Solo Assassin Character Needed

[DrizztFan24]

Hey folks, long time no post. Darn the real world.

I'm getting in to a solo assassination based game (from my understanding*) and I can't decide what to use. I will start at ECL 8 and I am assuming an urban setting. I was really hoping to play a skillmonkey heavy on the poison use (revamping poisons ans systems, suggestion welcome) and probably using ranged weapons just for efficiecy.

I will need to be able to gather needed target information and establish contacts while having enough skills for anything relating to infiltrating a trapped keep and bypassing guards. Hopefully I can bypass many guards and traps by going the Assassin's Creed route and climbing everything instead of using the hallways. AND I need to be able to kill the guy once I get there, and dispose of any curious guards I should run in to.

So pretty much I am looking for an acrobatic killer with enough skill to deal with anything else to run in to. And craft poisons. I can't decide whether to use a rogue, factotum, or homebrew something similar to the wetboy's in the Night Angel trilogy. And if anyone suggests the Assassin PrC I will be sad...because it is very broken...and not in the gouda way.

[Darcand]

How about a bard? He's skilly enough to sneak about, excells at gathering information, is glib enough to talk his way past gaurds, and has a few magical tricks up his sleeve to make witnesses forget they ever saw him, or convince the maid to leave the side door unlocked.

[vanyell]

I would go Swordsage, focusing on shadow Blade. gives you spider climb, and all kinds of other assassin-y goodies.

[Cicciograna]

Go with Psion.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Swordsage in ToB, or especially the Arcane Swordsage variant on page 20. Just stay single-classed and it has everything you'll ever need.

[Zincorium]

Swordsage is the wet dream of the I'm-badass-because-of-my-training crowd. Not only do you have the full gamut of stealth abilities of a decent rogue, you are fully capable of holding your own in a standup fight against any fighting class.

Psion and Wizard are more esoteric interpretations of what an assassin should be. Arguably, they are more effective at killing a single, predetermined target. They also do not fit the conventional assassin archetype of a stealthy man who knifes everyone to death.

[Trixie]

Ninja, maybe? :smalltongue:

What? It fits the 'poisons' and 'stealth' part.

[Soranar]

Alright how about this

race: human (extra skills can come in handy and able learner is king)
alignment : any (although I would recommend neutral or evil since you're an assassin)

STATS (32 pts buy)

STR 14 (4th)
DEX 16 (2nd)
CON 14 (3rd)
INT 16 (1rst since you need skills)
WIS 8 dump
CHA 8 dump

1 Rogue able learner, combat reflexes
2 Swashbuckler bonus feat: weapon finesse
3 Rogue exotic weapon proficiency spiked chain (very assassin IMO)
4 Rogue
5 Swashbuckler
6 Swashbuckler Daring Outlaw bonus feat insightful strike (works with chain)
7 Swashbuckler
8 Swashbuckler

future feats to consider
9 sneak attack of opportunity

chain + insightful strike is great as you get your STR 1.5 + your INT to damage

Swashbuckler is good to get more use out of your INT and you really need the BAB and the hitpoints it provides + you don't lose on sneak attack damage and it fits with the acrobatic part or your build

[Jack_Simth]

Swordsage is the wet dream of the I'm-badass-because-of-my-training crowd. Not only do you have the full gamut of stealth abilities of a decent rogue, you are fully capable of holding your own in a standup fight against any fighting class.

Psion and Wizard are more esoteric interpretations of what an assassin should be. Arguably, they are more effective at killing a single, predetermined target. They also do not fit the conventional assassin archetype of a stealthy man who knifes everyone to death.

No... but you are starting at a level where a Psion(Seer) makes a very good assasin vs. anyone not protected from Scrying - Remote Viewing + any damaging power = likely dead subject... in the middle of a locked room.

If you try that, though, do watch out: You'll soon be getting marks that sleep in leaded rooms.

[DrizztFan24]

Ninja, maybe? :smalltongue:

What? It fits the 'poisons' and 'stealth' part.

For what it's worth I have heard the class isn't terrible, it just doesn't play well with others.

[Redrat2k6]

Well my personal favorite is this:

Aasimar (LA +1) MM1

Warlock4/Rogue1/Psychic Rogue1/Arcane Trickster2 (or 1 if no LA buyoff)

If you don't want any LA you can sacrifice two feats for the Fey Heritage or Fiendish Heritage feats to hit the 3rd level spell requirement for Arcane Trickster. If your DM allows flaws it shouldn't be too bad.

Heck if you have any pathfinder books, the Arcane Trickster there is way better! Annnnd, the spell prerequisite is only 2nd level.:smallbiggrin:

I got my DM to approve the Snap Kick feat from TOB to appease feat requirements for the Sun School feat (Complete Warrior). That way you can pick up Flee the scene and get an attack in for some unlimited nightcrawler BAMFing tactics. (with +3d6 sneak attack might I add). Pick up Eldritch Glaive (Dragon Magic) to add 3d6 eldritch damage with and make it a touch attack for some fun.

If your DM doesn't like snap kick your going to have to pick up a level of monk. The BAB hit won't be too bad if you have Eldritch Glaive. Alternatively you could use your UMD check with a scroll of haste for some more BAMF action.:smallwink:

Finally if you DM approves this "http://bertball.com/MySRD/srd/classes/warlock2.htm" alternate version of Warlock then you can make your own Items for some nice rogue assassin item use flavor (think Batman). And at later levels can pick up ALL Divine and Arcane spells to use with the Feat Craft Contingent Spell from Complete Arcane.:smalltongue:

Finally add Umbral Coller for some Hide in Plain Sight (Tome of Magic)

Sorry if this is confusing this is my first post.

Oh I forgot to add that the psychic rogue opens up psionic shot feats, you need a high intelligence though, which you will probably have since you like the craft skills it seems heh.

[awa]

3 levels of umberal disciple (i think that's what it's called) Grants a hide in plain sight ability that does not require shadow. Its only requirement you need to worry about is 1 point of essentia which can be acquired with one of the following a feat, a one level dip in totemist or incarnate or one of several races.
(it has other requirements but your going to take most of them by virtue of your build)

I would mention in particular the totemist with a one level dip you can gain a +8 to hide/move silent and with 2 you can get +10 along with other benefits
combine that with dark stalker from lords of madness which forces enemies using alternative sense like scent and tremor sense to make checks to find you your almost undetectable.

Slip in his room almost undetectable and assassinate him when he goes to sleep
A scythe makes for an excellent assassination weapon

[mabriss lethe]

Glaivelock would be an interesting choice for an assassin. not so much on the poison bit, though. but essence invocations to sort of mimic poison. excellent sniping options, rather good melee. there are some very assassin-y invocations out there (who needs knock or lock picks when you have shatter and a wand of silence?) I'd be a fan of locating the mark while he's asleep and then casting Thieve's bane on his bedroom door...but that's more mean than deadly.

Warlocks are notorious for being very solo characters, grab some relatively inexpensive warlock toys to up your damage and options, warlock's scepter (MiC version) Gloves of Eldritch admixture, Bracers of the Entangling Blast.

[Eloel]

Assassin (the PrC) is actually a nice class to use - especially if you're using Spell Compendium, it has very useful spells that are worth it.

Thief Acrobat helps it if you're going Assassin's Creed route - in that you want to climb, jump, tumble around stealthily.

Spymaster, while not the best class in a party, can be an alternative you can think about if you're going the infiltration approach rather than stealth approach.


So, the above PrCs focus on different pieces of Rogue.

Assassin is Sneak & Kill
Thief Acrobat is Maneuverability
Spymaster is Infiltration

[The Glyphstone]

Indeed - Assassin isn't a horrible class - Death Attack is a horrible class feature. Solid Rogue is technically better because UMD lets you mimic Assassin spells with wands/scrolls as well as every other classes' spells, but that can get expensive.

[alisbin]

does solo mean your the only player? or does it mean that you can't have feats like leadership or classes like thrallherd?
if the former may i recommend Psion (either telepath or seer, though seer requires burning a feat on mindlink) -> Thrallherd, load up on influence powers and have your thrall do the actual deed, that way you can be badass on influence and info gathering, have a thrall thats only one level lower then you that you can tailor as you like AND be almost completely untouchable as far as any authorities might be concerned either by having a believer or the thrall itself cop to the deed and exonerate you if people get too nosy. plus, your thrall is completely expendable

at ECL 8 you could have Psion 5/ Thrallherd 3, manifester level 7, about 60 power points and 15 powers (including psionic dominate which is friggin awesome for tons of stuff), and you thrall would be a level 7 whatever the hell you want.

however you end up playing it, enjoy, i love a good assassin adventure.

[SurlySeraph]

I can't add much to the class discussion that hasn't been said. I endorse Rogue/Swordsage with Assassin's Stance, possibly with single levels in Assassin, Nightsong Infiltrator, Master of Masks, etc. to boost your SA. Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 3/[more Swashbuckler, sneak attack improving classes, or Swordsage] 2 with Daring Outlaw for more SA damage might be worthwhile, and adding Shadow Blade to get 3 stats to melee damage is fun if not especially useful. (Well, it can be fairly good if you're dual-wielding Keen Aptitude kukris, but focusing on crits is generally a losing game in 3.5. Might make Telling Blow almost worthwhile, though).

Given your concept, Poison Expert and Poison Master (Complete Scoundrel) are good feats to take. Deep Poisoning (lets you trade sneak attack damage for a bonus to the DC of a poison applied to your weapon while you're sneak attacking, to a maximum for +5d6 SA for +5 to the DC) is also good, but it's from from Dragon Magazine so it's unlikely to be allowed.

You'll likely want weapons with the Deadly Precision (+2 enhancement, +2d6 sneak attack) and Assassination (+1, +1d6 sneak attack, you have no risk of poisoning yourself when applying poison to it, *and* the poison's DC is increased by an amount equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus. Add a wand of Greater Magic Weapon with a high CL, and you're golden). The Toxic and Virulent weapon enhancements from DoTU could also be useful; Virulent makes a poison's secondary effects take place in 5 rounds instead of 10, making them actually useful in combat.

The Short Sword of Subtlety, in the SRD, is a pretty solid buy; 22,310 gp, and it gives you +4 attack and damage whenever you make a sneak attack. Not as good as Deadly Precision Assassination weapons, IMO, but solid.

For race, Halfling (possibly Deep Halfling or Jungle Halfling), Whisper Gnome, Grey Elf, and Human are all solid choices. You might want to take the Dark template (LA +1, gives you a lot of bonuses, the most notable of which are high Hide/Move Silently bonuses and Hide In Plain Sight).

[gorfnab]

For gear besides what has already been mentioned - Bracers of Murder (MIC), Rogue's Vest (MIC), Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis (ToM). For feats look into Craven (CoR). For race I suggest Whisper Gnome (RoS) especially when combined with the feats Magic in the Blood (PGtF) and Silencing Strike (RoS). Levels of Beguiler (PHBII) might be interesting as well. If you do decide on fighter levels go with Targeteer variant (DragMag 310) with Vital Aim and Hit-and-Run Tactics variant (DotU).

[Book Wyrm]

Since you mentioned Assassin's Creed:

Factotum 6/Swordsage 2/Factotum X with a maxed out Iaijutsu Focus skill, Assassin's Stance, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, the Acrobatic Backstab and Hidden Blade skill tricks, and anything else that renders foes flat footed.

Then you need to get a Gnome Quickrazor (Races of Stone)

You are now Altair/Ezio.

[DrizztFan24]

Thanks for the oodles of responses and suggestion. At the moment the swordsage option looks rather inviting, it is a martial assassin I was aiming for (sorry psion supporters). Hopefully the DM will allow good roleplay account for some of the skill modifiers that I might not have points for.

@Book Wyrm
Care to elucidate? I haven't even heard of the razors or the focus before. But if it proves cool enough I might just take a gander at playing it.

[arguskos]

Quickrazors can be drawn and sheathed as a free action with Quick Draw.

Iaijutsu Focus is a skill from Oriental Adventures that lets you deal extra damage to an enemy if you draw your weapon and attack in the same turn, and the damage is based on your Focus check.

Basically, it's a "add a lot of d6s to each attack" build that's pretty solid. I am only familiar with the basics, so someone else will have to give you the nitty-gritty details.

[Flickerdart]

Unseen Seer and Cabinet Trickster might interest you. Unseen Seer is better than Arcane Trickster anyway.

[shadow_archmagi]

Read the thread title. Thought

"I've been waiting for this for a long time."