Assassin in DDN

[Plane Sailing]

The 4e assassin IS the assassin class for me, the the previous edition assassin were just prototypes for how awesome this class is.

See in essence both the Oassassin and Executioner are shadow power gishes.

I guess the issue is whether they do a mostly magical assassin or a mostly non-magical assassin; either way they will probably upset some people

 

[mach1.9pants]

Assassin makes sense as a theme because you can easily imagine fighter, wizard, and even cleric assassins as well as rogue ones.

Despite my first ADnD character being a Ftr/Ass I agree

 

[Sunseeker]

I guess the issue is whether they do a mostly magical assassin or a mostly non-magical assassin; either way they will probably upset some people

Sadly that's how these things usually go. Of course: they could give the assassin a full-on class with say, 3 trees. The Executioner-style poisony assassin, the older more rogue-with-a-few-tricks assassin and the Shadowy Assassin.

It'd be interesting to see a talent-tree system similar to the one in SWTOR, in which there is a "middle" tree that overlaps between two "advanced class" progressions.

So you could have the "tricky rogue" Assassin-tree overlap with the full-on Rogue class, and both of them would have access to those skills/feats/powers in addition to the others from their class.

You could end up making a great big circle out of the whole thing and make every class inter-connected. Paladin would overlap with cleric and fighter, cleric would overlap with priest who'd overlap with mage who'd overlap with sorcerer who'd overlap into warlock, who might tie into shaman who might connect with druid who'd then come back around to ranger who'd hook into assassin.

If anyone is familiar with MTG's "Color pie" and how each color connects to every other color in similar and opposed ways gets the direction I'm going here.

 

[grimslade]

So...a rogue.

Actually, a less skilled rogue. Assassins received thief abilities 2 levels lower.

I have a real hard time seeing assassin as a base class. The 4E classes don't say assassin to me. I like them but they aren't assassin. I don't know, maybe I'm too 2E on the assassin, anyone can be an assassin so why limit it to one class.

 

[The Human Target]

The 4e Assassin mixed with a chunk of the Essentials Assassin.

 

[Yora]

Assassin is really screaming to be made a theme. It's just a specific build of rogue.

 

[Minigiant]

I prefer to see the rogue, bard, monk and assassin all as separate classes.

But what should they have

HIT POINTS
Assassin- Below average
Bard- Below average
Monk- Average
Rogue-Below average

MELEE?
Assassin- Run
Bard-Fight
Monk-Fight
Rogue-Fight then Run

LONGSWORDS AND RAPIER
Assassin- Just Rapier
Bard- Yes
Monk-No
Rogue-Just Rapier

ARMOR?
Assassin-Light
Bard-Light and shields
Monk-Nope
Rogue-Light

KILLER MOVE?
Assassin- Yes, Assassination/Death Attack
Bard-No
Monk-Yes, Flurry of Blows/Ki
Rogue-Yes, Sneak Attack

MAGIC?
Assassin- Arcane or Shadow
Bard- Arcane (+ Healing spells) and Songs
Monk-None
Rogue- None

 

[Walker N. Waistz]

I guess the issue is whether they do a mostly magical assassin or a mostly non-magical assassin; either way they will probably upset some people

I think it would be great if they did both; an assassin class with a path for magical powers and a path for just being a bad-ass.

 

[fuindordm]

I'm not familiar with the 4e variants. I hated the 3E prestige class, which threw magical powers into the mix. The class is a great mundane character archetype.

I think "Assassin" could be a theme, since any class can get into the biz (and what are adventurers, if not the assassins of monsters?). However, I think there is room for two full-blown classes with a stealth/exploration focus.

Rather than assassin/rogue, I would like to see Thief and Spy.

The thief's focus: luck, stealth, traps and devices, magical dabbling (since there are so many magical obstacles out there), acrobatics (climbing, tumbling, escape artist). The PC can sneak into a room full of guards, pinch the keys and the wine off the table, and get out again without being seen. Fighting ability not as strong as the spy, but more options.

The spy's focus (James Bond, Emma Peel): fighting with dirty tricks, disguise (the most underused ability of 1e assassins), social skills. Skilled with most common weapons and many exotics, or maybe they have mastered a specific fighting style (judo chop!). The PC can infiltrate an enemy base and make almost everyone inside believe they belong. They might do some assassination in a pinch, but this is a hero archetype, not a paid killer archetype.

Sure, you can make a good case for rolling them into one class, but it should also be easy to come up with unique and interesting class abilities that make the thief and the spy distinctive in play. They'd have a lot of overlap in skill access, of course, but so do the rogue and the ranger.

 

[M.L. Martin]

2nd Edition.