Desperate help needed for Assassin Build!

[Touché]

Hey, it's my first time posting on these forums or asking for help with a build, so don't be too rough on me if I forget to include any information about it.

My DM is running a new campaign, and our party needs a reasonably stealthy character to pick locks, etc. However, we are starting at 6th Level and I am dead set on playing as an assassin. As of now the books we allow are:

PHBI and II
Comp. Adventurer,Warrior,Scoundrel and Arcane.

The stat array we are using is pretty good, 18,16,14,12,12,10, assignable to any stats we want.

So I want to go Assassin on the 6th level, which isn't very difficult, but I want to try and make him effective. We each have 16,000 Gold to spend on any equipment from the books listed above. My DM has a weird ruling about discernible anatomies when we go up against monsters. He has taken the phrase "discernible anatomy" to mean I need to know the intricate details of each monster, as opposed to just assuming cutting the head off will work. Because of him being nit picky, I have to burn the first spell I get for Healer's Vision.

Aside from that, I'm open to any ideas on the first 5 levels I take before going Assassin. Don't worry about min-maxing or being too power-gamey, because his campaigns boggle the mind with their difficulty. The last encounter we played with him had us almost lose two party members, but by a miracle we both stabilized on the first attempt (we were both at -9 by the second round of combat.)

I have an idea for a Spiked Chain Death Attack, to Death Attack from 10 feet away, but apart from that it's up in the air. So to summarize it all, I need advice on the first 5 levels, a way to raise the DC of my Death Attack, and lastly advice on poison. If there are any abilities you know of that are Open Gaming Content, I can use those too,but it has to be published by WotC. Alright, thanks for your patience and putting up with my massive wall of text.

(Idea, I will hide behind said wall of text for concealment, and Death Attack the first enemy who tries to read it! )

 

[irdeggman]

Try warlock and the fiendish feat chain (if you can get Complete Mage as an allowed book). 1 level of rogue, then warlock.

Ranged sneak attacks with EB at 30 ft (with a ranged touch attack).

Using the appropriate knowledge feat would give you the anatomy information your DM seems to want - also seems to me that a ranger's favored enemy should by "flavor" get you there.

 

[Touché]

Ok, I have the Warlock class from Complete Arcane. Is that what you meant by Complete Mage or is it a different book altogether? I assume it's different because I can't find the Fiendish Feat Chain in here, just lots of Draconic Inheritance stuff. Doesn't picking Warlock cause a problem? Assassins are Int based casters, and Death Attack is based off Int as well, but Warlock is Cha based. Some of the invocations look really cool though. Darkness and Devil's Sight look like a devastating combo against most enemies

So to circumvent the Death Attack restriction I should take Knowledge (anatomy)? Our DM can be kind of mean about stuff like that. I'll talk to him, but I can almost guarantee that I'll have to specify a creature type to have knowledge of. And then he's going to go to great lengths to NEVER let us fight said creature.

 

[Dandu]

Warlocks do not need Cha if their invocations do not allow saves. Just pick no save invocations and dump your Cha.

Perhaps you may want to consider going Rogue2/Fighter2/Rogue1/Assassin1 for more HP, feats, and BaB. See if you can pick up the Craven feat and trade in Trapsense for the Dungeonscape ACF that allows you to sneak attack normally immune enemies for half damage when flanking them.

 

[parinho7]

for the first 5 levels you can go: swashbuckler(3)/rogue(2) and take the daring outlaw at level 6 when you become assassin and have +2d6 sneak attack. this will give you sneak attack damage as if you where rogue(5), weapon finesse and you can add your intelligence modifier to your damage.

for raising the dc of your death attack just raise your intelligence, you can also take ability focus(death attack) (monster manual page 303)

put the 18 at your intelligence and raise only this stat. with a headband of intellect +6 you can reach an int score of 29 at level 20 and you can use tomes of clear thought to increase it further.
a high int provides you with higher damage (if you choose swashbuckler), higher dc for your death attack (31+ at level 20), and more spell slots. i think is more important than dex

you can also use a poison or Disemboweling Strike to decrease the opponents fortitude or take a spell storing dagger and have you wizard cast enervation at it (or cast it yourself with umd) or demoralize him with an intimidate check.
with all the above you can reduce his fortitude within 2 rounds before you use your death attack

 

[irdeggman]

Ok, I have the Warlock class from Complete Arcane. Is that what you meant by Complete Mage or is it a different book altogether? I assume it's different because I can't find the Fiendish Feat Chain in here, just lots of Draconic Inheritance stuff. Doesn't picking Warlock cause a problem? Assassins are Int based casters, and Death Attack is based off Int as well, but Warlock is Cha based. Some of the invocations look really cool though. Darkness and Devil's Sight look like a devastating combo against most enemies

Complete Mage is a different book that has some warlock useful feats (like fey heritigae or fiendish heritage chains) as well as some good presitge classes for warlocks.

So to circumvent the Death Attack restriction I should take Knowledge (anatomy)? Our DM can be kind of mean about stuff like that. I'll talk to him, but I can almost guarantee that I'll have to specify a creature type to have knowledge of. And then he's going to go to great lengths to NEVER let us fight said creature.

Knowledge skills from the SRD

KNOWLEDGE (INT; TRAINED ONLY)
Like the Craft and Profession skills, Knowledge actually encompasses a number of unrelated skills. Knowledge represents a study of some body of lore, possibly an academic or even scientific discipline.
Below are listed typical fields of study.
• Arcana (ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, cryptic phrases, constructs, dragons, magical beasts)
• Architecture and engineering (buildings, aqueducts, bridges, fortifications)
• Dungeoneering (aberrations, caverns, oozes, spelunking)
• Geography (lands, terrain, climate, people)
• History (royalty, wars, colonies, migrations, founding of cities)
• Local (legends, personalities, inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, humanoids)
• Nature (animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, seasons and cycles, weather, vermin)
• Nobility and royalty (lineages, heraldry, family trees, mottoes, personalities)
• Religion (gods and goddesses, mythic history, ecclesiastic tradition, holy symbols, undead)
• The planes (the Inner Planes, the Outer Planes, the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, outsiders, elementals, magic related to the planes)
Check: Answering a question within your field of study has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for basic questions), or 20 to 30 (for really tough questions).
In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster.
For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.

Since knowledge is a trained only skill, but you can make an Intellgence to learn "common knowledge things, DC 10 or less" it is stil handy.

Some of the later MM books have specific information about each monster based on a set DC check for the applicable knowledge roll.

The Jack of All Trades feat from Complete Adventurer allows you to make a skill check on any skill, even those that can only be used as "trained only" and it specifically mentions the KNowledge skill.

Prereq is INT 13 though.

 

[irdeggman]

Warlocks do not need Cha if their invocations do not allow saves. Just pick no save invocations and dump your Cha.

Right, I was seeing it more as a way to make a ranged touch attack to add on your sneak attack damage.

Good invocations for this:

Walk Unseen (gain invisibility self only) and can thus make a sneak attack - it is a lesser invocation so you need to be a warlock 6th to get it though. Note that it last 24 hours (but is broken just like normal invisibility is and can be invoked as a standard action any turn - no limit per day unlike spells).

Devil's Sight (least invocation - so can get at 1st level warlock) - can see normally in darkness or magical darkness for 24 hours

Leaps and Bounds (+6 on balance, jump and tumble checks for 24 hours) (least invocation)

Otherworldy Whispers (from Complete Mage) - +6 on Knowledge (planes), KNowledge (arcana) and KNowledge (religion) checks for 24 hours. (least invocation)

All seeing eyes (Complete Mage) - +6 on spot and search checks and comprehend languages (written material only) for 24 hours.

 

[Touché]

Well, Warlock does seem like a good choice in terms of coolness. I was just wondering, if I try to make a new hide check while in combat, am I still being observed? I'm thinking about assaulting with a Death Attack on a flat footed enemy delivering a 200gp dose of poisons to lower Con and then inflicting another 1d10 of Con damage with a Dagger Of Venom/Dagger with Assassinate. Not only will that be ridiculous, but we don't trust our DM not to fudge the die rolls to make encounters harder. Since he rolls the NPC saves in secret, and NO enemy has ever died from a Death Attack before, I'd like to be safe by throwing out ridiculous amounts of Con damage. For those who don't know, Assassinate increases the DC of poisons by the weapon's attack modifier. e.g;Assassination Dagger +2 increases DC by 2. Combined with Poison Expert from Comp.Scoundrel and the aforementioned Con damage, I should be able to take someone out nearly instantly. I'm not so worried about gold, since my party is fine with lending money in the name of the Great Gods Of Overkill.

So as it stands, I'll go 5 Warlock/1 Assassin for now, I'm taking Exotic Weapon Proficiency to Spiked Chain Death Attack and I can spike chain death attack from a range.

If there are any items or anything I missed that you guys think are too awesome not to have,just give me a heads up. The last question I have is using stealth means my first attack leaves the enemy flat footed,right? And with Eldritch Blast being a Touch Attack, wouldn't the enemy have an effective AC of 10? With one of those Chameleon rings coupled with Warlock Darkness and Devil's Sight, I could be a really effective sniper! If that logic fails enough to not get off the runway with my DM, feel free to blow it up in the hangar.

Well, sorry for taking up so much of your time everyone. Anyway, I hope to get involved in the community here as fast as possible. ^^

 

[irdeggman]

So as it stands, I'll go 5 Warlock/1 Assassin for now, I'm taking Exotic Weapon Proficiency to Spiked Chain Death Attack and I can spike chain death attack from a range.

Can't meet assassin prerequisities that way.

ASSASSIN
Hit Die: d6.
Requirements
To qualify to become an assassin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Any evil.
Skills: Disguise 4 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks.
Special: The character must kill someone for no other reason than to join the assassins

Disguise, Hide and Move Silently are not class skills for warlocks - so max ranks at level 5 are 4.

You need a level of rogue to get there as far as class skills go.

Except for wanting to add the poison on - you wouldn't need spike chain if using the warlock's EB for a ranged sneak attack.

And I don't see the reason to bother with it if you are concerning with the DM "fudging" rolls, he would just as easily fudge the saving throws for the poison too. It also uses up a feat (3rd level one since at 1st level you won't meet the +1 BAB prerequisite for exotic weapon proficiency)

 

[irdeggman]

And with Eldritch Blast being a Touch Attack, wouldn't the enemy have an effective AC of 10?

Touch attack AC - you don't count Armor, shield or natural armor bounses.

So base 10 + Dex + dodge + (other).

If flat-footed then no Dex or dodge bonuses.

If you have successfully hidden then you are considered invisible to the enemy (Rules Compendium pg 92)

Invisible (RC pg 76)

Your enemy is denied their Dex bonus to AC and you gain a +2 attack bonus.

If an enemy sees you for even an instant you can't make a Hide check - so barring other modifiers (like feinting for instance) - you can't hide in melee.