Assassins without spells

[Nikosandros]

What options are available (both core classes and prestige) for assassins without spellcasting or other mystical abilities?

I know that GR put out an Assassin's Handbook for 3.0. Is it good?

What others possibilities are out there?

Thanks!

 

[Crothian]

EN Publishing has Crimson Contracts, its a PDF you can get at RPGNow. I'm not sure if it ever got updfated to 3.5 but I think its the best assassin sourcebook out there. It has a lot of options for differnt kinds of assassins.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Iron Heroes has the Executioner, which rocks.

 

[Soel]

FFG's Cityscape has the Assassin base class, with no magic at all. It is a really good class as well!

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Rogue. It has all the skills you need, plus Sneak Attack. The Assassin's Death Attack never works on anything that a rounds' worth of Sneak Attacks wouldn't kill outright-- and Poison Use ought to be purchasable as a feat.

 

[Patrick O'Duffy]

I happen to be rather fond of the Assassin base class in Thieves' World...

 

[Aus_Snow]

I just use the Ninja from Complete Adventurer, relabelled as 'Assassin'. Works a treat. Different enough from the Rogue to bother in the first place, not required to be evil, no magic, balanced (IMO). What more could you want?

 

[Psion]

What options are available (both core classes and prestige) for assassins without spellcasting or other mystical abilities?

I know that GR put out an Assassin's Handbook for 3.0. Is it good?

Not particularly.

What others possibilities are out there?

ENPub's Libram Equitis Compiled has the Practical Ones, my personal preference:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=313&products_id=96&

 

[Cam Banks]

Because assassins in the Dragonlance campaign fall under the group of spellcasters who use ambient magic (like sorcerers), they aren't an option for campaigns set before the current era. When we put together the War of the Lance sourcebook, we found a couple of instances where we would have liked to use the assassin class but couldn't because of the spellcasting, so I wrote up a quick variant. The non-spellcasting assassin in this case loses spells but picks up Fast Movement at 3rd level and Skill Mastery at 7th level. I'm still not sure it might not need something else, too - perhaps 6 skill points/level like a ranger? They're a pretty good class even without the spells, I think, but you'd need to add in a little to make it appealing.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Drowbane]

Rogue. It has all the skills you need, plus Sneak Attack. The Assassin's Death Attack never works on anything that a rounds' worth of Sneak Attacks wouldn't kill outright-- and Poison Use ought to be purchasable as a feat.

The Rat hath spoken!! All hail the Rat!