That's why a lot of Assassin builds only have three levels in rogue. The combat Assassin is better built as mostly fighter or Ranger anyway. Or at least F/R 5/Rogue 3 as a base. You want that extra attack and the other combat buffs more than the extra sneak attack dice. I like both builds. I've never had a chance to play straight assassin in a campaign that it really works in, which is a shame. I love urban intrigue games.Yeah, fair enough. They don't suck, they're just too situationally (campaign?) dependent. And to have two subclass abilities like that back to back? If you're in a campaign where there isn't a lot of urban roleplaying and intrigue, your subclass might literally give you no bonus from 3 to 17.