My take on an Assassin Base Class

[Nifft]

EDIT: Ninja'd!! If you want me to remove this one, just say the word.

Ninja'd in an Assassin thread? Ironic.
Yours is prettier, but mine is simpler.

- - -

Regarding the 3.0e-stuff, you really should remove ("exclusive skill"), because 3.5e has no such concept.

I don't like all the bonus feats. Feats should be things the PC chooses in addition to his normal stuff -- Arcane Strike looks like a decent feat for this Assassin, but hardly necessary to the "assassin" concept. Same for Improved Critical, and triple the same for Persistent Attacker. Assassins don't want their target to survive the first sneak attack -- why pay now for a benefit next round?

It's a bit troubling that the Rogue gets more sneak attack dice! No sane Assassin would take level 20 in this class -- he'd take a level of Rogue to try & catch up.

Cheers, -- N

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

The lesser sneak attack die at 20 level did occur to me, and I'm leaning toward changing it. But I wanted to be similar to the rogue w/out copying everything entirely. And as for the feats, you make some good points, though I may keep Arcane Strike and ditch the rest.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Commentary

Class Skills
May want to remove references to exclusive skills. That's a 3.0ism.

Death Blow
Table refers to "Death Blow" at 3rd level. What is Death Blow?

Poison Affinity +3
Appears twice on the table, once at level 10 and once at level 12.

Improved Critical
There's no need to allow the assassin to choose another feat instead of Improved Critical if they already have it, in my opinion. Improved Critcal can be taken multiple times, after all.

Persistant Attacker
Not familiar with the Persistant Attacker Feat.

Spells
There's no description of the assassin's spellcasting ability, nor is there a spells known table. I addressed this in the post above.

Disemboweling Strike
Should be "Disembowelling". EDIT: Double checked this. Disemboweling is correct. Sorry about that.

There appears to be a formatting error in the description.

At 17th level, the assassin can sacrifice 4d6 of his sneak attack damage to, regardless whether or not he possesses the Weapon Focus feat.

To what (I assume it is the 1d4 Consitution damage)? What does dealing 1d4 Constitution damage have to do with possessing the Weapon Focus feat?
Why 1d4? It would be better to have a multiple of 2 for the effects of the ability.

Perhaps this would be better:

At 17th level, an assassin learns to deal horrific wounds to his victims. When making a sneak attack, the assassin can choose to forgo 4d6 point of extra sneak attack damage to deal 2 points of constitution damage to your opponent. You may make a disembowelling strike only once per day on any particular target.

You could have the Constitution damage be 4 if you want, but I wouldn't make it any higher. Another option would be to make allow the assassin to make the constitution damage variable, depending on the amount of dice sacrificed (1 damage per (2) dice, or something like that).

Death Comes to All
Minor typo

If an assassin can studies a group...

Does Death Comes to All have the same time restriction that Death ttack does?

20th level
Is kinda boring (like a rogue, I guess). Perhaps a cool unique ability might be in order.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Ninja'd in an Assassin thread? Ironic.
Yours is prettier, but mine is simpler.

Cheers, -- N

Heh.

Damn me and my completionist tendencies...

It's a bit troubling that the Rogue gets more sneak attack dice! No sane Assassin would take level 20 in this class -- he'd take a level of Rogue to try & catch up.

I have to agree with this.
Since assassins are masters of surprise and all, I'd give them the full 10d6 damage... but make it Sudden Strike instead. It reduces the power a bit, but still allows the assassin to make substantially lethal attacks in the optimal surprise conditions.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Since assassins are masters of surprise and all, I'd give them the full 10d6 damage... but make it Sudden Strike instead. It reduces the power a bit, but still allows the assassin to make substantially lethal attacks in the optimal surprise conditions.

So would Sudden Strike replace all of the Sneak Attacks?

 

[Sound of Azure]

So would Sudden Strike replace all of the Sneak Attacks?

Yes. You'd have to change the progression if you made it extend to 10d6, though (obviously). I'm trying to figure out if it's balanced or not (compared to Rogues and Ninjas) ...

---
I forgot to mention it in my earlier post, but why are Will saves Good? The normal assassin doesn't have Will good.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Ok, I've removed Disemboweling Strike and Persistent Attacker. I've also edited out the exclusive skill (that was from the original version of the non-spell casting version and I overlooked it).

To answer Azure's question, Death Blow is a feat that allows a character to perform a coup de grace as a standard action, rather than a full action.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Ah, so. Thanks for the clarification. You'd probably do well to mention that it's a bonus feat (and list the source).

Just a thought: Perhaps your Improved Sneak Attack/Sudden Strike could be enabled whenever the assassin makes a death attack (ie, only after 3 rounds of study)? If you did this, I'd shift the level you acuire the ability up a bit (maybe 10th level).

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Yes. You'd have to change the progression if you made it extend to 10d6, though (obviously). I'm trying to figure out if it's balanced or not (compared to Rogues and Ninjas) ...

---
I forgot to mention it in my earlier post, but why are Will saves Good? The normal assassin doesn't have Will good.

The good will and reflex saves came from the original version of the non-spell casting variant PrC. Do you think it should be removed to increase the chance for balancing the class?

 

[Sound of Azure]

I'd choose one or the other. Due to the class possessing Evasion and Improved Evasion, I'd lean toward having good Reflex, as opposed to Will.

Since the assassin eventually gains a bonus (equal to his assassin level!) on all Will saves against Mind-affecting spells, I'd say he's fine without a good Will save. I'd also tone the bonus down.

If you still want a strong-willed assassin, why not take a note from the Swashbuckler, and the Scout?

Resilient Mind: Beginning at 2nd level, an Assassin's mental training gives him an edge against Mental effects, gaining a +1 competence bonus on Will saves. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level, and to +3 at 20th level.

and

Shrouded in Secrecy: At 14th level, the assassin's life of secrecy has rooted itself into the deepest elements of his being, and he becomes permanently resistant to attempts to discern his true nature through the sheer force of his will.

A caster attempting to gain information about the assassin through Divination effects must succeed at a caster level check (DC 10 + 1/2 the assassin's class level + the assassin's Charisma modifier) to succeed. If the check fails, the spell fails.

Furthermore, when any of these spells or effects are used against the assassin, he is instantly aware of it. The assassin does not normally know the source of the spell or effect, merely that someone is attempting to use such effects on him.

Additionally, the DC to find information about an assassin through mundane means (Knowledge checks, Gather Information) increases by 5. At 20th level, it increases by 10.