Making an assassin

[Laurellien]

I'm making an assassin character in the near future (level 20, any books), and having never played a sneaky character before, I thought I'd come here to get advice as to how I should make him. It's gestalt, and need not have the assassin class.

[kamikasei]

Swordsage//Beguiler comes to mind: sneakiness, stealthy rogue-type maneuvers, and enchantment and illusion spells. Might not cover each other's weak spots so well, though.

[Wordmiser]

Ranger 10/Bloodhound 10//Beguiler 20 would be my choice.
Use the Complete Mage's "Favored Enemy--Arcanist" option.

Or:
Swordsage 20//Cloistered Cleric 5/Church Inquisitor/Contemplative 10
Use the PHB2's "Spontaneous Domain Casting" variant.
Get domains like Trickery, Travel, Darkness and Celerity.

Or:
Archivist 20//Factotum 20
This is pretty straightforward: Focus on Intelligence with Wisdom and Dexterity as secondary abilities. For feats, grab 6 Fonts of Inspiration (31 IP), Extend Spell, Knowledge Devotion, Quicken Spell and Persistant Spell.

Or:
Warblade 10/Swiftblade 10//Beguiler 14/Factotum 6
(levels arranged for 20/20 Beguiler casting and for maximum Maneuver levels).

*I'm not a fan of overly elaborate builds unless I get to play the character through their development (it tends to make DMs suspicious). I'm sure that all of these could PrC a few more times and become marginally more powerful, but I'd rather avoid that.

[slexlollar89]

fighter 15/invisible blade//rogue (10-15) master thrower

This dude can be insane with dagger throwing and the right feats. I don't have master thrower opn though, so I don't know how many levels of rogue to take.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Human:

Factotum -19, (Marshal -1 after first or third level (Motivate Aura Int))//Erudite - 20 with Hidden Talent and Spells to Power Variant (PRCs to taste)

Factotum will give your PC even more flexibility in gestalt utilizing Inspiration Points via Fonts of Inspiration (Cunning Brillance for Assassinations) Take the Oriental Adventures Iajutsu Skill.

Erudite will let you cherry pick psionic powers and spells from all lists.

Hidden Talent will give your PC Erudite an always on power like Astral Construct or other to taste.

Erudite - 20 will let your PC choose 11 powers or spells from known powers/spells to manifest each day. Things like 17 PP No Experience Miracles.

Marshal Motivate Aura Intelligence should be in the build on one side even the Erudite.

You could drop up to 3 levels from Erudite (10 accessible powers/spells a day and capped at 17 PP) for a few late level dips in a Martial Adept class or two for a few basic combat maneuvers or Chameleon or other PRC to personal taste since the Motivate Aura will bump up your bonus power points a bit.

[Animefunkmaster]

Neraphim Planar Handbook, 0 la, gets the neraph's charge and neraph's throw as racial abilities (auto flat foots things essentially, no save.)

Then some kind of sword sage/lion totem barbarian 1/ fighter 2/rogue/PrC/PrC/Prc... should be good.

Make sure to time the sword sage levels to get assasins stance, that is important.

[DrizztFan24]

Hmmm....I'm a newby at this whole "make an uber character thing" since i haven't made anyone above level 5...progressed to 13 then we reset.


Beguiler 5/Shadowdancer 2/ Assassin and Beguiler as you want your spells-or death attack

The Shadowdancer levels give you evasion, hide in plain sight, uncanny doge, and darkvision.

[kentma57]

Either a scout/master thrower(I have played the and if built right they can hide/ sneak and drop mostthings in one hit) or better yet the assasin base class from the assasin's handbook...

ps: you could take level of both...

[leperkhaun]

rogue/warlock is pretty nice.

[Talic]

Wiz 20/ Monk 20... With the first, you really don't need anything, so... I picked nothing.


For a bit more stabitty stabbity, try:

Wiz 20/Rogue 20

Think 30 foot sneak attack of doom while Getting flank bonuses for your summon monster 9's.

[Grynning]

If you want to be really subtle, and are down with Psionics, Psion Telepath 20 is a really effective killer. The great thing is that many of their powers look like the person died of natural causes, plus they have all kinds of nasty mind control, and access to plenty of utility powers. Telepath//Psychic Warrior/Slayer could be very good, or just Telepath//Something with Int Synergy (Factotum, Warblade, Duskblade, Wizard, Beguiler...the list goes on)

[Talic]

Sorceror 20/Fighter 5/Dragon Disciple 10/Rogue 5

One of his spells will likely be invisibility, if he's to have any hope of blending in.

Human Weretiger. Round out remaining levels (12, I think), with 3 Hulking Hurler/9 War Hulk/12 Barbarian.

Make sure one of your feats is the one that doubles carrying capacity, take Overburdened Heave, and give him a ring of invisibility.

Pre Rounds: Activate ring.
Round 1: Move into position, draw rock.
Round 2: Throw rock, Activate ring.
Round 3: Find a way out of the city, happy that you've created another grease spot.

[Ganurath]

Nomad 10 / Shadowmind 10 // Rogue 10 / Psybond Agent 10

17th level manifester, 11d6 sneak attack damage, and the ability to make people look the other way without alerting them to your existence. Throw in the Mosquito's Bite skill trick for a bizarre combo with Mind Stab, especially if you manifest a delayed Crisis of Life into a light weapon with power storing.

[BadJuJu]

Sorceror 20/Fighter 5/Dragon Disciple 10/Rogue 5

One of his spells will likely be invisibility, if he's to have any hope of blending in.

Human Weretiger. Round out remaining levels (12, I think), with 3 Hulking Hurler/9 War Hulk/12 Barbarian.

Make sure one of your feats is the one that doubles carrying capacity, take Overburdened Heave, and give him a ring of invisibility.

Pre Rounds: Activate ring.
Round 1: Move into position, draw rock.
Round 2: Throw rock, Activate ring.
Round 3: Find a way out of the city, happy that you've created another grease spot.

Just throw a bigger rock, no worries. Why be subtle when you can just kill everything.

If you want to be really subtle, and are down with Psionics, Psion Telepath 20 is a really effective killer. The great thing is that many of their powers look like the person died of natural causes, plus they have all kinds of nasty mind control, and access to plenty of utility powers. Telepath//Psychic Warrior/Slayer could be very good, or just Telepath//Something with Int Synergy (Factotum, Warblade, Duskblade, Wizard, Beguiler...the list goes on)

That would be a truly evil Psion. Currupt a few Paladines with modify memory and other assorted abilities to turn their into Blackguards. Then have your disiples kill whoever you need them to kill. Then its all on them and you walk away scot free.

[Ker]

I'd go Telepath 20//Psion Uncarnate 10/Psychic Rogue 10

26th level manifesting and incorporeal subtype, except for a minute a day when you kill your target. 3d6 damage with incorporeal touch, 3/4 BAB, good Ref and Will saves, evasion, trapfinding, and sneak attack 4d6.

[Wordmiser]

I'd go Telepath 20//Psion Uncarnate 10/Psychic Rogue 10

26th level manifesting and incorporeal subtype, except for a minute a day when you kill your target.

Two things:

Class features that two classes share (such as uncanny dodge) accrue at the rate of the faster class.

So you can't accelerate your manifesting twice in a level.

And you should probably switch the Psychic Rogue and PU levels to make this legal.

If you want a legal build along these lines, consider:
Telepath 14/Factotum 6//Lurk 5/Psychic Assassin 5/Psion Uncarnate 10 (with Telepath and Factotum levels adjusted to maintain 20/20 manifestation).

Nomad 10 / Shadowmind 10 // Rogue 10 / Psybond Agent 10

17th level manifester, 11d6 sneak attack damage, and the ability to make people look the other way without alerting them to your existence. Throw in the Mosquito's Bite skill trick for a bizarre combo with Mind Stab, especially if you manifest a delayed Crisis of Life into a light weapon with power storing.

A gestalt character can’t combine two prestige classes at any level, although it’s okay to combine a prestige class and a regular class.

[Talic]

Just throw a bigger rock, no worries. Why be subtle when you can just kill everything.

Because it's a NINJA hurler. It answers the question, "what is the sound of one rock falling?"

[Ganurath]

Ah... In that case Nomad 10 / Shadowmind 10 // Spellthief 20, enjoying the benefits of Psithief.

[Fax Celestis]

Rogue 20//Warblade 5/Assassin 5/Jade Phoenix Mage 10.

[Draz74]

Psion (Telepath) 20 // Factotum 20 is nice, simple, with great Intelligence synergy, and very flexible. Plus it doesn't abuse Gestalt rules like builds that put Psionic classes on both sides just to get more PP, or switch PrC levels back and forth on both sides to maintain full manifesting.

Swordsage is the best all-around assassin-ish class available. Unfortunately its need for good Wisdom doesn't synergize well with most other assassin-ish classes (except the Ninja, which is way too similar to the Swordsage to make a good Gestalt combo). You could throw in Cleric or something like people have been saying, but to me that doesn't seem very assassin-ish. Hmmm, if you go Swordsage, I think this would be fun:
Swordsage 20 // Fighter 2 / Psychic Warrior 3 / Invisible Blade 5 / [Illithid] Slayer 10
... focusing on the Combat Focus feat tree from PHB II with your bonus feats.

Rogue 20//Warblade 5/Assassin 5/Jade Phoenix Mage 10.

Some DMs won't allow JPM in Gestalt.

[Fax Celestis]

Some DMs won't allow JPM in Gestalt.

I'm usually one of them, but I hearken to the idea that if your double-advancement class is only advancing classes that are on one side of your gestalt, then they're okay. IE: Swashbuckler//Archivist/Wizard/Mystic Theurge is okay, because all the advancement's on one side.

[Draz74]

Yeah, that's why I said "some" instead of "practically all." If I were DM, I could probably be talked into doing it this way too.

Hmmm ...

Rogue 2 / Swashbuckler 3 / Assassin 5 / Bladesinger 10 // Warblade 20 for an evil elven assassin?

[Fax Celestis]

Yeah, that's why I said "some" instead of "practically all." If I were DM, I could probably be talked into doing it this way too.

Hmmm ...

Rogue 2 / Swashbuckler 3 / Assassin 5 / Bladesinger 10 // Warblade 20 for an evil elven assassin?

Why not Ninja 3/Monk 17 (with Ascetic Stalker)//Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 17 (with Daring Outlaw)? 10d6 Sneak Attack, 10d6 Sudden Strike, full flurry/unarmed strike/ki pool progression, near/full BAB, Wis to AC, Int to damage, and free Weapon Finesse. Oh, and all good saves, d10 HD, and 4+Int skills (except for your first three levels, where you'd have 8+Int).

[Telonius]

You could throw in Cleric or something like people have been saying, but to me that doesn't seem very assassin-ish. .

I don't know, depending on the deity a Cleric assassin could work pretty well. There are plenty of death deities out there. And don't forget, you can always be a "cause" cleric. Fanatic death-dealing assassin could work.

Will all of your targets be from the same general collection of enemies? A Cleric20// Urban Ranger X could work well for that:

Favored Enemy
At the game master's discretion, an urban ranger may select an organization instead of a creature type as his favored enemy. For example, a character might select a particular thieves' guild, merchant house, or even the city guard. The favored enemy bonuses would apply to all members of the chosen organization, regardless of their creature type or subtype.

[BadJuJu]

Because it's a NINJA hurler. It answers the question, "what is the sound of one rock falling?"

Squish? Seriously, a Red Dragon with enough Psy Warrior to get immovable and Hulking Hurrler. With a neckless of adaptation, he can sit in space and throw and asteroid belf at people. THAT is a stealth kill. Or Wizard10/Abjurant Champion5/Archmage5/Druid20. Die beyatch.

[Draz74]

Why not Ninja 3/Monk 17 (with Ascetic Stalker)//Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 17 (with Daring Outlaw)? 10d6 Sneak Attack, 10d6 Sudden Strike, full flurry/unarmed strike/ki pool progression, near/full BAB, Wis to AC, Int to damage, and free Weapon Finesse. Oh, and all good saves, d10 HD, and 4+Int skills (except for your first three levels, where you'd have 8+Int).

Meh. MAD (needs Int, Wis, and Dex badly). And Ascetic Stalker doesn't make Monk count for Sudden Strike, so you only have +2d6 sudden strike. And 4+Int skill points isn't very impressive in Gestalt. And I never liked stacking Sudden Strike with Sneak Attack via Gestalt anyway; too one-trick-pony for me.

As impressive as 2d10+12d6+Int+Str damage from an unarmed strike would be for an assassin ...

[Fax Celestis]

Meh. MAD (needs Int, Wis, and Dex badly). And Ascetic Stalker doesn't make Monk count for Sudden Strike, so you only have +2d6 sudden strike. And 4+Int skill points isn't very impressive in Gestalt. And I never liked stacking Sudden Strike with Sneak Attack via Gestalt anyway; too one-trick-pony for me.

As impressive as 2d10+12d6+Int+Str damage from an unarmed strike would be for an assassin ...

Ninja 17/Monk 3//Scout 4/Ranger 16?

[Wordmiser]

Rogue 10/Psychic Assassin 10//Egoist 15/Factotum 5? Take Maiming Strike (Exemplars of Evil), Two Weapon Fighting and two Wounding Weapons.

Hop around the Battlefield with Dimension Slide or Temporal Acceleration, dealing 4 types of ability damage with each attack (is there any way to get Charisma Dexterity and Wisdom Damage in there?)

[Fax Celestis]

Evolved allip racial class?

[Draz74]

LoL.

Ninja 17/Monk 3//Scout 4/Ranger 16?

Better ...

Theoretically 2d10+14d6+Str damage (more vs. Favored Enemies), but it's too hard to use this impressive damage in a full attack. Greater Manyshot loses you your 2d10 base unarmed damage and your ability to Flurry (and Flurry is a good ability when you have BAB +19 and lots of precision damage). I suppose you could use Lion's Charge spells (carry a lot of Pearls of Power II!) or a Martial Study (Sudden Leap) feat to enable both Skirmish and a full attack, but both of those use up your swift action, so that you can't Ghost Step in the same turn for Sudden Strike damage.

I guess you'll still come out OK. Even when you can't use Skirmish on your full attacks, you'll have 2d10+9d6+Str unarmed attacks with high BAB. Then you'll switch to Lion's Charging and not getting Sudden Strike when you face Undead or Constructs (which are, of course, some of your Favored Enemies).

My only other issue with the build is a +8 Base Will Save. That's weak in Gestalt. But +2 from Ki, and a high Wisdom, will help somewhat.

Looks fun. Ki abilities, animal companion, favored enemy, minor spellcasting ... a lot of options, even though precision damage is really your specialty.