doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
So, some of y’all may already know this, but the Assassin is one of my very favorite RPG character concepts, and I am very unsatisfied with its representation in 5e.
Now, I didn’t expect an Assassin class in the PHB, but when I read the Assassin Rogue archetype...<whistle> nope! That’s certainly a type of Assassin, sure. I mean, it doesn’t follow through on having poison proficiency, it’s too hyper focused on “false identity infiltration”, and its combat mechanics only work when it has surprise, which is just...hard to ensure with any regularity, but...cool. So, I’ve spent the last few years thinking about assassins in 5e, how they could be a full class, and also about the sometimes oddly narrow view of assassins that some folks have.
Alignment. The 3.5 Assassin had to be evil.
sure, Jan. The fighter can butcher hundreds with a neutral alignment, and collect all the gold they want for it, but I can’t play an old school Crusades era styled Assassin without being evil?
Then we get to Archetypes. Folks question why “any class can’t be an assassin”(any class can be a thief, too, folks.
), or insist that there aren’t enough viable archetypes tomake a full class worth it. Below is a short list of assassin archetypes, and what they’d do. First, though, what would the base class do?
Well, it would obviously be a DPR class, with situational nova potential, and decent skills (between the ranger and non-lore bard). They’d be able to study an enemy and learn its weaknesses and strengths, get an extra attack when hidden (or when subclass stuff happens), and have a trait that drops a creature to 0hp when the Assassin reduces their HP below a threshold. They’d get proficiency on initiative checks, and possibly be able to surprise even when the rest of the party doesn’t, somehow? The rest of the base class would be dedicated to social exploration stuff, and tricks to make the class impossible to escape, and some kind of defense stuff to avoid heavy armor. Social stealth mechanic
Maybe something like the 4e assassin’s shroud. Very cool concept, just somewhat lacking implementation.
Archetypes.
Executioner. Inspiration; Assassin’s Creed, 4e Executione class. Fast, parkour, climb speed, reaction attacks when an enemy misses, some poisons. Some of this in the base class but boosted here.
Covenant Agent. Inspiration; Religous Assassins, Avengers (the class), light divine magic, maybe a pseudo-smite, or access to a couple smite spells, maybe just ability to make damage radiant. Mix a little Paladin in. Bonus prof: religion. Maybe an Unarmored defense mechanic, make it more like the 4e assassin/avenger.
Wraith. Inspiration; mystic assassins, 4e assassin class, dishonored, nightcrawler. If Shrouds aren’t in base class, they go here. If they are, they get weird here. Teleportation at Will from an early level. 3 preferably. Even if it’s short range and requires line of sight.
Spy/Social Infiltrator. Optional, since this is the one assassin that the assassin rogue does really well.
Class: I’d actually go either ranger or monk for the chassis/comparison point. Maybe with level 1 archetypes, since the flavor is much stronger in the archetype.
Now, I didn’t expect an Assassin class in the PHB, but when I read the Assassin Rogue archetype...<whistle> nope! That’s certainly a type of Assassin, sure. I mean, it doesn’t follow through on having poison proficiency, it’s too hyper focused on “false identity infiltration”, and its combat mechanics only work when it has surprise, which is just...hard to ensure with any regularity, but...cool. So, I’ve spent the last few years thinking about assassins in 5e, how they could be a full class, and also about the sometimes oddly narrow view of assassins that some folks have.
Alignment. The 3.5 Assassin had to be evil.
sure, Jan. The fighter can butcher hundreds with a neutral alignment, and collect all the gold they want for it, but I can’t play an old school Crusades era styled Assassin without being evil?
Then we get to Archetypes. Folks question why “any class can’t be an assassin”(any class can be a thief, too, folks.
), or insist that there aren’t enough viable archetypes tomake a full class worth it. Below is a short list of assassin archetypes, and what they’d do. First, though, what would the base class do?Well, it would obviously be a DPR class, with situational nova potential, and decent skills (between the ranger and non-lore bard). They’d be able to study an enemy and learn its weaknesses and strengths, get an extra attack when hidden (or when subclass stuff happens), and have a trait that drops a creature to 0hp when the Assassin reduces their HP below a threshold. They’d get proficiency on initiative checks, and possibly be able to surprise even when the rest of the party doesn’t, somehow? The rest of the base class would be dedicated to social exploration stuff, and tricks to make the class impossible to escape, and some kind of defense stuff to avoid heavy armor. Social stealth mechanic
Maybe something like the 4e assassin’s shroud. Very cool concept, just somewhat lacking implementation.
Archetypes.
Executioner. Inspiration; Assassin’s Creed, 4e Executione class. Fast, parkour, climb speed, reaction attacks when an enemy misses, some poisons. Some of this in the base class but boosted here.
Covenant Agent. Inspiration; Religous Assassins, Avengers (the class), light divine magic, maybe a pseudo-smite, or access to a couple smite spells, maybe just ability to make damage radiant. Mix a little Paladin in. Bonus prof: religion. Maybe an Unarmored defense mechanic, make it more like the 4e assassin/avenger.
Wraith. Inspiration; mystic assassins, 4e assassin class, dishonored, nightcrawler. If Shrouds aren’t in base class, they go here. If they are, they get weird here. Teleportation at Will from an early level. 3 preferably. Even if it’s short range and requires line of sight.
Spy/Social Infiltrator. Optional, since this is the one assassin that the assassin rogue does really well.
Class: I’d actually go either ranger or monk for the chassis/comparison point. Maybe with level 1 archetypes, since the flavor is much stronger in the archetype.
