Nahat Anoj
First Post
Changelings make great night stalker assassins, but gnolls are perfect fits for bleak disciple assassins.
Dragon #382 - More Toys for the Assassin
- Thread starter Mustrum_Ridcully
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renau1g
First Post
Agreed about their schtick being hiding and killing, but I still can't understand how this can work if we're standing in the middle of a bright, sunny field, no clouds in the sky and then I pull a stealth check to gain CA?
re: gnolls - statwise, sure, but I guess I mean about fluff...it makes no sense.
re: gnolls - statwise, sure, but I guess I mean about fluff...it makes no sense.
We're talking about the same class that can step through an ally's shadow to teleport next to an enemy - remember, their stealth tricks are much more magical than just a skilled rogue.
In this case, I'd visualize it as the following: Normally, a changeling can suddenly shift their features to confuse their opponent, perhaps by suddenly looking like a friend or ally, or a fallen foe, or even the opponent themself - not enough to truly trick them, but instead enough to startle the foe and give them that momentary bit of combat advantage. With this feat, instead of looking like someone else, perhaps the changeling's skin suddenly blurs into the colors of the background or fades into shadows, or otherwise momentarily makes them hard to see - not enough to let them actually vanish from the opponent's sight, but enough to, again, give them that sudden edge and a moment of combat advantage.
Doesn't seem too odd to me - not compared to all the other tricks assassin's are capable of.
I'm not sure what seems unusual about the fluff. Gnolls are often heartless killers - what is strange about some of them trading away bits of their souls to become even more adept at the art of the kill?
They are a race, in fact, already known for using cunning and tricks to lure opponents into danger (the 'mimicry' discussed in their fluff, represented for character's by the "Butcher's Lure" feat.) The line between natural predator and trained assassin isn't that far - and given the original assassin article included feats for dragonborn, goliaths, dwarves, and many other races far less likely to become assassins than gnolls, I don't see anything weird about this feat for them...
Thatwackyned
First Post
What would be the best build to get a Little girl swinging pillow as deadly as a fighter swinging a sword build look like?
Well, you will probably be dealing with an improvised weapon build, which has gotten remarkably viable in the last few months.
1) A Ki Focus would be an obvious choice for letting you treat it as magical. You would need to be a monk or assassin to use this, or multiclassed into one of them.
2) The Belt of the Brawler (a level 3 magic item) lets you make improvised weapon attacks as though using a club (so +2 proficiency, 1d6 damage, instead of +0 proficiency, 1d4 damage.) Note that the Ruthless Ruffian rogue build can use clubs for sneak attack/rogue powers, if you are interested in sneak attacking people with pillows (or any other improvised weapons).
3) Weapon Master, a heroic feat in the recent Class Acts: Fighter article, requires having Weapon Focus and Weapon Expertise in one weapon, and lets you then get the benefit of those feats when using any weapon. (Alternatively, you might just be able to take 'Weapon Focus/Expertise: Pillow).
4) If you multiclass Barbarian, you can pick up Improvised Missile, which lets you use improvised melee weapons as heavy thrown weapons, and gives a +2 feat bonus to attack and damage when using them in this fashion.
With several of these combined, you can make a pretty effective build using any improvised weapon desired. Rogue multiclassed into Assassin (or Monk, when there is a Monk multiclass feat) has my vote, which both gives you good damage, and a nice selection of skills for making anything from a drunken master chucking ale mugs at people, to a little girl who beats people up with a pillow...
CelticMutt
First Post
Unfortunately, the article leaves out the Genasi. They're now the only race out of all the official write-ups (PHB,PG,Dragon) that don't get one. Kinda silly.
My feeling as well. Gnolls have struck me as being savage and rather... brutish. Not subtle. They swarm the enemy and rip it to shreds. That's even part of their racials - extra damage for adjacent allies.
Skulking about and striking from the shadows seems much more patient and methodical. It's just not the image that the gnoll presents. This is more in line with a Bugbear, who are all ready portrayed as stealthy killers who even the brutish ones are keen and crafty (hence the predatory eye).
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