How would you build an assassin from Assassin's Creed?

[ImSAMazing]

The title says it all: how would you do it, assuming starting from lvl 1, all UA allowed, a 27-pointbuy.

[Sir cryosin]

Rogue assassin with a faction agent background from scag and your good to go. I would start with expertise in acrobatics then later in stealth. Get a black smith to make you your hidden blade or get it from your faction. Then pick a short sword,scimitar, or rapier. Then a light crossbow. Your armor will be leather maybe studded but I feel leather is more fluff related but you can fluff up studded. That's about it the assassin archtype skills fill the assassin creed assassin abilitys just fine. Oh and invest some ones in to str for knock downs. You could grade martial adept to get trip attack.

[CantigThimble]

I'd also take 3 levels in sorcerer. You need feather fall (to survive those suicidal hay jumps) and suggestion. (these aren't the monks you're looking for)

[lebefrei]

Important points:
One hit kills when surprising enemy
No failing climbing checks
Truesight (eagle vision)
Very high Dex AC
Skilled combatant

Feather Fall or monk's Slow Fall aren't actually required: the character is damaged or killed unless falling into hay.

This is pretty hard to pull off completely, assassin 4 for assassinate/ASI and 16 Archfey bladelock(hidden blade as pact weapon) almost pulls off the feel. Stealthy, able combatant with autocrit on surprise, can hide easily (one with shadows, greater invis, etc), Witch Sight as Eagle Vision, and so on.

That is probably what I would build...

[. Shadowblade .]

I am solving same issue and my plan looks like to reach Assassin Lvl 17 for Death Strike - to have high Sneak Attack dmg for assassinations.
Plus Warlock Lvl 3 will be useful for Pact of Chain invisible Familiar - ability which will allows to always sneak attack and have the source of poison for my weapons.

[CantigThimble]

Oh, actually a few levels of Vengeance Paladin. It's a huge flavor win plus you can get perpetual advantage for sneak attack.

[Slipperychicken]

AC seems like rogue shenanigans for the most part. Just get creative with those acrobatics and athletics skills, learn to roleplay an assassin, and have a DM who really likes to describe scaffolding and architecture. Also learn to hide inside quartets of scholars and maidens.


As for that kind of one-shot-one-kill, quick, in-and-out kind of killings? D&D doesn't do that. You might be able to get away with that against a minion enemy, but ultimately it's a game about extended face-to-face fighting. Among other things, the absurd hit point scaling makes it next to impossible to one-shot an important enemy.

[spartan_ah]

I would go with the swashbuckler...
dual wielding feat can thematically allow you to draw your 2 blades in one turn, you'll get the high charisma for deception and disguise and you'll be far more melee combatant than the assassin...
you can refluff 2 short swords as the assassin blade and with the feat you can pull the instantly

[Mors]

Fighter 2 / Rogue (Assasin) 3 for the sweet Assasinate, then continue with Bladelock for simulating his (almost) supernatural skills.

[Arkhios]

Really depends which assassin you try to emulate.
Altaïr would be straight assassin with Acolyte/Faction Agent, built around dex.
Ezio on the other hand is a mixed bag of beans, fighter 1 to 5 with dueling fighting style, assassin 3+/lore bard 3+, definitely with medium armor mastery and built for strength as much as for dex, if not even more. Ezio was really strong fellow, what with climbing all that much with heavier than leather armor (plated armor suggests at least medium armor master and half-plate).
Connor would be Ranger/Assassin, with two-weapon fighting style, like his grandfather Edward, but built more around dexterity.
Edward is perhaps the most hardcore mix (and my favorite):
Fighter (champion) with mariner style (duh), hunter ranger with two-weapon fighting style (he's an expert with it!), Assassin for the tradition, built around strength and dexterity, with Medium Armor Master, And quite possibly, if he reaches 10th fighter level, defense fighting style.
Combined with Dual Wielder, Defense style and Mariner Styles, dex 16 and MAM, with half-plate (the mayan armor) his AC would be the highest of all so far:
+1 if any armor, +1 if lighter than heavy armor, +1 when dual wielding, 15+max 3 dex (half-plate), his AC would be around 21 and above.

Whatever comes after Black Flag, I don't know.

[Rhaegar14]

I second Swashbuckler, with some Fighter mixed in. The characters in the Assassin's Creed games are all absurdly deadly in a straight engagement, even alone. Assassin Rogue does not do that. Go with Battlemaster Fighter for 5 levels to grab some maneuvers that allow you to get advantage when outnumbered (Trip Attack and/or Feinting Attack; Trip is better on the whole, but Feint works against targets of all size categories and doesn't allow a saving throw), Riposte for that classic counter-kill, Extra Attack, and Action Surge for improved burst damage.

Also, you definitely want Expertise in ATHLETICS, not Acrobatics. Acrobatics is balance, but Athletics specifically covers climbing.

[Sir cryosin]

Really depends which assassin you try to emulate.
Altaïr would be straight assassin with Acolyte/Faction Agent, built around dex.
Ezio on the other hand is a mixed bag of beans, fighter 1 to 5 with dueling fighting style, assassin 3+/lore bard 3+, definitely with medium armor mastery and built for strength as much as for dex, if not even more. Ezio was really strong fellow, what with climbing all that much with heavier than leather armor (plated armor suggests at least medium armor master and half-plate).
Connor would be Ranger/Assassin, with two-weapon fighting style, like his grandfather Edward, but built more around dexterity.
Edward is perhaps the most hardcore mix (and my favorite):
Fighter (champion) with mariner style (duh), hunter ranger with two-weapon fighting style (he's an expert with it!), Assassin for the tradition, built around strength and dexterity, with Medium Armor Master, And quite possibly, if he reaches 10th fighter level, defense fighting style.
Combined with Dual Wielder, Defense style and Mariner Styles, dex 16 and MAM, with half-plate (the mayan armor) his AC would be the highest of all so far:
+1 if any armor, +1 if lighter than heavy armor, +1 when dual wielding, 15+max 3 dex (half-plate), his AC would be around 21 and above.

Whatever comes after Black Flag, I don't know.

I would agree with this and want to add something Altair would have a few monk lvs I don't know how many because AFB but a lot of monk stuff works there.

[Requiemforlust]

I would do this:

Human (Variant)
STR 13 (5 points)
DEX 16 (9 points +1 racial)
CON 12 (4 points)
INT 8 (0 points)
WIS 12 (4 points)
CHA 13 (5 points)

Start out Paladin and then go to level 3 for the Oath of Vengeance. Hunter's mark and Divine Sense can be flavored as Eagle Vision, and your Divine Smite/Sneak Attack will capture the assassin's on hit killing. Ask your DM if you can reflavor a dagger as your hidden blade. Rapier is your main weapon for non-stealth kills. For your feat from Variant Human grab Resilient (Dex). For your skills from being a Paladin, you want to grab Athletics (free-running) and Intimidation. Faction Agent gives you Insight and Perception. Both of these are going to be fantastic for you. For your skill from multiclassing Rogue, grab Stealth. At Rogue 1 you want to Expertise both Perception and Stealth. At Rogue 6 Expertise Athletics and Insight.

This should get you fairly close. Your Paladin Oath will be the Assassin's Creed, and your Faction is the Order.

[JackPhoenix]

I would actually take Thief, not Assassin, Second Story Work fits better, IMO. Thief's Reflexes at 18 would be nice too. Ezio had smoke bombs, which could be used with Thief's BA. UMD works for using Pieces of Eden.

[Arkhios]

I would agree with this and want to add something Altair would have a few monk lvs I don't know how many because AFB but a lot of monk stuff works there.

True. Way of the Open Hand monk at least 5 levels.

I would actually take Thief, not Assassin, Second Story Work fits better, IMO. Thief's Reflexes at 18 would be nice too. Ezio had smoke bombs, which could be used with Thief's BA. UMD works for using Pieces of Eden.

You're right, Ezio could definitely be a Thief rather than Assassin, unlike the others.

[DracoKnight]

I would do this:

Human (Variant)
STR 13 (5 points)
DEX 16 (9 points +1 racial)
CON 12 (4 points)
INT 8 (0 points)
WIS 12 (4 points)
CHA 13 (5 points)

Start out Paladin and then go to level 3 for the Oath of Vengeance. Hunter's mark and Divine Sense can be flavored as Eagle Vision, and your Divine Smite/Sneak Attack will capture the assassin's on hit killing. Ask your DM if you can reflavor a dagger as your hidden blade. Rapier is your main weapon for non-stealth kills. For your feat from Variant Human grab Resilient (Dex). For your skills from being a Paladin, you want to grab Athletics (free-running) and Intimidation. Faction Agent gives you Insight and Perception. Both of these are going to be fantastic for you. For your skill from multiclassing Rogue, grab Stealth. At Rogue 1 you want to Expertise both Perception and Stealth. At Rogue 6 Expertise Athletics and Insight.

This should get you fairly close. Your Paladin Oath will be the Assassin's Creed, and your Faction is the Order.

I would actually take Thief, not Assassin, Second Story Work fits better, IMO. Thief's Reflexes at 18 would be nice too. Ezio had smoke bombs, which could be used with Thief's BA. UMD works for using Pieces of Eden.

I would blend these two ideas together: Vengeance 3/Thief 17. I would also take your first two ASIs to bump CON to 16 over DEX to 20. And then from there bump DEX to 20. You want to grab either Alert or Observant with your last ASI.

[HoodedHero007]

How does divine sense reflavor as eagle vision?
Divine sense just tells you where close fiends, fey, and celestials (or the FFCs)

[Oramac]

the absurd hit point scaling makes it next to impossible to one-shot an important enemy.

Not completely impossible. I've one-shot BBEG's with my Tempest Sorcerer before. It's just really hard to set up.

Granted, that's not really what the OP is looking for. As an Assassin, I don't know if it is possible.

[. Shadowblade .]

imho it should be Assassin or MC with Assassin - because of using all those various assassinations.

Question is:
Is it possible to make working double assassination in 5E?

[DracoKnight]

How does divine sense reflavor as eagle vision?
Divine sense just tells you where close fiends, fey, and celestials (or the FFCs)

It's not perfect...but you could probably ask your DM if used in conjunction with hunter's mark, it could produce a similar effect.

[Gtdead]

I can't find any way to build the archetype and be playable from lvl 1 to 20 unless I do it with 3 levels of rogue, which is close, but lacks the instant kill ability. Also I consider Altair as the archetype. From there on the other protagonists are effectively superhuman. Being good at everything.

The main points of the build in order of importance (In my opinion at least)

Eagle Vision - Extraordinary spotter. This is what makes him and his bloodline unique. Racial Ability
Athlete-Acrobat-Runner - That's the main playstyle feature. Altair can reach the highest tower and balance on a shaky flagpole.
Assassination - The build needs to be able to kill a target outright. Otherwise the build is just not good enough.
Close Quarters Combat - This is the deal breaker. In fact the protagonist assassins are so good at cqc that it pretty much cancels out the need to play stealthy.
Stealth - You can play the game like a parkour thug and it hardly feels any different. Stealth is a requirement on specific missions, and thats more of a "jump on a roof and kill the sentries". But it's required anyway.

For the stats,
Physical stats, He has exceptional hand to eye coordination and can balance on everything. DEX is his main stat. STR is next because you need to be strong to climb like that. CON, he survived the poisoned blade of his master, but I don't think that it meant to kill him. I'd go with average CON.

Mental stats, He certainly isn't charismatic, he doesn't talk at all. He doesn't seem particularly intelligent. After all he had trouble understanding the tennets. I'd go with Wisdom because in time he finally understands morality, forgiveness/penance, order through experience. He is also very disciplined, or else he could use the apple for his own gain.

So we have a character with high DEX, followed by WIS/STR, then CON and low INT/CHA.

The only build that I can think of that has everything in the list is a wood elf monk of the open hand.

His perception is a racial bonus. Elves are the most perceptive of the races. Also his eagle vision works as a detect good and evil (get it through magic initiate). Allows him to confirm the target (painting him red), and make it easier to spot him and follow him. It also allows him to see the invisible writings on the wall. If the DM allows the spell to detect humanoid alignments as well it's the closest thing to the ability that I can think off.
Wood elves are the more agile (faster movement), +dex/wis.

Monk has high unarmed AC and good CQC capabilities.
He is the most mobile of all the classes.
He is the best climber (he can walk on vertical surfaces)
Open hand monk has quivering palm, it's a save or die ability and can emulate the assassination ability. Normally it requires 2 turns, but we can take 2 levels of fighter for action surge. We lose the capstone but that's an inherent problem with concept builds ^^

27 point buy before racial bonus.
STR 14
DEX 15
CON 12
INT 8
WIS 14
CHA 8

Proficiency in Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, Sleight of Hand and racial Perception.

The main problem of the build is that it isn't playable as an assassin from 1 to 20. You will need to get 3 levels of assassin and ditch fighter to do so.

[HoodedHero007]

as I said before, detect evil and good only affects the FFCs

[Corran]

the absurd hit point scaling makes it next to impossible to one-shot an important enemy.

That's the easiest issue to address when creating an assassin. You can take your assassination damage to such heights in fact, that you can one-hit almost anything (that you actually manage to surprise), so that actually tends to become more of a problem as it either wins most fights before they even start, or it is not usable and hencee worthless. But seriously, building for an acceptable amount of surprise damage is the easy part. The problems start when you try to balance out your assassin build forr normal combat, during the several levels of play. That is more tricky, and few people manage to do it right (for examle, I saw many suggestions in this thread alone, and in other threads as well, that are quite subpar during normal play, I mean no disrespect to anyone).

Question is:
Is it possible to make working double assassination in 5E?

Spoiler

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Yeah, it can be done. As long as you have many attacks (extra attack and action surge help here, so does quickened spell or TWF or PM) and decent mobility (wood elf and mobile help here). Then all you need, is to be able to do a lot of damage with each one of these attacks (several things help here, divine smite is the most obvious one). And ofc if we wantt to be presice and accurate, you have to beat all the enemies' initiative, but now we start talking more geeral about assassin builds and I am straying from the question asked.

And you not need to restrict yourself to double assassination, you can do much more. Consider running besides 5-6 enemies slicing their throats as you pass by them, assuming they are surprised. As long as you have enough movement speed and you can deal enough damage with each attack, you are in for an epic scene.

[GraakosGraakos]

Hm.... Vengeance Paladin to fight against all those who would violate personal freedom. Assassin Rogue for...all the rest. Ask your DM to refluff a dagger as a hidden blade. Take the faction agent or spy background. Maybe the Mobile feat?

[Oramac]

Hm.... Vengeance Paladin to fight against all those who would violate personal freedom. Assassin Rogue for...all the rest. Ask your DM to refluff a dagger as a hidden blade. Take the faction agent or spy background. Maybe the Mobile feat?

It doesn't even begin to be good until 6th level, but past that it does sound like a ton of fun!

[Beleriphon]

Here's my ideas. I'll list multi-class character with their highest class first.

Altair I would build as a straight Rogue (Assassin) with the Acolyte background
Ezio Auditore I would build as a Rogue (Assassin) with medium armour mastery and the Noble background.
Connor Kenway would be a Rogue (Assassin)/Fighter (Champion) with a focus on light armour and athletics boosting abilities. Probably use the Folk Hero background.
Edward Kenway is a Rogue (Assassin)/Fight (Battlemaster) with the Criminal background, and anything to get dual weapon fighting more effective.
Arno Dorian is a Fighter (Champion)/Rogue (Assassin), I'd go for the Noble background as well.
Elizabeth Frye is a Rogue (Thief)/Fighter (Battlemaster) with the Criminal background and her Rogue skills being focused on stealth.
Jacob Frye is a Rogue (Assassin)/Fighter (Battlemaster) with the Criminal background and a feat/ability selection that focuses on strength over finesse.

[HoodedHero007]

Connor Kenway would be a Rogue (Assassin)/Fighter (Champion) with a focus on light armour and athletics boosting abilities. Probably use the Folk Hero background.
Edward Kenway is a Rogue (Assassin)/Fight (Battlemaster) with the Criminal background, and anything to get dual weapon fighting more effective.

Honestly, I think the Kenways are more rangery.
Connor would have the outlander background because of his tribal upbringing.
Edward would have the sailor background with the pirate variant, because, oh I don't know... HE'S A PIRATE!

[RickAllison]

HE'S A PIRATE!

And you instantly made me start humming the song from Pirates of the Caribbean. I hope you are proud of yourself

[Oramac]

Edward would have the sailor background with the pirate variant, because, oh I don't know... HE'S A PIRATE!

Definitely this. lol.

Though I'd say Edward is very much a Swashbuckler/Battlemaster with Two-Weapon Fighting.

[HoodedHero007]

And you instantly made me start humming the song from Pirates of the Caribbean. I hope you are proud of yourself

Why yes, yes I am.