Luminous Assassin race, from the PHB2 spell

[redking]

Luminous Assassin is a summoning spell comes in three flavors - lesser, standard, and greater.

Is there any other information about this race of extraplanar assassins?

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[Bronk]

Luminous Assassin is a summoning spell comes in three flavors - lesser, standard, and greater.

Is there any other information about this race of extraplanar assassins?



I haven't seen these anywhere else... It looks like they're just humans, and they're extraplanar because they're summoned.

It's interesting though, because usually you can only summon something onto a surface capable of supporting it, and this one specifies that it appears in the air and then drops down. Nifty!

[redking]

I haven't seen these anywhere else... It looks like they're just humans, and they're extraplanar because they're summoned.


If you have the PBH2, the picture of them is very humanlike but literally glowing like a lightbulb. They are clearly human descended extraplanar beings.


It's interesting though, because usually you can only summon something onto a surface capable of supporting it, and this one specifies that it appears in the air and then drops down. Nifty!

Not only that, they explicitly carry some magical gear. Now that gear is going to disappear when the spell runs out, but if you are in desperate need of healing you can drink the potions that they carry.

[Bronk]

If you have the PBH2, the picture of them is very humanlike but literally glowing like a lightbulb. They are clearly human descended extraplanar beings.

That must be an effect of the summoning spell then... The fluff text in italics says it summons a vaguely humanoid creature made of light, then the specifics just says it's a human without mentioning any powers that would make it glow or be made out of light.

Summoning spells are supposed to bring a copy of the creature there, though, so these guys must be out there somewhere. It would be cool if they had some kind of human only extraplanar assassin squad, but instead of the usual shadow theme, this light theme so they can operate in places like the Plane of Radiance or the Positive Energy Plane, or even the astral? New headcannon!



Not only that, they explicitly carry some magical gear. Now that gear is going to disappear when the spell runs out, but if you are in desperate need of healing you can drink the potions that they carry.

I think the effects disappear when the creature does, but I guess you can just keep it around at least until the spell ends...

[redking]

I think the effects disappear when the creature does, but I guess you can just keep it around at least until the spell ends...

Yes. And the healing potions have an instant duration, so the effect starts and ends before the summoned creature disappears.

[Miss Disaster]

I'd like to use the Lesser Luminous Assassin (3rd Level) as a special-situation option for the Shadow Conjuration spell.

Any ideas on some nifty or creative uses for using the spell in this manner?

[el minster]

A luminous shadow spell :amused: are you sure about that :smile:

[Thurbane]

I think they are a bit like the beings summoned by Phantom Bear and Phantom Wolf, or maybe Astral Constructs*: energy constructs that act as creatures. But that's just my headcanon.

*Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about psionics in general.

[Miss Disaster]

A luminous shadow spell :amused: are you sure about that :smile:

Yeah, the spell could use some spell descriptor / subschool revision perhaps. To more accurately map to its flavor text.

I think all 3 of these spells need some serious revision via homebrewing - which I think I'll work on tonight. All 3 are just too darn weak-sauce when compared to equivalent-levelled spells. I'm gonna start with revising the stat blocks of all 3 of these custom creatures.

[el minster]

Please post in homebrew when you are done :smile:

[Thurbane]

OK, just re-read the relevant spell descriptions, and not really like Phantom Bear/Wolf at all.

Maybe they are Humans whose ancestors got frisky with Lumis or Visilights? :smalltongue:

[redking]

OK, just re-read the relevant spell descriptions, and not really like Phantom Bear/Wolf at all.

Maybe they are Humans whose ancestors got frisky with Lumis or Visilights? :smalltongue:

I think that they are statistically human, but not really human at all. There are some issues. They have the extraplanar subtype, so we know they are from a plane other than the material plane. They don't have the outsider type. So they aren't valid targets for planar binding - as far as I know. Is that correct?

[Thurbane]

I think that they are statistically human, but not really human at all. There are some issues. They have the extraplanar subtype, so we know they are from a plane other than the material plane. They don't have the outsider type. So they aren't valid targets for planar binding - as far as I know. Is that correct?

We rarely play at high(ish) level play, so I'm a bit rusty on Planar Binding. Lets have a look:

Planar Binding specifies "One elemental or outsider" in the target line, so no-go on Extraplanar Humanoids.

Gate, however, has no such restriction. I doubt you'd want to blow a 9th level spell getting a Luminous Assassin, unless the DM rules there are higher level individuals out there somewhere.

[Miss Disaster]

I'm curious what you all think of the overall power-level-plus-utility-level rating of these 3 Luminous Assassin spells are .... comparative to their other same-levelled spells in 3.5

Would you say that each spell is in the bottom 1/3, middle 1/3 or upper 1/3 of its peers?

I'd say deep into the bottom 1/3. I've never, ever, ever seen these spells on a PC or NPC's spell sheet. They look thematically interesting. But even casual players will look at them, shrug their shoulders, and chose more useful spells.

[tyckspoon]

I'm curious what you all think of the overall power-level-plus-utility-level rating of these 3 Luminous Assassin spells are .... comparative to their other same-levelled spells in 3.5

Would you say that each spell is in the bottom 1/3, middle 1/3 or upper 1/3 of its peers?

I'd say deep into the bottom 1/3. I've never, ever, ever seen these spells on a PC or NPC's spell sheet. They look thematically interesting. But even casual players will look at them, shrug their shoulders, and chose more useful spells.

Definitely bottom third. They're like super specialized Summon Monster spells, only the things they summon are terrible; if you're going to give up the versatility of choosing from the Summon Monster list and be stuck with a single creature, the tradeoff should be that the thing you summon is actually good at its job. Give them extra bonuses to hit Flat-footed targets so at least the initial summon attack is very likely to hit. Give 'em Improved Feint or better quality equipment (maybe a set of Deathstrike Bracers?) Let the Greater one live up to its Assassin name and deliver a Death Attack on arrival, as if it were an Actual Assassin that had studied the target (delivering a Save-or-Die plus having a combat minion stick around after is at least a spell that is worth considering, even if it's not individually a great Save-or-Die or a great fighter.) Do.. something to make these worth looking at as more than a curiosity.

[Bronk]

I'm curious what you all think of the overall power-level-plus-utility-level rating of these 3 Luminous Assassin spells are .... comparative to their other same-levelled spells in 3.5

Would you say that each spell is in the bottom 1/3, middle 1/3 or upper 1/3 of its peers?

I'd say deep into the bottom 1/3. I've never, ever, ever seen these spells on a PC or NPC's spell sheet. They look thematically interesting. But even casual players will look at them, shrug their shoulders, and chose more useful spells.

I think the spell is fairly useless, especially for it's level, unless you could convince your DM that you don't care about the luminous assassin at all, all you really want is to drop a set of armor weighted down with 200 pounds of confused humanoid and other equipment, then use the fairly long range of the spell to summon the thing as far up as you can, then drop it on the enemy and deal falling object damage to your enemy (+1d6 damage per every 10 feet fallen, max +20d6 per 200 pounds, with a DC 15 reflex save to avoid the damage per Heroes of Battle).

That would take a lot of convincing though!

[Miss Disaster]

There's three spells in this series:

Lesser Luminous Assassin (3rd)
Luminous Assassin (5th)
Greater Luminous Assassin (7th)

A quick few playtest runs of using the Greater L.A.'s 5 HD stat block to replace the Lesser L.A.'s 1 HD stat block ... still only made the 3rd level spell somewhat okay.

Am I possibly missing a more nuanced optimization trick to using the best luminous assassin stat block in the lowest-level version of the spell?

[Bronk]

There's three spells in this series:

Lesser Luminous Assassin (3rd)
Luminous Assassin (5th)
Greater Luminous Assassin (7th)

A quick few playtest runs of using the Greater L.A.'s 5 HD stat block to replace the Lesser L.A.'s 1 HD stat block ... still only made the 3rd level spell somewhat okay.

Am I possibly missing a more nuanced optimization trick to using the best luminous assassin stat block in the lowest-level version of the spell?

I don't think you're missing anything. Aside from falling from above - a trick this spell doesn't really make any interesting use of - the 7th level version is worse than Summon Nature's Ally III. At least with that, you can get a 5HD lion with pounce or a 6HD dire wolf, etc.

[kinem]

It's a standard action to cast, and eligible for Quicken. You can place the assassin in any square adjacent to the target. If you have a high level rogue buddy, it might be worth it to give him an instant flanking partner ... on very rare occasions :smallbiggrin:

[Ashtagon]

If you have the PBH2, the picture of them is very humanlike but literally glowing like a lightbulb. They are clearly human descended extraplanar beings.

What's more likely, an entirely new race exists which is described only in a splatbook spell, or that a fluff image forgot to mention glowing as a side effect of the spell it illustrates, or perhaps even that the fluff image forgot to mention that the subject of the image had a faerie fire spell cast on it?

[Thurbane]

What's more likely, an entirely new race exists which is described only in a splatbook spell, or that a fluff image forgot to mention glowing as a side effect of the spell it illustrates, or perhaps even that the fluff image forgot to mention that the subject of the image had a faerie fire spell cast on it?

Wouldn't surprise me at all. The disconnect between some of the illustrations and text at WotC was quite jarring: I assume that the illustrator didn't get the full brief, or the fluff text changed after the illustration was already commissioned.

Another example from PHB2, Lady Sorra, the Female Human Knight (according to her stat block):

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97101.jpg

You know, from that clan of pointed eared humans. :smallamused:

Oh, and here's the lightbulb guy from Luminous Assassin:

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97137.jpg

...I'm telling you, I think his family tree has one of these guys in it somewhere:

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83020.jpg http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83074.jpg

[Bronk]

Oh, and here's the lightbulb guy from Luminous Assassin:

All else aside, you have to admit that the statblock does not include pants... :)

[kinem]

All else aside, you have to admit that the statblock does not include pants... :)

Hence the original name of the spell: Flashing Assassin :smallbiggrin:

[el minster]

Wouldn't surprise me at all. The disconnect between some of the illustrations and text at WotC was quite jarring: I assume that the illustrator didn't get the full brief, or the fluff text changed after the illustration was already commissioned.

Another example from PHB2, Lady Sorra, the Female Human Knight (according to her stat block):

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97101.jpg

You know, from that clan of pointed eared humans. :smallamused:

Oh, and here's the lightbulb guy from Luminous Assassin:

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97137.jpg

...I'm telling you, I think his family tree has one of these guys in it somewhere:

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83020.jpg http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83074.jpg

Well technicaly she could be 1/4 elf

[Thurbane]

I still think Luminous Assassin would have made more sense if it were Conjuration (Creation), and created a being composed of luminous energy, maybe drawn from the Quasi Elemental Plane of Radiance. If I were going to home-brew it that way, I'd remove the gear, give them some Elemental or Construct traits/immunities, and maybe some kind of dazzling/blinding effect on enemies.

That's basically how I always assumed it worked, since I never read the spell in enough detail to notice otherwise - the PHB2 has some neat spells, but also has a lot of rubbish ones.

Actually, it's just clicked with me what kind of creature the Luminous Assassin illustration reminds me of: a Phantom Stalker. Not sure if it ever got an official 3E writeup, it was in the 1E Fiend Folio. Here's a fan-made 3.0 conversion: Phantom Stalker (https://web.archive.org/web/20120729132916/http://creaturecatalog.enworld.org/cc/converted/elemental/phantom_stalker.htm)

https://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/images/phanstal.gif

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTPxH3WA5Zo/WfnlycfqwqI/AAAAAAAANIg/viHdvpJu3l4HiYDpRFux0-UbXoqcMU2cwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Phantom%2BStalker%2BBlog%2BPicture.png