Please rate the Assassin

[Celebrim]

Well, the Assassin is one of the very few PrC's which has ever caused me to consider breaking my rule of no PrC's in my campaign world. Unlike 95% of the classes out there, it is not merely a core class with more bonus feats disguised as class abilities. Unlike 95% of the PrC's, it is not merely 'lets make a class which is more specialized at X' - which inevitably leads to a class with 10 different bonus feats, munchkinization, and as much flavor as 'Skill Focus'. The flavor is interesting. The special abilities aren't over powering, and there is a reasonable chance of the class being used for multiple organizations and not merely occuring as a single enclave somewhere in the world.

 

[Tar-Edhel]

I like this class EXCEPT for the spellcasting, which I house-ruled into bonus Feats instead.

Still, even without that change, this is a kick-butt PrC which fills a vital niche. It's not terribly flexible, and not particularly useful for PCs, though.

I give it an 8.

-- Nifft

I love the spells they get. They add to the flavor of the class a lot, IMO.

The only thing that sucks is the evil requirement. But that's only because I'll never get to play one (The paladin and the good cleric of war wouldn't welcome me much ).

I gave it a 9 for all the reasons given so far.

"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." -- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989

Rave on, man!

 

[Stalker0]

I also agree the assasin is one of the best Prcs. Its relatively balanced, and most importantly, is set up to fill exaclty the niche its supposed to.

 

[smetzger]

6.09 after 47 votes

btw Arcane Archer got a 6.23

 

[Trine]

On the whole, I feel the class is very well-designed and works well within its purpose. It's well-balanced throughout, although the 10th level really doesn't offer a whole lot.

A very smart assassin with lots of ranks in Disguise can be one of the most difficult things for a PC to face in a city-type setting. A guild of them is even worse. How do you know those peasants following you are just peasants? Is 18 seconds enough time to figure out that they want to put a poisoned dagger in your backside? At higher levels Disguise becomes less important as they start to be able to rely on their spells to hide themselves from sight.

I really like the spell list too. A few more wouldn't have hurt to add, but IIRC some of the splat books from WotC do add more. The spells that are there fit really well with the type of class that it is though. No flashy-direct damage spells. Mostly pre-fight obscuring spells, or spells to let you get away safely when the time comes.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

As an NPC... gee, all I need is a Ring of Invisibility. Those PCs don't walk around with Persistent See Invisibility... I'll just wait three rounds and stab their mage in the back *snickers*

As a PC... gee, Mr. Mage, please make me a Ring of Invisibility.

I really don't see why the death attack had to be a 1st-level ability, it should be a higher level ability. Why wouldn't every NPC evil rogue take one level of assassin?

 

[Trine]

A Rogue 5/Assassin 1 with a 14 int (+2 bonus) is only going to have a DC 13 Fort save for their death attack. A level 6 Wizard with 12 Con (+3 Fort bonus) would have a 55% chance to save against that. More if they've raised their Fort saves in some way (Great Fortitude, limited save bonus items, etc). That's at the minimum level one could qualify for the PrC and then have a level in it. If all you've got is a single level of Assassin at higher levels the DC is going to prove to be far too low to make any difference.