging screen time constantly scouting so I can open combats with surprise that we might have wanted to avoid.

In the first round if the target is unaware of ME I get my crit on my first attack. My first assassin I would attack with a bow from hiding; this guy has as Ring of Invisibility so I'm almost always "hidden" at the start of a combat.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In my last two games playing an Assassin (once an actual assassin and now playing a Swashbuckler with Assassin Armour) we tweaked it a bit so I'm not hogging screen time constantly scouting so I can open combats with surprise that we might have wanted to avoid.

In the first round if the target is unaware of ME I get my crit on my first attack. My first assassin I would attack with a bow from hiding; this guy has as Ring of Invisibility so I'm almost always "hidden" at the start of a combat.

Yeah that’s how I run them as well. As long as you are hidden from your target and your target hasn’t gone yet, you get the benefit. I also added the ability to move and use cunning action as a reaction when you drop an enemy to 0hp, at level 9.

 

[shadowoflameth]

I hoped they would play test the Assassin sub-class. With the rules revision it may be better. We'll have to see. Mr. Crawford has stated out loud and in the errata that the first round of combat is the only time that surprise happens. At my table, I may allow it at other times. 1. The description of combat in the PHB says step one is that the DM determines who's surprised, 2. Surprise is not a condition, it's described as the target being unaware of any threat. If a target is unconscious, charmed paralyzed etc. and unaware of a threat as a result, they are incapacitated but to my mind, you could very well be surprised as well. I hope that the new rules include language to say that if you are surprised or incapacitated Assassinate will work.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I hoped they would play test the Assassin sub-class. With the rules revision it may be better. We'll have to see. Mr. Crawford has stated out loud and in the errata that the first round of combat is the only time that surprise happens. At my table, I may allow it at other times. 1. The description of combat in the PHB says step one is that the DM determines who's surprised, 2. Surprise is not a condition, it's described as the target being unaware of any threat. If a target is unconscious, charmed paralyzed etc. and unaware of a threat as a result, they are incapacitated but to my mind, you could very well be surprised as well. I hope that the new rules include language to say that if you are surprised or incapacitated Assassinate will work.

Yeah tbh the assassin’s main weakness is they have nothing to do as an assassin in subsequent rounds.

I think using cunning action as a reaction when you drop an enemy would help, but idk it just feels like an incomplete character option. (Almost like it should be it’s own class lol)

 

[NotAYakk]

Here is a stab at an assassin based off the 5e one.

Key changes:
1. I replaced auto-crit with 2x sneak attack damage in 3rd level feature. This weakens it, especially for MC dips.
2. I added a poison feature at level 9. 2d6 free poison damage, with a crit rider.
3. I dropped Imposter time from 3 hours to 9 minutes.
4. Death Strike now lets you spend an action to up your next Sneak Attack on the creature to 1d12s, and on a crit save-or-die. Outside of combat, it means that an Assassin who has seen their foe gets another damage boost 1st round. In combat, burning an action to double your SA damage is only good if you can't SA on a given turn; so it still has some utility. The crit save-or-die is mostly a ribbon; most foes this is OP on have legendary resists.
5. Infiltration is (prof bonus) identities. You get them for free when you get the feature, and you can make new ones later (up to your prof bonus). This both bounds it (no books of false identities) and makes it less of a "oh well, no downtime, no feature".

​

Bonus Proficiencies​

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the disguise kit and the poisoner's kit.

Assassinate​

Starting at 3rd level, you are at your deadliest when you get the drop on your enemies. You have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, you roll twice as many sneak attack dice on any creature that is surprised.

Infiltration Expertise​

Starting at 9th level, you can unfailingly create false identities for yourself. When you gain this feature, you have your proficiency bonus false identities you have managed to create. You can create a new one by spending seven days and 25 gp to establish the history, profession, and affiliations for an identity. You can't establish an identity that belongs to someone else. For example, you might acquire appropriate clothing, letters of introduction, and official- looking certification to establish yourself as a member of a trading house from a remote city so you can insinuate yourself into the company of other wealthy merchants. If you create more than your proficiency bonus false identities, you must lose track of one.

Thereafter, if you adopt the new identity as a disguise, other creatures believe you to be that person until given an obvious reason not to.

Plethora of Poison​

Starting at 9th level you can produce a sufficient supply of poisons. You can prepare up to your proficiency bonus in slashing or piercing weapons with poison on the blade during a short rest that last until you next take a rest. When they deal slashing damage, they also deal an additional 2d6 poison damage; if you are not wielding the weapon, the poison wears off after it deals damage.

In addition, if you score a critical hit with a poisoned weapon, the creature taking the poison damage must also make a constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your intelligence bonus) or become poisoned. While poisoned this way, they repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, taking your sneak attack damage dice in poison damage on failure, and the poison wearing off on success.

Impostor​

At 13th level, you gain the ability to unerringly mimic another person's speech, writing, and behavior. You must spend at least three minutes studying each of these three components of the person's behavior, listening to speech, examining handwriting, and observing mannerisms.

Your ruse is indiscernible to the casual observer. If a wary creature suspects something is amiss, you have advantage on any Charisma (Deception) check you make to avoid detection.

Death Strike​

Starting at 17th level, you become a master of instant death. As an action you can observe a creature you can see and study its weak spots. Once you have done this, the next time you deal sneak attack damage dice on the creature, your sneak attack damage dice become d12s. In addition, if this attack is a critical hit, it must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature is reduced to 0 HP and killed.