Is the Assassin's Death Attack an 'evil act'?

[Kafkonia]

Since there are no alignment requirements for the Assassin PrC, and since I cannot find anything in the Code of Conduct for a Paladin that forbids sneak attacks or death attacks, would a Paladin/Assassin build be functional? Obviously either atonement would be needed (since killing someone to just to become an assassin probably qualifies as EVIL) and the character could gain no more Paladin levels, or the character would have to have classed into Assassin from elsewhere and then "seen the light", as it were.

I know there's nothing in the RAW to prevent those two classes from beind held at the same time, but would it require giving up the class features of one or the other to do so? I'm just thinking about developing an order devoted to Slaying Evil and wondering if this is a feasible route for members to take.

 

[Demoquin]

I beleive the Assassin class in the DMg requires you to be an evil alignment. Some might be inclined to include neutral as well, but that would be a houserule

 

[lukelightning]

Since there are no alignment requirements for the Assassin PrC...

From the SRD:

Requirements
To qualify to become an assassin, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment
Any evil.

So you must be evil to become an assassin. There is debate about assassins then converting to good afterwards, but you'd certainly loose your paladin status for becoming one.

I'd say death attack, however, is not inherently evil. I believe the Book of Exhalted Deeds has an "Evil Slayer" type PrC (that is, someone who slays evil, not a slayer who is evil).

Or you could make your own PrC and have a special attack that combines death attack and smiting evil; you spend 3 rounds using your detect evil to study the subject then can make a special "death smite."

 

[Bad Paper]

Since there are no alignment requirements for the Assassin PrC

uhh...what?

 

[Kafkonia]

uhh...what?

Sorry, I meant that there are no alignment restrictions once you've entered the class -- ie, there are no penalties analogous to those faced by Paladins, Barbarians, Druids, or Bards. In fact, as written there isn't even anything as stiff as the "keep your abilities, but no more advancement" penalty handed down to Monks who stray from being Lawful. As long as they were evil when they took their first level, they can continue to advance regardless of what their current alignment is; at least, that's how I'm reading it.

 

[Deset Gled]

As long as they were evil when they took their first level, they can continue to advance regardless of what their current alignment is; at least, that's how I'm reading it.

Depends on what books you use.

The 3.5 core books do not address this issue, so it is up to the DM to decide how it works. In the Complete Warrior, there is a rule that if you lose the prereq to a PrC, you lose everything but saves, BAB, and hit dice gained from the PrC. If you follow this rule, however, your Dragon Disciple will asplode once it hits level 10.

Personally, I think that a less strict approach works better: if you lose a prereq, you can't continue to advance, but don't lose anything either. This answer is balanced, simple and fits in line with the standard classes in the core books, but is also completely pulled out of my rear end. It might also be worth noting that when I DM, I impose XP penalties to characters that start a second PrC before completing the first, which works well to cut down on PrC "dipping".*

To answer your original question, I don't think the Death Attack is any more inherently evil than any other attack, but is is a slipperly slope to be standing on. There have been many threads about whether or not Paladins are allowed to kill helpless foes and the like. You will not find any definite answer.

*Edit: I would probably make exceptions for PrCs like the Exotic Weapon Master, but the circumstance has never really come up.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

As long as they were evil when they took their first level, they can continue to advance regardless of what their current alignment is; at least, that's how I'm reading it.

Not true. If you no longer meet the prereqs of the class, you lose the benefits.

 

[Sejs]

Sorry, I meant that there are no alignment restrictions once you've entered the class -- ie, there are no penalties analogous to those faced by Paladins, Barbarians, Druids, or Bards. In fact, as written there isn't even anything as stiff as the "keep your abilities, but no more advancement" penalty handed down to Monks who stray from being Lawful. As long as they were evil when they took their first level, they can continue to advance regardless of what their current alignment is; at least, that's how I'm reading it.

As with any PrC, if you do not meet the pre-requisites you lose all the benefits of the class other than direct hit die related abilities (that is: bab, hit points, save bonuses, and skill ranks) and you cannot advance further in the class.

Thus if an Assassin stops being evil, they lose their class features. Death attack, poison use, spellcasting, the whole shebang.

As for the original question of is Death Attack itself an evil act? No. It's simply efficient. You just have to join an evil society of murderers-for-hire in order to learn how to do it. There are a few other classes that gain access to Death Attack or a similar ability (Darkwood Stalker, Blackflame Zelot, Teflammar Shadowlord) but most of them are of similarly questionably ethics.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I'm just thinking about developing an order devoted to Slaying Evil and wondering if this is a feasible route for members to take.

If you like the mechanics of Assassin, then use them and just tweak the wording so that being Evil is not required, but being Good is. Make it attractive to have Paladin as a base class (i.e. detect evil, etc.) and you should be good to go.


"Is the Assassin's Death Attack an 'evil act'?" Is a frog's ass watertight?

 

[Particle_Man]

Book of Exalted Deeds has the Slayer of Domei, a bunch of lawful good sneaky killers of evil. They don't get Death Attack, but a version of Death Touch (a la the cleric Death domain).

Complete Warrior has a Dark Slayer class that is underground focused, 5 levels, and gets Death Attack at 5th.

I think there is also an elf one, but it is focused on orcs.

Complete Divine has a divine one that gets death attack, but they have to be non-good.