3.5 Assassin Build

[Human Paragon 3]

My friend wants to play an assassin and use the assassin class. I am trying to convince her to use factotum as her base class.

Looking for build ideas. All books are legal, but she is new so the learning curve should be as shallow as humanly possible.

[RagnaroksChosen]

Well 1 have you thought about just going strait rogue?
Rogues are pritty strait forward.

Some other easy rogue esc ones are

Rogue3/swashbuckler3 -Takeing daring outlaw
Scout 3/Rogue 3 -taking swift ambusher
Ninja 5-6

Assasin is dreadfully easy to get into just skill requirement so these could:
Ranger or monk could qualify


If you want something a bit more difficult:
Spellthief 2/Swashbuckler 3


Edit:

What is the rest of the party so i know what type of optimisation there is.

[Zach J.]

I think if you're looking for straightforward that going Rog3/Rgr 2 using TWF wouldn't be too bad.

[Pluto]

Rogue 1/Evil Incarnate 4 could be fun, if a bit MAD.

But Rogue 5 is my prefered entry, regardless: good sneak attack, good skills, good use of high Int.
Not very tricky, but I'm not sure why it should be.

[~LuckyBoneDice~]

I suggest a Dromite (size + psionics) Sneaky Thug Fighter 4/Soulknife 2/Assassin 10/Invisible Blade 4. The Soulknife is in only for look/flavor

Then take Deep Impact, Expertise and Improved Feint to be able to hit your foe every time. All you must do is beat a 10AC

[Human Paragon 3]

If you're hitting your target every time, why bother with the fighter levels?

This is the build I've suggest for her:

Human Rogue 1/Factotum 4/Assassin X

Feats:
Human: Craven (Champions of Ruin)
1- Point Blank Shot
3- Precise Shot

6- Arterial Strike
9- Ability Focus: Death Attack
12- Font of Inspiration
15- Font of Inspiration
18- Font of Inspiration

Any thoughts?

[Forever Curious]

If you're hitting your target every time, why bother with the fighter levels?

This is the build I've suggest for her:

Human Rogue 1/Factotum 4/Assassin X

Feats:
Human: Craven (Champions of Ruin)
1- Point Blank Shot
3- Precise Shot

6- Arterial Strike
9- Ability Focus: Death Attack
12- Font of Inspiration
15- Font of Inspiration
18- Font of Inspiration

Any thoughts?

As far as I know, Death Attack only applies to melee attacks, so i don't see the use of the ranged feats.

Weapon Finese would probably be a better option, and Darkstalker from Lords of Madness (able to hide from things with blindsense and the like).

[true_shinken]

I think Ranger is the best class for an assassin. Hide and Move Silently as class skills allow you to qualify easily at level 5, full bab and d8 HD helps. Favored enemy and sneak attack would give you a pretty nice bonus damage source to use with TWF.

[Human Paragon 3]

As far as I know, Death Attack only applies to melee attacks, so i don't see the use of the ranged feats.

Wow, did not notice that. Thanks!

[lsfreak]

Rogue5, Rogue3/SneakAttackFighter1/PsionicRogue1 (or something similar - maxing out Sneak Attack dice), Rogue3/SS2 (maneuvers), or Rogue3/Swashbuckler3 (Int synergy) can all be good entries.

ACF from Dungeonscape (sneak attack immune enemies while flanking for half damage), and PHB2 if you go 4+ levels in rogue (sacrifice SA on your first hit, target takes a -5AC for a round, don't sacrifice SA on all remaining hits).

Feats-wise, Weapon Finesse, TWF chain, Craven, Darkstalker, and a way of getting Dex to damage.

My preferred method is something along the lines of:
Focus on Dex > Con > Wis [make sure to have enough Int to cast your spells, but the spells will have a pitiful save whether or not you pump Int, and an assassin's 4+Int skills makes a poor skill monkey no matter how high your Int. Go with Wis, for scouting ability and Will saves now and AC later]
Rogue1 - +1SA, TWF, Weapon Focus
Rogue2
Rogue3 - +1SA, Weapon Finesse, Penetrating Strike ACF, retrain Weapon Focus to Craven
Rogue4 - Distracting Attack ACF [personal preference]
Rogue4/SS1 - Weapon Focus (bonus feat); Island of Blades, Cloak of Deception, and Distracting Ember (essential maneuvers)
Rogue5/SS1 - Shadow Blade
Rogue5/SS1/Asn1 - +1SA
Rogue5/SS1/Asn2
Rogue5/SS1/Asn3 - +1SA, Alter Self!
Rogue5/SS1/Asn4 - Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Rogue5/SS2/Asn4 - +2SA from Assassin's Stance (maneuver), Wis->AC
Continue with Assassin.

Attack bonus isn't outstanding (likely 14/14/9/9, assuming 16Dex +2lvlups +4item), but the -5AC to the target after hitting once helps a lot (both you an your allies). Next feat should probably be Darkstalker, to fool (almost) every sense while hiding.

EDIT: Death attack is horrible, horrible, horrible. Unless you can manage to do it before combat starts. Otherwise, it's a complete waste of time. Pumping a feat you can't afford (Ability Focus), and Int score you can't afford (18), and 8000gp on top of that (bracers from DotU), you can hit DC20 at level 10 - something an NPC wizard will even make half the time. Let's not even mention a brawler-type.
Though Death Attack and poisons are two things that could easily use a fix of some kind, if you're willing to do so.

[Keld Denar]

2 ways around the melee only thing.

Whirling Blade allows you to attack all foes in a 60' line as if they were melee attacks. Its not on the Assassin spell list, but its non-CL dependant and goes great on a wand (which you could put in a wand chamber within the focus weapon). Assassins get UMD, so you can keep your ranks up. Its only a DC20.

The other involves 4 levels of Bloodstorm Blade, which would also probably require at least 1 Warblade level to keep from bleeding feats out the wazoo. This is probably less desired given that you'd probably want to be taking Assassin levels when you'd be taking BSB levels, but you could qualify for Assassin as a Rogue4/Warblade1 to get some 2nd level manevuers. That means you could deliver a Death Attack with Emerald Razor, which in most cases, would be an attack against AC10. Nifty.

[Person_Man]

Factotum is useful for Brains Over Brawn. But unless your Assassin is going to be doing a lot of Trip or Bull Rush attempts, that's not much help.

IMO, if you can swing decent Dex, Int, and Cha, then the best entry for Assassin would include some Paladin of Tyranny, Binder, Hexblade, and/or Blackguard. Each of these classes can a penalty on enemy Saves, which is needed to give Death Attack a chance of working. And being Cha based makes Fear based feats and class abilities workable, which can further debuff your enemy.

[Forever Curious]

Although HIGHLY unoptimized, I'm partial to Beguiler 5/Assassin 10/Beguiler 5. Spells to improve stealth, light armor use, maximum INT, etc. But you give up sneak attack and caster level...mainly a flavor thing for me, but to each his/her own.

[Gahrer]

In the Spell Compendium there is a spell called "Snipers Eye" that let's Assassins do Death attack at range (Spell level 4). There is also "Snipers Shot" which removes range limitations for sneak attacks (Spell level 1).
Considering that a Death attack seems to be a sort of "enhanced" sneak attack, I let the assassin in my group stack these spells to do death attacks at any range. Combined with a high int it can be pretty effective when ambushing casters.