D&D 5E [GUIDE] Dealing Death: Handbook of the True Assassin

[phoenix1990642]

Apologies for the necro.
Does the hexblade from unearthed arcana fit well as an assassin? just looking at the first level ability of the hexblade cursed target crit rolls are now on 19-20 for 1 minute. Add in 2 weapon fighting with duel short swords. bonus damage equal to your cha modifer. when cursed target dies get warlock level + cha modifer back in hit points. Then 6th level ability is shadow hound As a
bonus action, you can command it to magically slip into the shadow of a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. While the shadow hound is merged in this manner, the target can’t gain the benefits of half cover or three-quarters cover against your attack rolls, and you know the distance and direction to the target even if it is hidden. The hound can’t be seen by anyone but you and those with true sight, and it is unaffected by light. just food for thought for a new campaign I am hoping to join up with. Fighter 2, rogue 3, warlock x?

 

[Yunru]

Do you allow Racial Feats from the UA? If so be an (Half-)Elf and take Elven Accuracy. It'll stack with your Assassinate and Hexblade curse abilities to ensure those hits hit.

And heavens forbid anyone try to stop you if you manage to pick up a Vorpal weapon (or two).

 

[phoenix1990642]

Yeah that's a really good feat. making sure the hits land on target to apply that bonus damage.

 

[droid6689]

I'm using the Sharpshooter UA 12/ Assassin 8
Nets you 3 attacks, 4d6 sneak attack, 6 ASIs
Steady Aim class ability is a nice buff that you can stack onto sharpshooter for another 8 damage per hit. On a action surge round that's an extra 48 damage. 20 dex plus shapshooter and steady aim makes for 138 damage even before dice rolls or crits

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[SubDude]

Feat question for my Battlemaster / Assassin (completely re-written):

We rolled stats and DM had us all cheat to boot, (rolled three sets and picked best one) so my DEX is 19. I'm also an elf, so it seems like a no-brainer to take the Elven Accuracy feat from XGE at my next opportunity. First it caps my DEX, plus I'd get "triple advantage" on any opponent who goes after me on turn one. Already having the Alert feat, I'd be a +10 on initiative, so getting the triple advantage on my Assassin turn (assuming no surprise) gives me a significantly higher chance of a critical hit or five.

Too much? Curious as to an opinion or two.

 

[MooreVol]

Any chance for an update on the material in Xanathar's?

I was wondering how you think Rogue 7/Ranger:Gloomstalker 11/Fighter 2 (with one more level somewhere for a ASI or Fighter archetype - Brute would be solid if you use UA) would compare with Fighter 11/Rogue 8 or another of your builds....

Gloomstalker gets you an extra attack in that first round of combat the earliest and the bonus to initiative is nice too, but it is a little MAD. Plus Darkvision (v. nice if you're human for the level 1 feat) and basically improved invisibility in darkness. I mean, that's pretty sweet too. Ranger also gives some spell-casting which can be useful.

My next character was going to be a Fighter (EK) 11/Rogue 9 Assassin... but now I'm thinking more like Rogue (A) 7/Ranger (GS) 11/Fighter 3 (Brute) though that does give fewer ASI....

I dunno. What're everyone else's thoughts?

 

[Edoardo Petrelli]

I am starting now a campaign with an half-drow assassin 3/ fighter 2 and I am planning to get at least two level of Warlock in order to be able to use the darkness granted by the race with devil's sight, pact blade and hex. what I am unsure about is if i would also benefit from other levels as an assassin or fighter (then probably battlemaster) or just go warlock from now on...

 

[MooreVol]

I am starting now a campaign with an half-drow assassin 3/ fighter 2 and I am planning to get at least two level of Warlock in order to be able to use the darkness granted by the race with devil's sight, pact blade and hex. what I am unsure about is if i would also benefit from other levels as an assassin or fighter (then probably battlemaster) or just go warlock from now on...

I am far from an authority on anything D&D, being a relative newcomer (I played some 2e in high school before getting back into 5e), but seems like as long as you get Rogue 3/Something with extra attack 5 then you'll be alright. Rogue 3/Fighter 2/Warlock 2 would be pretty nice. You could go Fighter 5 or Warlock 5 (if you're Pact of the Blade) then just whatever floats your boat, lotta good options out there.

Gloom Stalker gives you an extra attack in the first rounder and a bonus to Initiative. And spells. It's a minimum 3 level investment, but still may be worthwhile. (I'm, admittedly, a bit enamored with the Gloom Stalker).
Warlock has more spells and some pretty cool patron features. Dark One's Own Luck (Fiend) seems like it would mesh well with an assassin. Misty Escape (Fey) seems like it'd mesh well with any character.
More levels in fighter would be worthwhile for Battlemaster dice, EK spells, or the Brute's +1d4 to every attack. In fact, if it fits your character concept (or not) and you can use UA, the Brute's +1d4 seems like it might outshine the Battlemaster's occasional +1d8.... I dunno. Is a consistent +1d4 better than a set number of +1d8's? Though the BM's dice come with other effects as well... Also the Brute's higher level abilities (particularly Devastating Critical at level 15) seem like they'd work pretty well with an assassin.
More Rogue levels would add more to your sneak attack and all those nifty abilities like Expertise and Evasion and so forth up to about Level 7 or 9 or so.

I guess if I were you, I would get either Fighter or Warlock up to level 5 or 6 at a minimum... and maybe Rogue up to level 7 (doubles your sneak attack and gives you Evasion). Then you're Rogue 7/Fighter 5/Warlock 2..... or Rogue 7/Fighter 2/Warlock 6 and you can go from there....

 

[UnknownRogue]

The deadliest and most true to form Assassin is still actually the Rogue Assassin 17/Fighter Battle Master 3. Mechanically this build does the most nova damage and stylistically it’s in a way that’s simple and elegant.

The mechanical exploit everyone seems to miss (and correct me if I’m wrong) is using your action surge to get a second massive sneak attack off your reaction during the surprise round. All it takes is to surprise your enemy with at least 1 other character taking a turn during the surprise round. This will usually be an ally participating in the ambush but could also be another unsurprised/alert enemy (other than your ‘surprised’ target). Now you can use your Action Surge to ‘hold an action’ and trigger your attack on that character’s turn. You’ll get a second massive sneak attack (1 per turn, not round) with a second run of crit and death strike multipliers. The damage output is insane and the action economy streamlined.

Here’s the breakdown-

Main action attack:
short sword 1d6 + sneak atk 9d6+ superiority dice 1d8 + dex mod 5
Max: 73
w/Crit: 2d6+18d6+2d8+5=141
Crit w/death strike: 282

Bonus action attack:
Short sword 1d6 + superiority dice 1d8 + dex mod 5 (two-weapon fighting style bonus)
Max: 19
w/Crit: 2d6+2d8+5 = 33
Crit w/death strike: 66

Action surge ‘reaction attack’:
Same max damage as main attack

So in 1 surprise round using only 3 attacks your max damage potential:
282 + 66 + 282 = 630

Rogues just kill better

 

[SubDude]

The deadliest and most true to form Assassin is still actually the Rogue Assassin 17/Fighter Battle Master 3. Mechanically this build does the most nova damage and stylistically it’s in a way that’s simple and elegant....

Welcome to the forums, have some XP.

Couple of things.

First, no such thing as a "surprise round". A target is surprised or not, and if surprised is only surprised until their turn in the first round. I don't think this matters to your analysis, though. The Action Surge does not rely on the target being surprised, and so the (as you call it*) "Action surge 'reaction attack'" could happen regardless of surprise.

The more salient thing is that the sneak attack damage is limited to once per turn. Using your action surge to get another attack adds only the same as your bonus action attack, or 66.

This drops your total maximum damage to 282+66+66 = 414 - assuming the target fails all three "Death Strike" saving throws.

This is still excellent damage, indeed; but you've used the maximum possible damage here, not the average. The Fighter 4 / Rogue 3 / Paladin 13 in the OP deals an average of 313 damage including taking into account chances of missing. Its maximum to compare here would be 649.

I think one thing missing in all the analyses is the next several rounds. Our assassin with lots of rogue levels will continue to deal big hits, while the paladin-type runs out of spell slots.

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* What are you trying to say with the phrase: Action surge 'reaction attack'? This wording just puzzles me.