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Popertop
2011-01-02, 01:02 AM
When you think of an assassin, what comes to mind?

I'm throwing around a few different approaches in my mind,
a few character concepts.

For a wizard assassin, I'm sure there are many ways to do it,
so I won't even start, suffice it to say he might come up
with a spell that combines dispelling and a lethal attack.
(flat SoD doesn't really jive with the concept, I wanted to have a
more creative feel, not just OP magical happening)

For a bard assassin, things get a little tricky.
Is there a way to do it only using bard-like classes?
The concept I have is those assassins from Kung Fu Hustle
that play their instrument and kill people, I kinda wanna do that,
but with like a violinist instead. The duke has parties, and
people inexplicably end up dead.

Another bard one, someone who carries around a
voodoo doll that they can change to the likeness of the
person they want to kill by modifying its clothing
to match what they are wearing. He then puts a needle
through the heart of the voodoo doll and the person
has a heart attack. I really have no idea where to
begin on this one.

Another one I have is the monk assassin.
Now before you get onto me about the monk,
it doesn't actually need levels in monk,
only the martial artist feel/unarmed damage.
One trick with monk levels is pouring contact
poison all over myself and making a bunch of
touch attacks, but I don't know if that fits
the flavor in my head of an eastern influenced
shogun type that can actually do his fighting himself
(when he needs to, he likes to keep up the illusion
that he needs his bodyguards). Plus, I was hoping
to discover something I hadn't thought of.

Druid assassin for the lolz.

For all of these, I want to try and avoid levels in assassin,
unless absolutely necessary or particularly useful/powerful

umbrapolaris
2011-01-02, 01:24 AM
When you think of an assassin, what comes to mind?

a guy who excel in killing you in any means necessary (sniping you, cut-throating you, poisoning you, trapping you) without being noticed by anyone.

Mastikator
2011-01-02, 01:31 AM
When you think of an assassin, what comes to mind?

Someone who kills people for money (not in war though).
A mercenary also fits into this description, so does a bounty hunter.

Classes (core) that I think can take the job of assassin are: Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard.

Kerrin
2011-01-02, 01:33 AM
The ideas mentioned are interesting.

Though I've never fought assassins make for good player characters because an assassin in my mind is narrowly defined and hyper-specialized.

Maybe I need to update my mental image but it is what it is for now.

AslanCross
2011-01-02, 01:35 AM
a guy who excel in killing you in any means necessary (sniping you, cut-throating you, poisoning you, trapping you) without being noticed by anyone.

I completely agree with this. Even a cleric could possibly be an Assassin (see Ruby Knight Vindicator).

As for the druid assassin, there was one Eberron book that had an adventure idea about fanatical druid posing as a stuffed polar bear in a museum exhibit using wildshape who murdered curators and adventurer-suppliers of the museum at night.

CarpeGuitarrem
2011-01-02, 01:42 AM
For a bard assassin, things get a little tricky.
Is there a way to do it only using bard-like classes?
The concept I have is those assassins from Kung Fu Hustle
that play their instrument and kill people, I kinda wanna do that,
but with like a violinist instead. The duke has parties, and
people inexplicably end up dead.

I'm running a 4E campaign, and this is one of the NPCs. He has a very specific target, and he roams about using his bardism as cover.

Popertop
2011-01-02, 01:42 AM
I completely agree with this. Even a cleric could possibly be an Assassin (see Ruby Knight Vindicator).

As for the druid assassin, there was one Eberron book that had an adventure idea about fanatical druid posing as a stuffed polar bear in a museum exhibit using wildshape who murdered curators and adventurer-suppliers of the museum at night.

That sounds hilarious!!!
Imma use it.


The ideas mentioned are interesting.

Though I've never fought assassins make for good player characters because an assassin in my mind is narrowly defined and hyper-specialized.

Maybe I need to update my mental image but it is what it is for now.

These are actually ideas for my villians,
but the concept also works for PCs with a few
minor tweaks.

KillianHawkeye
2011-01-02, 02:47 AM
Someone who kills people for money (not in war though).
A mercenary also fits into this description, so does a bounty hunter.

Bounty hunters don't necessarily kill people, and a mercenary is nothing more than a soldier for hire. An assassin is someone who stealthily murders a high profile target.