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<blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 7919080" data-attributes="member: 6683613">I've tried stacking effects like 4E shrouds and found them kind of frustrating in 5E play. It's just too slow when the average combat is about three to five rounds. I suggest instead a single, binary shroud effect. Especially if you can shroud multiple creatures at once -- nobody needs to track all those numbers.This is hella OP unless it's on an encounter limit, has some other resource cost, or is conditional.To me, these mechanics say &quot;different than the rogue for the sake of being different&quot; rather than &quot;actually different than the rogue&quot;. They're still telling the same story as Cunning Action and Uncanny Dodge, they're just using different rules to to it. You see where I'm coming from?If the hook for the assassin is going to be observation and preparation, maybe instead the assassin can expend a shroud to turn a hit from the target into a miss, because they've figured out the attack pattern. Find some way to tie the slipperiness directly into preparedness.I would avoid too many &quot;do thing when you drop a guy&quot; features because they can be frustrating in fights without cannon fodder to trigger them. In my mind's eye, a solo boss fight should be a place where the assassin shines and a swarm of mooks should give them some trouble, not the other way around. Shrouds, burst damage, poison, other single-target debuffs, these are the sorts of mechanics that reflect that fantasy to me.Don't get me wrong. My own assassin design does the Assassin's Creed thing. It's a super cool thing. But it's their 20th-level ability, a cherry on top of the class, not a substitute for Extra Attack or other bread-and-butter DPR source.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TheCosmicKid, post: 7919080, member: 6683613"] I've tried stacking effects like 4E shrouds and found them kind of frustrating in 5E play. It's just too slow when the average combat is about three to five rounds. I suggest instead a single, binary shroud effect. Especially if you can shroud multiple creatures at once -- nobody needs to track all those numbers. This is hella OP unless it's on an encounter limit, has some other resource cost, or is conditional. To me, these mechanics say "different than the rogue for the sake of being different" rather than "actually different than the rogue". They're still telling the same story as Cunning Action and Uncanny Dodge, they're just using different rules to to it. You see where I'm coming from? If the hook for the assassin is going to be observation and preparation, maybe instead the assassin can expend a shroud to turn a hit from the target into a miss, because they've figured out the attack pattern. Find some way to tie the slipperiness directly into preparedness. I would avoid too many "do thing when you drop a guy" features because they can be frustrating in fights without cannon fodder to trigger them. In my mind's eye, a solo boss fight should be a place where the assassin shines and a swarm of mooks should give them some trouble, not the other way around. Shrouds, burst damage, poison, other single-target debuffs, these are the sorts of mechanics that reflect that fantasy to me. Don't get me wrong. My own assassin design does the Assassin's Creed thing. It's a super cool thing. But it's their 20th-level ability, a cherry on top of the class, not a substitute for Extra Attack or other bread-and-butter DPR source. [/QUOTE]

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