Character ideas for an assassin of God

[Arm of God]

I've been creating an assassin for 5e. The idea is that he starts as a dual wielding fighter and progressively multiclasses into rogue as his tactics become more covert. Most of the specifics are laid out, but I have no idea how to play him. I want him to be a self-appointed assassin that kills targets that his God has marked as dangerous, preferably a good God. What God should he follow? Is the assassin considered LG, NG, CG, or maybe even NE? Is he a warrior of silent justice or the necessarily evil?

I was thinking he'd follow Helm, but believe that the best way to defend somebody is to eliminate the threat. What do you guys think, gameplay and lore wise?

[Falcon X]

Honestly, whoever you pick as a god will dictate much about how you play your character, so choose wisely.

My PERSONAL choice for this type of character is WEE-JAS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee_Jas). It even comes with a fancy title: Ruby Knight Vindicator
- If you have access to edition 3.5's Tome of Battle, it talks about them.
- Wee-Jas is the goddess of magic, law, vanity, and death (repose). She has the most knowledge of the laws of the universe than any god. She may be of death domain, but she is more about giving the dead a peaceful rest than necromancy. She is borderline LE because she would believe in a meritocracy. You should get power if you deserve power.
- Ruby Knight Vindicators are the thugs and assassins of the clergy. Many times they don't broadcast what they are, but simply lie as sleeper units until the higher ups say "kill this person" or "make this happen", and then they accomplish it with great efficiency. They might also have a specific job such as hunting down oathbreakers. Classically they fill a role somewhere between paladin and assassin.
- As a RKV, you would uphold a Law above good or evil. They can be either.

[Axorfett12]

Honestly I would take 2 levels of fighter (two weapon fighting style), 4 levels or rogue (assassin), 6 levels of paladin (defense style and oath of vengeance), and then take the rest as a rogue. This build would allow you to use your Channel Divinity to declare an Oath of Enmity. This translates to advantage on all of your attack rolls against a single enemy. Advantage = sneak attack. You also have 6 smites per day for 2-3d8 extra damage, and you can action surge for even more attacks/smites.

For fluff purposes, Wee Jas is probably the best bet, as was mentioned above. If restricted to only forgotten realms, Helm works. I would also reccomend Savras (You are fated to die tonight!).

[Arm of God]

For simplicity's sake, let's keep the Gods of The Forgotten Realms. I don't want this priest to have powers granted by his God, but rather he appoints himself as the assassin of that God. Whether the God agress or disagrees with his methods are irrelevent. I was wanting to use one of the LG Order of the Guantlet pantheons. The Order of the Gauntlet doesnt like stealth, though, so this assassin would be more of a freelancer.

[Biggstick]

Kelemvor is another possibility. He's a newer deity that just wants to make sure things die at their appointed time and that the undead aren't permitted to go about being undead. If Kelemvor, the god of the dead, has declared to his personal assassin that it is time for someone to die, you can bet it's their time to die. He does fall under the Lawful Neutral side though.

In reality though, you can pick any of the Good deities and proclaim yourself an assassin in their service. Utilizing Rogue and Fighter levels (and maybe a Ranger level or two), you aren't actually drawing your power from the deity. You're choosing to base your actions off of what you think the deity has told you to do (or rather, who to kill). You can just as easily play this character as someone that the worshippers of said deity try to not acknowledge exists. They despise your methods and condemn you for what you do. But if the situation ever becomes so dire for the worshippers that someone has to be put down, they know they can count on you. Their hate for you also acts as a shield for those in the faith. They can claim you to be a heretic should you ever get caught doing what you do and claim no responsibility for you.

It would definitely open up some great RP moments if some of the more good deities had this sect of members that do their dirty work.

[Zevox]

I have a hard time seeing Helm as the sort of deity who would employ assassins. He's very much the stern watch-guard type, widely prayed to by town guards across the Realms, not the sneaky sort at all. His greatest enemies among the other gods are the ones that most patronize that sort of behavior - Mask, Cyric, Shar, and Bane. Heck, his dogma includes the line "Be fair and diligent in the conduct of your orders." It'd be a stretch at best to try and fluff an assassin to fit him in my mind.

That said, other posters are right: if you're not playing a divine caster getting spells from a deity, there's no reason you can't see yourself as following him even if every other follower of his would disagree with you. In which case anyone you felt like could be used.

Otherwise, personally, for a good-aligned assassin, I'd be more likely to look to Chaotic gods than a Lawful one like Helm. Selûne, perhaps, would be more likely to patronize such a person as a counterbalance to her sister's predilection for them. Perhaps even a very strange sect of the church of a deity like Sune or Lliira could exist, working in secret to deal with the church's enemies so that its more open practitioners can spread the love and happiness they preach in peace.

Or, for a Lawful deity that seems actually workable, consider Hoar, the LN God of Vengeance and Poetic Justice. He would be a pretty easy fit - his followers are often the sort of vigilantes that an upright follower of Helm would hate, but whom can nonetheless do good work that otherwise might not get done.

[Axorfett12]

The thing about paladins in 5e is that they don't actually have to serve or even believe in the gods. They just have to believe in the ideals and tenants of their oath. In other words, most paladins draw power from their belief in a god, not from the god itself. Your character would be perfectly justified in taking paladin levels, as he whole-heartedly believes that he is doing the will of his god. Regardless of whether that belief is founded or not, his unwavering commitment to that belief is what would give him the powers of a paladin.

Though a fighter/rogue build works just fine. I guess I just personally enjoy the thought of a 14d6+24d8+25 nova round. The striker in me I guess.

[Biggstick]

The thing about paladins in 5e is that they don't actually have to serve or even believe in the gods. They just have to believe in the ideals and tenants of their oath. In other words, most paladins draw power from their belief in a god, not from the god itself. Your character would be perfectly justified in taking paladin levels, as he whole-heartedly believes that he is doing the will of his god. Regardless of whether that belief is founded or not, his unwavering commitment to that belief is what would give him the powers of a paladin.

Though a fighter/rogue build works just fine. I guess I just personally enjoy the thought of a 14d6+24d8+25 nova round. The striker in me I guess.

I mean, it's a fine build and all, but it is a bit MAD with 13 Cha and 13 Str for a build that's probably going to be Dex based (and if it isnt, you still will get the same issue with the build requiring 13 Dex to go a Str build), as well as wanting a decent Con. Going the Fighter/Rogue has a much lower requirement in concern of stats.

The other thing I'll point out is no one said a thing about Paladins requiring a deity. The rules make that very clear. The problem one is going to run into with this is you're still drawing on Divine power from somewhere or something. If a deity that you're claiming to be the right hand of gets wind that you're doing things in his/her name and it isn't what they'd want, they could probably cause you problems regarding your Paladin like abilities (spells, save aura, smites, etc). It might not be what's written in the book, but it's what I see DMs doing if you're claiming to be a Paladin. Playing as the Fighter/Rogue puts the OP in a situation where s/he doesn't actually receive any mechanical benefit from the deity, thus can't have said toys taken away if they do something wrong.

[Herobizkit]

from a FR wiki; this article pertains to the 3e FR's state of affairs.

Eye of Justice
The Eye of Justice order based in Westgate was considered heretical by many Tormites. The Order worshiped a form of Torm they referred to as the "Threefold God", which they believed to be a combination of Torm and the dead gods Tyr and Helm. Members of this sect had no pity or fear and often used tactics some would consider questionable. The Order attracted outcasts from other orders as well as people seeking redemption for evil acts.Take Acolyte or (perhaps) Cloistered Scholar as your background.

Be an Assassin.

or be a Vengeance Paladin.

Or be Both. :)

The long-term 4e game I was in had a Thief (E-Rogue) who was an "assassin" of Torm.

[Zevox]

from a FR wiki; this article pertains to the 3e FR's state of affairs.
Can't be 3e. It refers to Tyr and Helm as "dead gods," which they were only were during 4e.

[Herobizkit]

Noted. I knew it wasn't 5e 'canon'.

[Axorfett12]

I mean, it's a fine build and all, but it is a bit MAD with 13 Cha and 13 Str for a build that's probably going to be Dex based (and if it isnt, you still will get the same issue with the build requiring 13 Dex to go a Str build), as well as wanting a decent Con. Going the Fighter/Rogue has a much lower requirement in concern of stats.

The other thing I'll point out is no one said a thing about Paladins requiring a deity. The rules make that very clear. The problem one is going to run into with this is you're still drawing on Divine power from somewhere or something. If a deity that you're claiming to be the right hand of gets wind that you're doing things in his/her name and it isn't what they'd want, they could probably cause you problems regarding your Paladin like abilities (spells, save aura, smites, etc). It might not be what's written in the book, but it's what I see DMs doing if you're claiming to be a Paladin. Playing as the Fighter/Rogue puts the OP in a situation where s/he doesn't actually receive any mechanical benefit from the deity, thus can't have said toys taken away if they do something wrong.

As I said, a fighter/rogue build works perfectly fine, especially for his purpose. I was expounding upon the OPs refution of my suggestion.

I will agree that paladin levels invite the DM to involve the diety he serves, whether he draws power from that deity or not. I had not considered that.

To contribute to the main point, perhaps consider that your character worships an older or outdated aspect of the deity that was more vengeful. The outdated aspect of the deity would ostracize the character from the main body of worsip, while allowing the character to function as a divine assassin. Compare to the Greek and Roman versions of the Olympic Pantheon. (Poor example I know but the only one off the top of my head)

[TheProfessor85]

There are forgotten realms novels that have leading charterers like this. The Shadowbane series is about a paladin who serves the trifold God, and Sword of the gods series is about a Deva who serves as an assassin fit the gods

[Herobizkit]

There are forgotten realms novels that have leading charterers like this. The Shadowbane series is about a paladin who serves the trifold God, and Sword of the gods series is about a Deva who serves as an assassin fit the godsThe Eye of Justice I posted above is directly lifted from the Shadowbane series as official FR canon. :)

[Sigreid]

Sune. If there's anything worth killing for it's love and beauty.

I think this works best if he's not actually got any connection to the god(dess), but thinks he does and goes after the deity's enemies in a misguided way they would not approve of. I did this sort of thing with a rogue in 3.xe. It was a blast. He was on a holy crusade completely in his own head.

[Laserlight]

He could be a paladin, but the god he gets power from isn't the god he claims to serve--and he may not even realize that.

Paladin/Rogue with smite + sneak attack can be amusing.

For characterisation, I'd expect this guy to not be the most mentally stable person. Compulsive handwashing, perhaps? Among other things.

[Sigreid]

He could be a paladin, but the god he gets power from isn't the god he claims to serve--and he may not even realize that.

Paladin/Rogue with smite + sneak attack can be amusing.

For characterisation, I'd expect this guy to not be the most mentally stable person. Compulsive handwashing, perhaps? Among other things.

Paladins don't get their power from the gods anymore. They basically are powered by their own sense of righteousness.