The Assassins Handbook

[Messageboard Golem]

The assassin is a killer for hire, a fighter whose strength comes from the element of surprise and from the complete disregard he has for the rules of "honorable" combat. The Assassins Handbook, second in Green Ronins Master Class series, brings back the First Edition tradition of the assassin core class. In addition to Master Class essentials like new feats, spells, equipment, and prestige classes, the book also includes an extensive selection of new poisons and two complete assassin brotherhoods--the icy and professional Vultur and the mysterious and fanatic Sirat. Written by Assassin Mountain author Wolfgang Baur and Planescape creator David "Zeb" Cook, The Assassins Handbook adds a whole new dimension to d20 fantasy.

 

[Khan the Warlord]

The Assassin's Handbook

Authors: David "Zeb" Cook and Wolfgang Baur
Published by: Green Ronin Publishing
ISBN: 0-9714380-7-2
Stock Number: GRR1301
MSRP: $14.95 US
Page Count: 64 pages

The Assassin's Handbook is the second installment in Green Ronin's Master Class series of books. For those that aren't already aware of the "Master Class" series by Green Ronin, they detail new core classes and ways to support and easily integrate them (new feats, skills, etc.) into your campaign. I am not a big fan of new core classes, unless the concept just *can't* be addressed in a prestige class format. However, it appears that our friends at Green Ronin Publishing appear to be headed in the right direction, as the Shaman was a big hit, and I was hoping to see an assassin class that wasn't so fully-dependent on the rogue class, unlike the assassin prestige class offered in the 3e DMG. With authors like Dave Cook and Wolfgang Baur, I was really excited and pumped for this work, as I'm a big fan of their previous works from the TSR era.

The Assassin's Handbook is an 64 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $14.95 US -- 16 pages shorter and $2.00 cheaper than the Shaman's Handbook from GRP. I never guessed that 16 additional pages equated to a $2.00 difference, but I'm glad to see GRP didn't keep the same price for a somewhat smaller work. Some other d20 companies... nevermind.

The cover of the Assassin's Handbook was very different from the interior artwork -- it left much to be desired and wasn't nearly as "gripping" as it should have been. The cover (illustrated by Michael Sutfin) depicts an assassin gripping an elf by the hair and delivering the after effects of the "killing blow" to the neck; although the wound itself is not displayed, but blood splatter courses down the opposite side. The assassin seems to be elsewhere, his gaze not even in the direction of his prey. In the background, there is a monolith adorned with a skull, with bolts of blue magical energy shooting skyward (as to why, I have no idea). All in all, it isn't a cover that screams "buy this book" to this reviewer.

The interior artists all easily make up for the lackluster cover. I was very pleased with almost all of the artwork offered by Anthony Waters, Marcio Fiorito, and Michael Phillippi. To be honest, Mr. Waters' images were my least favorite, but still good, while Mr. Phillippi has instantly become one of my favorite B&W artists -- easily the match of many of the best in the industry today. Mr. Fiorito's artwork was simply good... not top notch at any point, but solid all around.

The header fonts of the book have a definite Arabic style to them, the regular text isn't as dense as say The Book of the Righteous, but overall I would say it is well worth the money. The only borders are on the side of the page and are filled with jawless skulls of different shades.

The Meat of the Work
Chapter One: The Assassin Core Class

Of course, the first chapter details the assassin core class itself. It does a fine job giving a Player's Handbook feel to the core class, including snippets on why assassin's could seek adventuring roles, characteristics of assassins, alignment, religion, background, races, and how the assassin interacts with other classes (and vice versa). I was pleased to see starting packages for assassins and a very well researched spell list that includes a plethora of new spells unique to this work.

The assassin is given the same base attack bonus progression as the rogue core class, and their "good" save is Reflex, just like the rogue. This seems reasonable.

At 1st level, the assassin receives their first bonus feat, which is repeated again at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20. So far, totally feasible. Assassins also receive a number of bonus languages, but can also learn secret languages like Druidic. Um, why? There is even a "secret sign language" available to only assassins that cannot be learned by outsiders, simply because no assassin would ever teach it to a non-assassin -- ever. Hmm... this sounds like the reasoning behind the druidic secret language, but yet, the assassin class can know it? Very odd. No explanation for an odd rule = an ability of the class that won't be implemented in my games.

At 2nd level, the assassin is given the ability "Killing Blow", which is basically an augmented version of the "coup de grace" attack listed in the PH. This ability can be used more at every four levels and is useless against enemies that are immune to critical hits -- which makes perfect sense. However, the part that I'm not too fond of is the fact that assassins would never be used against undead and other worthy opponents because of this. There are no extra abilities or feats listed in the work that assists the assassin in combating creatures immune to critical hits (there is a heavy theme for poison use, but poison would be useless against these creatures as well). I would have really loved to see a few alternatives offered for opponents immune to critical hits and poison use.

At 3rd level, the assassin is allowed the sneak attack ability of a rogue. It progresses much the same beyond this point as a rogue's sneak attack does.

At 4th level, if the assassin has bonus spells available, he can now implement his spellcasting aspect of the class. David Cook and Wolfgang Baur have given the assassin the use of spellcasting without any explanation as to why. There is nothing in the flavor text, nor in the small two paragraphs discussing the spellcasting, detailing *why* or *how* the assassin receives this ability. All that is said, is that he must prepare his spells like a wizard, but has the full choice of all available spells as a cleric. Weird.

Ex-assassins: If any assassin becomes good, then he loses the Killing Blow ability. Why? I can think of a number of good-aligned characters, classes, and races in the D&D universe that would have no hesitation in using the Killing Blow ability because of their alignment. The target is flat-footed... you take the shot... simple enough, isn't it? I would suggest axing this reasoning behind ex-assassins altogether. The assassin isn't allowed a "good" alignment due to the fact that he is PAID to kill and slaughter, not the method in which he does it (some may go toe-to-toe with their adversaries, after all). To me, if an assassin becomes good, he is no longer able to accept contracts, but would still retain the class abilities offered in this work.

Chapter Two: Assassin Prestige Classes

In this chapter, you're offered three prestige classes that are supposed to be easily integrated with the assassin core class. The main problem of this chapter is that only two of them do this, while the first offered (the fida'i) simply doesn't.

The Fida'i: These are zealous, ruthless holy warriors who are required to have total devotion to their cause. Chapters Ten and Eleven go further into how and why an assassin could take this prestige class, but the abilities of the class in Chapter Two simply don't seem "assassinsh" enough, if at all. If one were to judge the abilities of this prestige class and guess what core class it would work best with, one would naturally assume any of the divine class, of which the assassin is not. As a side note, the prestige class itself is sound enough and the abilities are balanced, while the requirements needed to take the class are logical.

The Houri: The seductive assassin, the alluring assassin, the new lover that kills. Personally, this is my favorite of the three prestige classes offered. All of the abilities are perfectly designed and I can really see the more role-playing oriented players frothing at the mouth to try this one out in their games. Very well done.

The Shadow Mage: Well, I was surprised to see such a generic name for this class, when we are given two very arabic-styled names for the two previous ones. However, like the Houri, this is a well thought out prestige class. When some people think of the "fantasy assassin", as opposed to their real-life counterparts, the Shadow Mage will probably fit their imaginings quite well. My only real complaints about this class are: the simple name and the fact that these mages focus on "shadow magic" per se and are given a couple of nifty shadow-flavored abilities, but there isn't any additional affect for their own magics due to their shadow nature.

Chapter Three: Spells

In this chapter, you'll find 16 new spells for your new assassin core class. The 16 spells divided up by level are:

1st level: Distraction, Fast Escape, Forget, and Shadow Hands.
2nd level: Part Crowd.
3rd level: Poison Food or Water, Ghost Blade, Shadow Bolt, and Smoke Form.
4th level: Choking Shadows, Force Armor, Martyr's Death, Poison Blade, Shadow Blade, Steal Identity, and Void Armor.

The majority of these spells are well conceived, balanced, and original. However, there are a few broken ones:

Force Armor: There is no mention of whether this spell's benefit to AC stacks with or overlaps any natural armor, or armor worn. An experienced DM, or a player that is familiar with the general rules of 3e could discern for himself easily enough, but I'm willing to bet not every owner of this book will be that way.

Martyr's Death: There is simply no possible way that a 4th level spell could potentially kill every creature within 30 feet of the spellcaster (who must give his life to power the spell). For those that succeed at their Fortitude saves to resist the death effect, they still receive 1d12 damage per level of the caster, which includes non-spellcaster levels. Now, if the editor would check the average damage dice per level table offered in the DMG, then they would have realized that this amount of damage at d12 level is just too much. This spell is 100% broken and needs major overhaul.

Part Crowd: I have major troubles allowing a simple 2nd level spell to affect up to fifty creatures without any saving throw offered. It doesn't matter that there could be 50 20th level creatures affected by this spell, as the text doesn't designate a difference with power levels. I believe I know the reason why this spell is over-powered and sitting at 2nd level -- they simply needed a 2nd level spell to fit the empty slots. Now at 3rd or 4th level and a level cap of those affected, this would be a sweet spell...

Now please, don't misunderstand me here, as I love the majority of these spells, I just felt like I should point out a few of the "broken" ones.

Chapter Four: Equipment

In this chapter, you'll be treated with 7 Special and Superior Items: Marching Powder, Masterwork Pry Bar, Opium (yes friends, drugs are afoot), Poison Tooth, Rope Ladder Belt, Traveling Chest, and Wedges (thank goodness that the old 1e door spikes (wedges) have returned to 3e).

You'll also find 11 new magic items, three of which are weapons: Shadow Dagger, Shadow Sword, and Subtle Knife. The other 8 magical items are wondrous items: Black Lotus Incense, Cauldron of Poison, Cloak of Night, Hashish of Paradise, King's Cup, Queen's Plate, Safe Conduct Papers, and the Trickster's Mask.

All of the items presented in this short chapter (only two pages), are easily adaptable into any campaign and are well balanced. My apologies to those that are already sick of hearing me spout "well balanced", but it is a key figure I always check for. Also, I would like to applaud GRP for allowing the authors to use drugs in this section, as I believe every element of real life that can be applied to the D&D game, should be applied.

Chapter Five: Skills and Feats

The only skill in this chapter is an augmented version of the Craft skill: Craft (Poison). It has been handled very well and I'm glad to see that poison wasn't an entirely new and unneccessary skill, like so many d20 publishers today would try.

The new feats are: Death From Above (you jump on an opponent as part of a charge attack), Deep Cover (the James Bond feat), Extend Poison, Eavesdrop, Empower Poison, Glib Tongue (making it easy to bluff a specific person the first time, but harder each additional time you try), Improved Dodge, Maximize Poison, Poison Focus, Poison Use (no more nasty risks for handling poison), Prone Shot (receive a bonus to ranged attacks while prone), Quick Change (like Quick Draw, but with disguises), Quicken Poison, Shadow Focus, Stone-Cold Killer, and Weapon Panache (trading your Str modifier to hit for your Cha modifier).

You can recognize the influence of previously-published spell-related feats (Empower Spell, Spell Focus, Maximize Spell, etc.), but the above are related to mainly poison use, or specialized shadow spells. While some people could view this as a waste of space, I'm thankful that a publisher has given these generic types a chance in newer roles (poisons and the like) and not just restricted to spells and psionics.

My only real gripe about any of the feats applies to Improved Dodge, which was already touched upon by name, if not similar content, by Mongoose Publishing.

Chapter Six: Poisons

In this chapter, you're introduced to a number of real life poisons that can be adapted to the D&D game and a host of new fantasy-based poisons. You're given onset times, Craft DCs, and tables that detail types, save DCs, initial and secondary damages, and the cost of each poison to purchase.

Real-world poisons include: Amantia, Arsenic, Belladonna, Black Widow Venom, Botulin, Cobra Venom, Curare, Cyanide, Digitalis, Dumb Cane, Fugu Toxin, Hemlock, Poison Dart Frog Toxin, Ricin, Sallamander Poison, Shellfish Toxin, Stonefish, Tarantula Venom, and Wolfsbane.

My main complaint with the real-world poisons: many of the DCs pale in comparison to the fantasy poisons, almost making them worthless in comparison.

Fantasy poisons include: Angel Kiss, Bitch's Brew (watch out GRP, the female gamers of the world are going to lynch you, lol), Blackrot, Demon's Blood, Mummy Dust, Necropotent Elixir, Nevermore, Prophet's Tongue, Sinner's Scythe, Sword of God, Taint of Shadow, and Wine From Death's Goblet.

You'll find many of the fantasy poisons more than capable of dispatching characters at most any level.

Chapter Seven: Among Shadows & Blood

This chapter is more akin to that of an encyclopedia of the real world and the introduction and general implementations of assassins, ranging from the Far East to Europe. This chapter is a font of assassin information and any player or DM wishing to add the assassin in their game (either via the core class offered in this book, or the prestige class in the DMG), would benefit from the reading. You'll also find a small introduction to the two brotherhoods discussed later in the book: the Vultur and the Sirat.

Chapter Eight: The Vultur

This chapter details the Vultur: the organization itself, their seven kingdoms, their regents, their councils -- everything one needs to know in order to incorporate this society into their campaigns.

Chapter Nine: The Vultur Among You

I believe this chapter could have been incorporated with the previous chapter. You'll find information on hiring the Vultur, communicating with them and how to handle your "contacts" within the organization, and even joining the order itself and the Code that it forces every member to uphold.

Chapter Ten: The Sirat

This chapter discusses how the Sirat came to exist (the prophet Karol), the doctrine that they hold, their homes (the Valleys of the Sirat), the Eagle's Eye (the home of the current Lord of the Mountain), the Seven Citadels, and information about the Lord of the Mountain himself.

Chapter Eleven: The Fida'i

As I noted earlier in this review, this is the chapter that fully fleshes out the Fida'i prestige class and how it could be integrated with assassins. However, there is nothing in this text that hinders the arguement that the Fida'i special abilities are anything else than divinely-based only. In fact, once I finished reading this chapter, I was convinced that the Fida'i were like the Al-Queda assassins of 9/11 -- religious zealouts that care nothing for human life and desire to be martyrs for their "faith". Not to turn this review into a political witch-hunt of the authors or GRP, but I was left disgusted of the class and personally won't allow any of my players to take it. But again, this is the D&D game and every element needs to be addressed, but this will only happen from the NPCs of my game.

Chapter Twelve: Assassin NPCs

In this chapter, you will find 8 assassin-based NPCs that are all fully-fleshed out and quite ready to be "plug and played" into your campaign. All of the NPCs have backgrounds tied into the last few chapters of the book, so if you don't wish to drop those organizations into your campaign, then you'll have to do a little alterations to these NPCs.

Conclusion:

Well, I was somewhat disappointed by the Assassin core class and the Fida'i prestige class, which makes the number of playable classes without any needed alterations equal to the number of classes that are in need of some slight help. However, the extensive poison lists, feats, new spells, equipment (mundane and magical), were all too tasty and crunchy for me to look at this work as anything less than "good".

I would suggest that GRP give their newer releases a few more read-overs, as I noticed more than a few editoral gaffs, and even a failed "cut and paste". Also, a few of the d20 mechanics need to be tended to, but all in all, the ideas and the rest of the work were just darn good. While not everyone will enjoy the fact that over half of this work is devoted to "fluff" and not "crunchy bits", I am more than pleased with the "fluff" I read and every organization offered in this tome will see playing time in future games of mine.

-Chester G. Douglas II

Reviwer's Edit: You'll find a web enhancement for this work available here.

 

[GameWyrd]

One of my favourite companies in the d20 scene at the minute are Green Ronin. The quality of their writing is top of the line and their products are wonderfully professional. The Assassin’s Handbook also has great writing and a professional layout and quality to it – but the concept falls flat on it’s face.

I think class books are a solid idea. When they’re done right class books can help players and GMs alike to add flesh to the barebones of character concepts inherent in the class. When a class book is done right it can help steer people away from clichés and yet keep them safely in the realms of believable concepts. The same is true of race books, Green Ronin’s own Dwarf book, Hammer and Helm is a great example of this. The Assassin’s Handbook is not.

Yes, the Assassin’s Handbook is a core character class book. One thing the book does is to move the assassin from a prestige class to a core class. This means that much of the new mechanics for assassins in the Handbook is mutually exclusive with "standard" assassins. Even if you like the Assassin’s Handbook more than I do you’ll have to wait until your next campaign, your next campaign suited to assassins, before you can use it. I’m not at all convinced that the assassin is a core character class and this certainly does not bolster my opinion of the book. You’re playing a trained killer – that’s a fighter. You’re playing someone who conceal himself in the shadows and then time his attack with deadly skill – that’s a rogue. You’re playing someone who can stealthily approach their target, aid their approach or escape with a bit of magic and strike accurately with missile from afar – that’s a ranger. You’re playing someone who kills selectively and according to deeply held religious convictions – that’s a paladin. A mixture of any of these – a multi-class. A specialised form of any of these – a prestige class. In addition, leaving the assassin as a prestige class avoids the problem of the "elite rookie". If your PC is a member of the hometown’s small militia and has some experience with combat and melees then you can play a level one fighter. If your PC is an apprentice to the city’s wizard and you can cast a small collection of petty magic then you can play a level one wizard. What’s a level one assassin? An assassin in training with practise in killing unimportant people only? That doesn’t sit so well. Further more, to play this book’s assassin and make full use of the character’s spell list you’ll need to be able to get your hands on Pocket Grimoire Arcane. The advantage of turning the assassin in to a basic character class is that you can then make prestige classes especially suited to it and that’s what happens in the Handbook.

There are three prestige classes in chapter two and they’re pretty good. The basics are all done right; nothing’s missing from the requirements, they’re detailed through 10 levels, have decent features and explained clearly. The Fida’i are those religious zealots who become killers to further their cause. The Houri are courtesans and consorts who are also deadly spies and killers. The Shadow Mages, the least of the ‘real life’ inspired of the prestige classes, introduce nice touches like the Shadow Familiar and the Shadow descriptor for new spells. I do like the Shadow Mage prestige class and there are plenty of other things I like in the Handbook. The positive discovers in the book save the review score from the abyss and starts the climb back towards average.

The third chapter of the book contains a couple of pages of new spells. The spells are an interesting mix; some of them are clearly high fantasy, high effect spectaculars whereas others have a distinctly low fantasy, nitty gritty feel to them. High fantasy spells include Smoke Form, a scarily low third level assassin spell, and Void Armor, one of the new shadow described spells. Examples of the low fantasy style can be found in Fast Escape and Part Crowd.

The following chapters, in order, present a page or two of new equipment, skills, feats and poisons. The new equipment, skills and feats are what you’d expect from a D&D targeted d20 book but the poisons are not. The poisons warrant a mention. Two types of poisons are used in the Handbook; fantasy and real life poisons – but it’s really the rule style that matters. Standard d20 poisons act straight away and have a secondary effect just a minute later. In real life poisons can act very much more slowly and this, as Green Ronin rightly point out, can be just the effect the assassin wants. So, to address this and to give players (and DMs) the best of both worlds, the Assassin’s Handbook presents two different subsections for poisons and presents the effects of each as suited. For example, Hemlock’s initial onset is within 30 minutes and the secondary effect an hour later.

By this point in the book we’ve reached a short history lesson. In a few pages we run around the world and briefly look how assassins and myths of assassins arose. This works quite well since it brings a wider scope of character to the assassin. It makes a point that those weird guys who dress in black because it looks cool, roam from city to city and ‘assassinate’ people just to stay in practise are as rare as they are insane. Yet, annoyingly, this seems too common in some fantasy RPGs. More likely is that the assassin is a religious or political killer and that they’re working with others of a kind. We’re also pretty much halfway through the 64-paged book by now.

The other half of the book is spent detailing a shadow war between two groups of assassins, the Vultur and the Sirat, who represent the political and religious motivations in turn. The complex relationship between these two groups, the key locations, people of note and interesting events are presented in a 30 or so paged campaign backdrop. I think the phrase "campaign backdrop" is more appropriate than "adventure" because there’s no series of scenes chained together to take the players from point A to point B. Instead the DM’s told what’s going on and who’s interested and they’re left to insert that into their campaign if they want. This, I believe, is the way to present all pre-written story ideas but it does strike me as a slightly strange offering in an "Assassin’s Handbook". Stranger still is the percentage of the book that this takes up. Half. That’s awfully high. The last half of the book seems to be best used as a comprehensive example of how cults or organised assassins could work in a traditional fantasy world. It has the distinct disadvantage that you’ll only be able to use it once with any set of players. It also means you, as a DM, may find yourself handing out the book so players can create their new assassin character and telling them to wrestle the temptation and not read the last half of the book.

If you don’t like the core assassin class and if you’ve used the "campaign backdrop" in the back then there’s only a few pages left in the Handbook. The chances are that you’ll have to rule out the prestige classes too. By now you’ve lost the spells and many of the feats and skills look shaky. The poisons are good and remain good though. When judging a RPG product I always look to see if it succeeds in doing what it sets out to do. Once that’s established I can alter the over all score by adding points for quality and exceptionally attractive or clever ideas or perhaps taking off points for being too expensive, having grammar worse than mine or being entirely unoriginal. The Assassin’s Handbook doesn’t really achieve much of what it suggests it should but it does not fall on its face. I think the book has been miss-titled and wrongly branded. If the same book had been given a different cover and sold to me as a specific study of the Vultur and the Sirat for any given campaign world then I might have liked it more. In the end, though, I was able to appreciate parts and writing quality throughout. The overall effect is a decidedly middling mark for the Handbook.

* This GameWyrd review first appeared here.

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

The Assassin's Handbook is the second in Green Ronin's Master Class series, bringing new core classes to the world of d20. This time round it's the Assassin's turn.

The Assassin's Handbook comes in at $14.95 for 64 pages, making it a fairly expensive purchase for its size and type compared to other products. Balanced against this, the use of space is excellent, with good font size, small margins, and almost no wasted space (including no ads). The internal mono art ranges from average to superb, whilst the slightly stilted front cover does not match the quality of the best of the art within. Maps are basic but are scaled and have compass direction. Writing style and editing are good.

Chapter One: The Assassin Core Class (4 pages), gets straight to the meat of the subject. It is immediately recommended that this new core class and the prestige class from Core Rulebook II are mutually exclusive in a campaign. The core class is not restricted to an evil alignment - they are allowed to be any non-good. They follow the same BAB and Save progression as a Rogue, and use the same Hit Die. They get 4 skills per level + modifiers. As far as class features go, the Assassin gains:
* a bonus feat from a restricted list every four levels starting from 1st
* bonus languages including a secret sign language
* the ability to make a coup-de-grace attack as a standard action, which can be used against any flat-footed or flanked opponent, but he must make an attack roll to do so.
* sneak attack every six levels starting from 3rd
* spells beginning at 4th level, can learn max. 4th levels spells and casts at half his character level. The assassin has his own spell list.

Chapter Two: Assassin Prestige Classes (3 pages), has three prestige classes:
* Fida'i - religious fanatic with a d8 HD, fighter BAB and religious protection abilities.
* Houri - assassin who uses seduction and charm to gain access to their victims.
* Shadow Mage - master of shadows mixing magic and stealth, with standard spell progression and access to assassin's spell list.

Chapter Three: Spells (5 pages), offers 16 new spells to fill out the assassin's spell list. Includes spells such as the 1st-level Distraction, where the assassin disappears in a clap of thunder and puff of smoke (+4 to Hide and Move Silently) to escape from a tricky situation, and the 4th-level 'Steal Identity', where the assassin takes on another creature's appearance and mannerisms by making a touch attack (+10 to Disguise), whilst the victim is put into a coma-like stupor.

Chapter Four: Equipment (2 pages), provides a selection of special and magic items. Examples include opium (with addiction guidelines), shadow knife (made of shadow), and king's cup (detects poison).

Chapter Five: Skills And Feats (3 pages) discusses the use of Craft (Poison) and has 16 new feats, including Eavesdrop, Prone Shot, and a number of feats that enhance the use of poison through metamagic-type prefixes.

Chapter Six: Poisons (6 pages) offers 19 real-world poisons (including arsenic, cobra venom, hemlock, and poison dart frog toxin), and 12 fantasy poisons, including Angel Kiss (the poison does not kick in until 10 minutes after sleep, and resembles the effects of natural death), Prophet's Tongue (a truth drug), and the ultra-powerful Nevermore (which causes all memories and perception of the victim to be lost, after which the victim becomes incorporeal before he loses his own memory).

Chapter Seven: Among Shadows & Blood (4 pages), gives a short overview of assassination in the Middle East (ashishin), Far East (ninja), and the West (with particular focus on the mediaeval city-states of Italy). It gives the background for the remainder of the book - a setting with two opposing assassin factions at its heart. The book states that the organisations can be taken out of their setting and used in a GM's own campaign.

Chapter Eight: The Vultur (12 pages), presents a mafia-like assassin organisation. The different families involved each have their own kingdom. The organisation, methods, and kingdoms of the Vultur are discussed in good detail with information about important NPCs and the political background. The organisation has strong links with the historical Italian city-state assassins.

Chapter Nine: The Vultur Among You (3 pages), gives ideas on hiring or joining the Vultur, including costs for hiring an assassin and the Vultur code of 'honour' that they follow.

Chapter Ten: The Sirat (8 pages), presents a religious-based assassin group, based somewhat on the historical Middle Eastern ashishin. The group's doctrine, realm, and characters of the organisation are described. The organisation is essentially a mountain rebel force, at war with the Empire that surrounds them. They use assassins to kill those individuals whose power threatens their mountain fortress.

Chapter Eleven: The Fida'i (4 pages), discusses the fanatical assassins of the Sirat known as Fida'i (faithful ones), including their beliefs, attitudes, and methods, as well as information on joining the Sirat, and the Fida'i's role in the war with the Vultur.

Chapter Twelve: Assassin NPCs (5 pages), gives full stats and description of eight NPCs from the Vultur and Sirat

Conclusion:
You'll want to get hold of this book if you thought the assassin should have been a core class, and if you're looking to introduce poison and assassination as an integral part of your campaign setting. If you're happy with the Assassin prestige class from the DMG, or if the thought of PCs getting hold of powerful poisons and hiring assassins to do their dirty work concerns you, then it is probably one you want to give a miss. As over half of the book is dedicated to a setting-specific assassin's war, it would be helpful if you also were looking for this kind of situation to introduce into your campaign. Having said that, there are ideas and characters that can be taken from the setting to integrate into your own campaign.

I personally found the information on the Assassin core class and the surrounding information a bit thin on the ground compared to other class books, and the setting-specific assassin war seemed as if it would need quite a bit of work to pick out the useful bits without weakening the concept of the assassin war that ties everything together. This was particularly relevant since the information on this area took up over half the book.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Morgan Grover, Executive Director, d20 Magazine Rack

Once again I have returned to the Critic's Corner and sat down. I seldom find myself doing reviews for my lack of analyzing books. More often than not I tend to flip from page to page, section to section, never actually sitting down and reading a book. Something about The Assassins Handbook from Green Ronin caught my attention however.

A bit over a week ago I walked into the local bookstore to see what was new, and low and behold, there it sat, The Assassins Handbook. It’s often said that you can’t read a book by it’s cover, but that statement has never been further from the truth as it is here. The cover on this book is amazing. The use of colors make it stick out, while striking you with a creepy sort of fear. The author did an amazing job of getting your eyes to be drawn right down the center of the cover, absorbing the artwork. Kudos to Mr. Sutfin!

Now, on to the review eh? The book start’s out throwing the assassin core class right in your face. Keep in mind that this is not for the week of heart, and the assassin is not just a mean rogue in disguise. These guys will lay you open and not even flinch. Able to deliver a Coupe-de grace as a standard action once they reach second level, they are defiantly the type of fellow to avoid; if that is all possible. Bonus feats, languages and sneak attacks round out the basic abilities.

Chapter two delves into the “true” assassin prestige classes. The Fida’I are a group of assassins who combine deadly skills with holy beliefs. The Houri charming and proper, while at the same time cruel and murderous. And finally the Shadow Mage, a form of assassin that uses the shadows to their fullest advantage.

Chapter three describes many new spells for use in any campaign, but suited well to assassins. Among my favorite are Ghost Blade, Void Armor, and the evil Martyr’s Death, destroying you, and nearly everything else around you!

Chapter four introduces some new equipment for assassins and rogues to use. Common items such as wedges and pry bars, along with some more interesting trinkets like the Cloak of Night and the Tricksters Mask.

Chapter five covers both a new take on the craft skill (poisons) and over 15 new and deadly feats. Stone Cold Killer, Prone Shot, and Improved Dodge are just a few examples. One thing that I did notice here however was that the Empower Poison and Maximize Poison feats say the exact same benefit ... mistake I believe? I’m guessing the later is actually supposed to be 1 ½ increase.

Chapter six is nothing but poisons. Both real world poisons and fantasy poisons. No assassin is worth his shadow without the use of some poisons. This chapter really delivers, giving over 30 different new poisons, each with a full description.

Chapter seven take a more in depth look at history of assassins and how they came to be. Two short columns taking a look at Far East assassins as well as European assassins are included. All of this leads straight into the Vultures and Sirats. Two powerful assassin groups.

Chapter eight and nine take a nice and in-depth look at the professional Vulture assassins. Describing their organization, kingdoms (7 in all), and the council. Chapter nine looks at hiring Vultures for a job, their contacts, costs, contracts and such.

Chapter 10 gives information on the Sirat, also known as Followers of the Straight Path. This group looks to regain that which was lost: the straight path of living. A good and well-written history is provided, as well as some nice maps and other information. Chapter eleven further details the Fida’i, the main class of assassins found in the Sirat. More information on joining the Sirat is available for players. Another whole column is devoted to the Whispered War, a constant battle between the Fida’i and the Vultures.

Chapter 12 is full of Assassin NPC’s to throw into any campaign. My favorite among them is Richkreiss Ordule, a human assassin/monk, who would have few problems laying out those troublesome PC’s.

Bringing back the core assassin class must have been a chore in itself, but to build upon it like the authors did is outstanding. Nearly every DM will find useful information in the product, whether it be a cruel villain, some mean feats, new poisons, or whatever. With everything said and done, this sourcebook really delivers.

To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.

 

[Psion]

The Assassin's Handbook

The Assassin's Handbook is the second in Green Ronin's Master Class series of books, each presenting a new core class and supporting material for the d20 system game. The Assassin's Handbook presents the assassin as a core class, as well as spells, prestige classes, feats, historical notes, and campaign background material. The book is written by Dave "Zeb" Cook and Wolfgang Baur, who also did Green Ronin's Secret College of Necromancy.

A First Look

The Assassin's Handbook is a 64 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $14.95. This is a typical price for a Green Ronin product of this size, and is comparable to similar sized book from Mongoose Publishing and Wizards of the Coast.

The cover by Michael Sutfin depicts an assassin with an exotic dagger in a grapple with a victim in front of a macabre bone-encrusted pillar.

The interior is black and white and features artists Anthony Waters, Marcio Fiorito, and Michael Phillippi.. The lavishly detailed and stylish depictions of masked assassins by Phillippi herein resembles those he did for AEG in Evil and Mercenaries. The character depictions by Fiorito are nice, as they are in most of the numerous d20 products they have appeared in. Waters has a sketchier, darker style that lends the book a darker feel.

The body text font is conservative, but the line and paragraph spacing is a little loose. A stylish header font is used, but it is more readable than the one used for Secret College of Necromancy. The layout is pleasant and readable, and there are no major layout gaffes that I noticed.

A Deeper Look

The first and central element of the book is the assassin presented as a 20-level base class. The book spells out that this class is not intended to be used side-by-side with the assassin prestige class as presented in the core rules. The core assassin presented here differs from the prestige class in several important ways.

The first way that the assassin differs is that they are allowed to be morally neutral; good alignments are prohibited. This may make the assassin more accessible as a PC for a GM who is willing to accept such characters into a campaign but still has a problem with evil characters. But then, there is no reason you couldn't run the core assassin in this manner. Assassins who become good lose their killing blow ability and can no longer progress as assassins.

The assassin herein does not use the death attack ability given the assassin prestige class. Instead they gain the killing blow ability. This ability allows the assassin to make a coup-de-grace attack (per the DMG) against a non-helpless target provided that the character meets the same conditions to make a sneak attack, and prompts an attack of opportunity. Further, the killing blow can only be used a limited number of times per day. This seems limited, but is prone to abuse for one primary reason: unlike the death attack of the assassin in the DMG, the coup-de-grace is based on the damage inflicted vice level. A canny powergamer can take steps to maximize the damage of the killing blow so as to make the saving throw impossible.

In addition to this ability, the assassin receives a sneak attack ability, bonus feats, spells (up to 4th level), and a bonus languages ability that allows the assassin to take any language, even secret languages, as bonus languages. Except for the spells, this gives the assassin a feel somewhat similar to that of the AD&D 1st edition assassin.

After the assassin base class, three prestige classes are presented. None of these prestige classes rely on the use of the assassin core class. This allows you to use the classes if you (as I) don't intend to use the assassin base class presented herein. The classes are:

- Fida'i: The fida'i is a zealous holy warrior. The fida'i has many stealth skills common to assassin types, but the class abilities let him enter a state of divine ecstacy providing moral bonuses to combat rolls, as well as spell-like abilities relating to their religion's lawful bent.
- Houri: The houri is an assassin and spy that rely on seduction to ply their trade. The houri has more social skills than the typical assassin type and has class abilities to enhance those skills, as well as spell like abilities to help them influence others.
- Shadow Mage: The shadow mage is a class for spellcasters who hope to use their magical arts in assassination. The class continues advancing in spellcasting ability as normal, and has class abilities related to darkness and shadow.

Overall the prestige classes are well conceived and useful. If there is any flaw, perhaps it is that some classes give out spell-like abilities generously. I would probably trim down the number of uses per day of the spell like abilities.

The book introduces a number of new spells for assassins as well. Fortunately, the spells are sorted into four level, so even if you intend to use the DMG assassin instead of the one presented in this book, you can take advantage of the spells herein. Some of the more notable spells are:

- Forget: Similar to a classic 1e & 2e spell, forget makes the target forget the last minute of time.
- Part crowd: This mind affecting spell causes a crowd to part to make way for the assassin and then close ranks behind him, useful to throw off pursuers.
- Martyr's Death: This extremely powerful spell permanently destroys the caster, but has a very good chance of killing everyone within 30 feet.
- Steal Identity: This spell renders the target unconscious, and temporarily disguises the caster to appear as the target.

The equipment chapter includes a small selection of nonmagical items of concern to assassins, such as opium, poison-containing false teeth, or a belt that can be unfurled into a rope ladder. Magic items include such interesting items as safe conduct papers, magical documents that help pass the bearer off as an official, and the cauldron of poison which provides bonuses to the creation of poison and antidotes.

The feats and skills chapter introduces several new feats. Many of them are useful to any character, but some are based on class skills of the book's assassin.

A few of the feats deal with poisons in much the same way that metamagic feats modify spells. For example, empower poison increased the random numeric effects of a poison by one-half. (Maximize poison has the exact same text; this is probably a cut-and-paste gaffe.) These feats operate by the assassin expending additional time preparing the poison. It might seem unreasonable that a poison can be so altered after they are already brewed.

Other feats include poison use (as the class ability of the DMG assassin), quick change (allows you to quickly change disguises), stone cold killer (allows a coup-de-grace as a standard action), and weapon panache (similar to weapon finesse, except you may substitute your charisma bonus for strength bonus.)

The sixth chapter covers poisons. As other books like Traps & Treachery and the Quintessential Rogue, many new fantasy poisons are introduced for use in the campaign. However, the book also contains statistics for several real-world poisons like black widow venom, belladonna, arsenic, curare, cyanide, and hemlock. To facilitate properly simulating real world toxins, the book imposes different onset times for the initial and secondary damage for each poison.

The seventh chapter briefly discusses a few real assassin groups of the ancient world, such as the assassins of Persia and Syria and the ninja of Japan. The remainder (and bulk) of the book details two fictional assassin groups: the Vultur and the Sirat. The Vultur are a group of professional assassins divided into a number of "kingdoms" and each kingdom into families with specific specialties. The Sirat are a zealous religious group that follow a discipline called the straight path. The chapters include details on the organizations, maps, a new clerical domains, and a few complete characters.

Conclusion

The new base class assassin may be useful if you are in the market for such a thing. The class depicted here is better than the core assassin class depicted in Swashbuckling Adventures. However, as stated, the killing blow ability appears vulnerable to abuse. Further, those who want to return the days of the 1e assassin may be disgruntled to see that (like the 3e assassin prestige class) the assassin herein is a magic-using assassin.

Even if you aren't in the market for an assassin base class, much of the rest of the book can be useful to you. Most of the prestige classes, poisons, feats, items, and spells are useful without using the book's assassin. The Vultur and the Sirat are potentially interesting additions to the campaign and except for the NPCs statistics blocks can be easily used without using the book's assassin.

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[trancejeremy]

The Assassin's Handbook is a 64 page softcover (priced at $14.95 - I traded for my copy) from Green Ronin, semi-famous for the city of Freeport. It's part of their "Master Class" series, each volume of which introduces a new 'core' class for d20/D&D. It's written by longtime TSR authors Zeb Cook and Wolfgang Baur.

Unfortunately, this book is rather disappointing. Primarily because the new core assassin class in the book simply isn't very good. The back cover says "Brings back the tradition of the first edition assassin core class.". Well, no, not really. The 1st edition assassin was essentially a thief, but one with some abilities useful for an assassin.

This assassin (the Green Ronin Assassin) is vaguely like the D&D rogue, but is generally much less useful and much less powerful. There are some superficial resemblances to the 1st edition Assassin. This assassin has the ability to perform a 'killing blow' a number of times per day. This is essentially a coup de grace style attack only when the target is denied his AC bonus, not completely helpless like a coup de grace. Essentially, the assassin makes the attack, then the target must make a fortitude save against a DC of 10+damage taken or die.

Not bad you might say. Well, maybe. In practice, though, it's not so great, because they largely give up a Rogue's (or normal d20/3E Prestige Class Assassin) sneak attack damage bonus, and most other special powers. This assassin get at most a maximum of +3d6 sneak attack damge. A Rogue or Rogue/Prestige Assassin gets a maximum of +10d6. The latter will do an extra 35 pts on a sneak attack, this Assassin only does 11.

The Prestige Assassin (what I'll call the one in the DMG) also has a chance to assassinate someone. Not as good as the killing blow ability of this assassin (Green Ronin one), but it's close, and overall seems more balance. It's essentially the same, only the DC is 10 + the Assassin's Class Level + Intelligence Modifier. (It also takes 3 round of preparation to use). This gives the Prestige Assassin a chance of assassinating a high level character, but not a great chance. The Green Ronin Assassin has a somewhat slightly higher chance of assassinating high level characters, though it largely depends on the roll of the dice for damage.

It's probably a matter of taste, but I think the way the Prestige Assassin's ability works is much better (and better balanced).

The Green Ronin Assassin also gets spells more or less like a Paladin or Ranger (same progression). This is again, pretty much unlike the 1st Edition Assassin, but sort of imitates the Prestige Assassin. This book contains several new assassin spells (which could also presumably be used for the Prestige Assassin). The spell list for the Green Ronin Assassin also includes a few new spells which are not found in this book but in another Green Ronin product. Given they could have easily included them here, I found this to be a bit tacky.

The Green Ronin also gets bonus feats, much like a fighter does. There are a number of new assassin feats in this book, but most seem less useful than the abilities a Rogue or Prestige Assassin gets.

Besides the new core assassin class, there are 3 new prestige classes: The Fida'i, which is like the real world Assassin or Ismali; The Houri, which is like a prostitute/spy; and the Shadow Mage, which is essentially a wizard who likes shadow spells (why it's in here, I dunno. Filler, I guess). None are that great, the Houri has some special abilities which seem more apropriate for feats.

There's a really short chapter of Assassin equipment. While I often thought assassins's might have lots of really interesting gear, like Ninjas or spies, apparently this is not the case, as there are only 2 pages devoted to this, and most of that is on magic items.

There's a brief chapter on using Craft to make poison. There's also about 15 new feats or so, which mostly seem okay.

Probably the best part of the book is about 6 pages on poisons, including many real world ones. There are also several new fantasy poisons.

Most of the books (about 35 pages) is actually on weird source material that doesn't seem particularly useful for anyone. Most useless is about an organization of Assassins, the "Vultur". It drones on and on about them, which is stupid, since it's likely most DMs won't be able to integrate them into their worlds. It would have been far, far, far, far better to go into the workings of a generic fantasy assasin's guild, something that you know, might have been useful to most people, or at least someone.

Physically, the book is okay. You get a decent amount of text, and the binding seems sturdy enough. There's a lot of artwork, but the artwork is generally pretty awful. For some reason, the artists in this seem to not under the concept of proportion. There are pictures of people that are seemingly malformed. I mean, they're 1 inch wide (in the drawing) and about 9 inches tall (again, in the drawing). People don't have a 9:1 height to width ratio like that. The end result is somewhat ugly. Not all are like that, but most of the artwork is below average. Which is surprising, usually Green Ronin has top-notch artwork.

All in all though, I can't recommend this book. It's really quite awful. Spend $3 to get the Mongoose Assassin mini-book, which I don't have, but even if it's as bad, it will be $12 less.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Four assassin product hit shelves at nearly the same time. So what is one to do? Buy them all and sort the chaff.

The Assassin's Handbook, while nice and juicy, had some essential flaws, but is the best of the printed assassin books

$3 = 8 page equivalent for Mongoose's Power Class book
$5 = 40 pages for Whispers of Death (PDF)
$7.50 = 128 pages for Crimson Contracts (PDF)
$19.95 = 64 pages for The Assassin's Handbook

The Assassin's handbook is the most expensive of the Assassin products, but is also by far the best of the two printed products.

Layout on this one is nice, easy to read and has nice dark illustrations.

Like the Mongoose Power Class, this book introduces the Assassin as a 20 level base class. While the book claims to be recapturing the old 1e assassin, this class has spellcasting progression like the DMG Assassin. The primary difference between the DMG assassin and the GR assassin is changing the Death Attack into the Killing Blow ability. Effectively, a Killing Blow is a coup-de-grace attack that can be used against a target when a sneak attack could have been, in addition, the target must make a save or die, with the DC of the save being the amount of damage the attack dealt. Of course, this means that all assassins now carry picks and other x4 critical weapons, throw in a few points of power attack, and make the save impossible. Right off the bat, the class fells broken, and the one game we played with the class proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Thankfully, the three prestige classes in the book do not use this base class as a requirement, as I can't imagine using this base assassin in a game.

The prestige classes are well done, and balanced compared to most. What sets them apart is they each have a theme and heavy flavor - if Whispers of Death had this kind of flavor material, it would have been a much better book. Some of the classes seem to be a little heavy on the spell-like abilities (granting multiple uses per day), but not completely out of whack.

The new spells in the book are a nice collection, and are fully useable with any of the assassin classes detailed in the various assassin books, which makes for a nice plug-in. If nothing else, the spells chapter should be referenced for any assassin-centric game.

Some of the new feats deal with poisons in the same basic way that metamagic feats modify spells. Empower poison increased the numeric effects of a poison by one-half. But then Maximize poison has the exact same effect? These feats work by spending extra time preparing the poison. Plus there are feats giving Poison Use (as per the DMG Assassin ability), and a cool "weapon panache" which is like weapon finesse, but with your Charisma.

The poisons chapter is an excellent addition, with several real-world poisons in the mix. If you have the Poisoner's Handbook from Bastion, then this is less useful, but is otherwise the best material on poisons currently available, as far as I know.

The final (and largest) section of the book details two Assassin groups - the Sirat and the Vultur. Plenty of flavor in this section, including details of the organizations, maps, new clerical domains, and some complete character.

In all, the book is a nice addition to the DMG Assassin Prestige Class (or could probably work as is if you replace the Killing Blow with the Death Attack ability from the DMG Assassin), or to your Assassin collection. Unless Crimson Contracts goes to print, it is the best assassin book in print. If I only had this book out of the four, it would rate a 4/5, but since none of the assassin books rates a 5, this only rates a 3.