Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Assassin variant minus spells?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Khorod" data-source="post: 222382" data-attributes="member: 1636"><p>I've been kicking around ideas for a non-magical assassin for a while. For consideration, what is an assassin, once some of the particular organizations and characters of fiction have been removed? He is someone who can sneak in, arrange for death to occur, and depart with a minimum of fuss or personal risk.</p><p></p><p> An assassin is not supposed to be a great fighter, but most would be interested in precision strikes designed to end combat as quickly as possible. Improved Critical is a natural for the assassin- a better chance of maximizing damage, and it does not indicate skill as a trained warrior- just someone who knows how to place strikes to hit.</p><p></p><p> Likewise, if the assassin is supposed to move sneakily through an area, a Skill Focus in Hide, Move Silently, and Listen are all good possibilities. If you are wondering, Listen is better than Spot because if you can see someone, they can see you, and it is too late to hide. </p><p> Of course, this presumes that you are the stealer-in type assassin, rather than the dress up, walk into the kitchen and slip a poison into the lord's dish. In that case, Disguise, Bluff, and Pick Pockets (for slate of hand) would be more ideal Skills to focus on. This is not to say that the long list of skills already in the assassin description are not useful, but they are by and large just things the assassin would do well to have, and are not as close to necesseties.</p><p></p><p> It might also be worth considering that a knowledgeable assassin who makes use of poison will do more than just use it- he should be trained to recognize it. In any sort of assassin war, or in the event that an assassin is hired in a bodyguard position, the ability to diagnose a poison is a great idea, as would the ability to create an antidote. As the assassin would take the antidote, it is riskier to trust his alchemist-poisonbrewer friend for the antidote than the poison he will be putting into someone else.</p><p></p><p> As the masters of instant kills, it makes perfect sense that given a prone, unmovinging target the assassin would be increasingly able to kill them on the run. Coup de Grace, simply killing someone unable to do anything to defend himself, is normally a partial action. I suggest the assassin be able to upgrade that to a move equivalent action, then to a free action that can be done once per round or a single attack (as in one attack of the full attack action).</p><p></p><p> Lastly, at the highest levels of finesse, the particular anatomy and physiology of the target is of great concern to the assassin. Thus, I suggest a sort of Favored Enemy ability, one geared toward a more urban engagement. Among other things, it would perhaps allow an assassin to calibrate his poisons and antidotes to a specific race, increasing the DC (etc).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Khorod, post: 222382, member: 1636"] I've been kicking around ideas for a non-magical assassin for a while. For consideration, what is an assassin, once some of the particular organizations and characters of fiction have been removed? He is someone who can sneak in, arrange for death to occur, and depart with a minimum of fuss or personal risk. An assassin is not supposed to be a great fighter, but most would be interested in precision strikes designed to end combat as quickly as possible. Improved Critical is a natural for the assassin- a better chance of maximizing damage, and it does not indicate skill as a trained warrior- just someone who knows how to place strikes to hit. Likewise, if the assassin is supposed to move sneakily through an area, a Skill Focus in Hide, Move Silently, and Listen are all good possibilities. If you are wondering, Listen is better than Spot because if you can see someone, they can see you, and it is too late to hide. Of course, this presumes that you are the stealer-in type assassin, rather than the dress up, walk into the kitchen and slip a poison into the lord's dish. In that case, Disguise, Bluff, and Pick Pockets (for slate of hand) would be more ideal Skills to focus on. This is not to say that the long list of skills already in the assassin description are not useful, but they are by and large just things the assassin would do well to have, and are not as close to necesseties. It might also be worth considering that a knowledgeable assassin who makes use of poison will do more than just use it- he should be trained to recognize it. In any sort of assassin war, or in the event that an assassin is hired in a bodyguard position, the ability to diagnose a poison is a great idea, as would the ability to create an antidote. As the assassin would take the antidote, it is riskier to trust his alchemist-poisonbrewer friend for the antidote than the poison he will be putting into someone else. As the masters of instant kills, it makes perfect sense that given a prone, unmovinging target the assassin would be increasingly able to kill them on the run. Coup de Grace, simply killing someone unable to do anything to defend himself, is normally a partial action. I suggest the assassin be able to upgrade that to a move equivalent action, then to a free action that can be done once per round or a single attack (as in one attack of the full attack action). Lastly, at the highest levels of finesse, the particular anatomy and physiology of the target is of great concern to the assassin. Thus, I suggest a sort of Favored Enemy ability, one geared toward a more urban engagement. Among other things, it would perhaps allow an assassin to calibrate his poisons and antidotes to a specific race, increasing the DC (etc). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Assassin variant minus spells?
Top