Assassins as a Heroic Archetype?

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Read some Mitch Rapp books or something.

Or, in-game example, given about a second's thought, so don't expect creativity:

Evil general (one of three, the one with the most skill) raises an army, travels through villages, raiding their food and generally being a murderous jerk. PC assassin kills him. Good army faces evil army and, due to not facing Evil Caesar, wins. Bad guys forced to flee. Yay!

Why do people think assassins only kill for joy or money? People can kill for any number of reasons, which should be obvious from watching PCs at "work". I can picture assassins being useful in a dungeon setting, provided they have enough info to figure out who the best targets (leader-type sub bosses) are.

 

[Klaus]

I should probably say up front that I tend to play heroic games. I'm not a huge fan of mercenary style games. I like games that are good vs. evil.

One thing I have trouble with is thinking of the assassin, no matter the edition, as a heroic archetype. When I look at the various classes, I can see each one as a hero, whether it be the noble paladin or the swashbuckling rogue.

Yet for some reason, the assassin throws me for a loop. Maybe it's the name. Yet the whole concept of it, at its very core, is a character who murders another character. It isn't that a character is killing another character. This happens in D&D all the time. It's the reasons behind it.

If a paladin kills somebody, it's probably because he was being evil and trying to kill the paladin or those he loves. He does what he does out of defense. Heck, even the avenger can come across as the Batman type, where you're doing good, but you're more of a Chaotic Good type.

The assassin, though, comes across to me as a cold-blooded killer. He kills for many reasons, but most notably because a) he was paid to or b) he enjoys it. There's nothing innately heroic about this archetype, at least that I can tell.

Perhaps I'm not seeing the bigger picture. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Can the assassin be a heroic character? Or, will he always be a mercenary at best and a cold-blooded killer at worst? Or are they anti-heroes, like the Punisher? What are some good examples of some heroic assassins?

Thanks in advance.

And the rogue is a thief.

The difference is in the motivation.

For instance, think of a trained monastic warrior who goes on a quest to infiltrate Neraka and kill the leader of the evil dragonarmy in his sleep, throwing Takhishis' forces into disarray. He's an assassin, and he's heroic.

 

[Wicht]

The James Bond of the books is clearly an assassin. That's the whole point of the license to kill. He is also a spy but the whole double o thing is indicative that he is an assassin of the state. My favorite of the stories is "A View to a Kill," which is all about his experience, waiting at a window to shoot a russian assassin who has orders to shoot someone else.

 

[El Mahdi]

Technically, I think that Dexter is an Assassin, and IMO a "Heroic" Assassin. Even though he does it for psychopathic reasons (although an argument could probably be made that all Assassins are psychopathic), and we call him by more modern labels such as "Serial Killer", what he does is no different than what Assassins do.

He sneaks up on his prey in order to capture or kill (usually at night but not always). He's trained in anatomy, making him very efficient in killing. He's trained in martial/combat skills (hand-to-hand, firearms, edged weapons). And he's accomplished at the use of poisons and tranquilizing agents.

But, he lives by the "Code" taught him by his father. Even though he technically has no moral center or conscience of his own, he has a code he follows religiously - albiet one that was provided to him by a mostly moral man with a conscience. Following that code, he only kills those that he knows are evil.

I guess the question for characters like this is: Is it the Murder itself that's evil, or the motivation/reason for the murder that's either evil or good? Is a murder for good reasons evil?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I guess the question for characters like this is: Is it the Murder itself that's evil, or the motivation/reason for the murder that's either evil or good? Is a murder for good reasons evil?

From a human viewpoint, that would depend upon your ethical/religious beliefs.

Using the more general term "homicide" (killing of a human), various belief systems have found good/justified homicides to include: self-defense, defense of another, pre-emptive strikes, certain kinds of assassinations, death penalties, euthanasia, abortion and others.

No ethical system embraces all of them.

From an objective standpoint...it depends upon which view of the Universe is ultimately correct. Certain faiths tell us that omnipotent beings have decreed "Thou Shalt Not Kill"...but not all. And even those faiths have texts in which exceptions have been allowed.

OTOH, if there is no true Universal law other than what intelligent mortals within it agree upon, we get back up to that initial "that depends."

 

[El Mahdi]

Another couple of examples of possible "Heroic" Assassins could be Léon from The_Professional, or Sylvester Stallone's character, Robart Rath, from Assassins.

 

[Inyssius]

And Kylar Stern, from The Way of Shadows (and probably its sequels, which I en't read). Who is A) definitely a heroic character, and B) very, very like 4e's Assassin class.

 

[The Little Raven]

With respect, the James Bond most of us are familiar with (in the movies) is generally not ordered specifically to kill.

Casino Royale, the book, specifies that to become a 00 agent, you had to kill at least one person in cold blood during an assignment. 00 Agents aren't sent into a situation unless people need to die.

As M says in the movie version... he's a blunt instrument.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

The OP, and a lot of other people (myself included) have a problem with the Assassin as a class because of the name. (Which is why we have Rogues instead of Thieves these days.)

An assassin is someone who (usually) leads a quiet life, with few, if any, knowing what his 'job' is. Then he goes on a job and keeps an even lower profile if possible.

Of course, the whole idea of a D&D assassin is absurd. How often do they actually get to make a one hit kill? (That was at least possible in AD&D, but not very likely if the target was at, or higher, than the character in level. Someone who has to spend half an hour whaling away at someone until their HP are gone isn't much of an assassin!)

 

[Dragonhelm]

I wanted to say thanks to everyone for their responses thus far. I didn't expect to get so many!

Some do it for King & Country.

Some do it because they feel killing a few key people prevents wars that kill many.

Some do it because they're being forced to- perhaps by having their family held hostage.

Some are brainwashed into it, are born into it as the family business, or are even driven by faith to master the art of the kill. (In fact, the name "assassin" comes from the practices of an Islamic sect. The Straight Dope: Does "assassin" derive from "hashish"?)

Some see it as an art in and of itself.

That helps a ton. Those are several good reasons.

I could especially see a character who says, "I kill so that others won't be killed." Maybe he works for the crown, and knows he's a dark soul. But he does what he does for the good of the many. I also like the idea of someone growing up within an assassin's guild, only to discover later that this isn't the way his mortal compass points.

I know an assassin class has precedent in earlier editions, but isn't it more a job description than a defined character role? Any class or alignment can find a justification for assassinating people.

It can be. In a way, it's like whether you have a noble class or not. You can have a noble class, but couldn't any class be a noble? Still, I think we have a fairly clear vision for this archetype to make it work.

For instance, think of a trained monastic warrior who goes on a quest to infiltrate Neraka and kill the leader of the evil dragonarmy in his sleep, throwing Takhishis' forces into disarray. He's an assassin, and he's heroic.

Love how you tied that into Dragonlance, my man. Kudos!

But, he lives by the "Code" taught him by his father. Even though he technically has no moral center or conscience of his own, he has a code he follows religiously - albiet one that was provided to him by a mostly moral man with a conscience. Following that code, he only kills those that he knows are evil.

I'm a big fan of codes, particularly with organizations.

In a way, it's like the Punisher. He kills, but his code is that he kills criminals.

The one thing I notice in all of this is that the assassin seems to have lost or traded in part of his soul to his profession. This is made literal with the 4th edition version.