Assassins as a Heroic Archetype?

[Derren]

Wow.

When I first saw this thread I said, "Oh, they will definitely mention these guys. But I did not see any mention (though I did skim a few posts).

So I make honorable mention of what I would deem as Heroic Assassins:
- Richard B. Riddick (of the Riddick series)
- Violet Song jat Shariff (of Ultra Violet)
- Aeon Flux (of Aeon Flux)
- Vassili Zaitsev (of Enemy at the Gates (based on the RL Vasily Zaytsev))
- Selene (of the Underworld series)
- V (of V for Vendetta)
- Slevin Kelevra (of Luck Number Slevin)
- Miho (of Sin City)
- Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (of The Whole Nine Yards)

These are just off the top of my head. If I went to go look at my movie collection, I bet I'd remember more.

Oh and Kudos to the ones who mentioned The Professional and the Stallone Assassins movie.

And what exactly makes those people assassins compared to rogues, fighters or rangers with guns?

Assassin just means that someone kills specific people for money and thats something most D&D heroes already do (quest rewards).
And as for how (romantic) assassins work, alone, silently laying in wait, using poisons and sniper weapons to kill instantly, thats 100% against the 4E game mechanic which features close range group combat, multiple encounters a day, no instant kills (to non-minions) and no character getting more spotlight than the others.

 

[Klaus]

And what exactly makes those people assassins compared to rogues, fighters or rangers with guns?

Assassin just means that someone kills specific people for money and thats something most D&D heroes already do (quest rewards).
And as for how (romantic) assassins work, alone, silently laying in wait, using poisons and sniper weapons to kill instantly, thats 100% against the 4E game mechanic which features close range group combat, multiple encounters a day, no instant kills (to non-minions) and no character getting more spotlight than the others.

Regardless of semantics, the only real difference between a 4e assassin and a 4e rogue is that the assassin traded a portion of his soul to the Shadowfell in return for his supernatural abilities. Either class can be a "hired killer".