4e Assassin aka Raven's Queen Assassin

[Acantha]

I have an absurd love for the 4e assassin. Inspired by a recent dragon article that reminded me how long i waited for support for them, i decided i'd try and convert it to pathfinder.

Some thoughts on it: my primary concerns are twofold. First, the balance with the shrouds. Compared to the rouge, you have overall less dice of precision damage, but you can more reliably use them. in practice, that might be a bit broken. Second, i based the ki focus loosely on the psiblade but i'm wondering if combined with shrouds its a bit much.

thanks for any comments!

The Raven's Queen Assassin

Alignment: Any Neutral

Hit Die: d8

Starting Wealth: 5d6 x 10 gp

Class Skills:
acrobatics, bluff, climb, knowledge (arcana), knowledge (local), perception, sense motive, sleight of hand, stealth

Skill Ranks per Level: 7 + Int

Weapon Proficiencies:
One-handed melee, simple ranged, martial light melee, martial one-handed melee, martial two-handed melee

Armor Proficiencies:
Light Armor, Shields

Class Features:
- shrouds
The dark magic of the Shadowfell courses through your veins, tainting your soul but granting you the ability to subject an enemy to invisible shrouds that reveal its weakest points. The more of your shrouds there are on a target, the deadlier a blow you can strike against it.

As a free action, once per turn on your turn only you may subject a single target within 50 feet to a shroud. If the target already has a shroud, you may subject it to an additional shroud, up to 2. The shrouds last until you use this power against a different enemy or until the end of the encounter.

Before you make an attack roll against the target, you choose to invoke either all your shrouds on it or none of them. If you invoke your shrouds, the attack deals 1d6 damage per shroud, minus one shroud if the attack misses, and all your shrouds then vanish from the target. This damage roll never benefits from bonuses to damage rolls.

At level 4, and every 4 levels beyond that, the maximum number of shrouds increases by 1.

- shadow step
The shadow energy surrounding every creature touches the Shadowfell slightly, for the realm of death is a creature’s eventual destination. You have the ability to walk the shadow pathways from one creature to another.

Any number of times per day, as a move action, you may teleport up to 15 feet. This teleport must begin and end adjacent to another creature. At level 8 the maximum distance of this teleport increases to 20 feet. At level 15 it increases again to 30.

- guild training
Assassins gain their abilities by following a training regimen developed by a particular guild. Even an assassin taught by an individual master studies a set of teachings that were once developed by a guild.
Assassins’ guilds claim towns and other territories as their hunting grounds. Nonguild assassins who seek to practice their art must first gain the permission of the local grandmaster of assassins. In some areas, particularly large cities that have many potential contracts, two guilds go to war for control of the slayers’ trade. In that situation, you must choose a side or face the wrath of both factions.
At first level, the Assassin must join one of the following guilds. (forthcoming)
a. red scale (close combat experts)
b. league of whispers (nonconventional ranged)
c. bleak disciple (bonus hit points when hitting unbloodied target)
d. nightstalker (bonus to damage equal to CHA mod against target not adjacent to any allies)
e. gloaming dancer (bonuses to speed and stealth, exotic weapon prof, bonus to shadow step)

- ki focus
Assassins can focus their shadow energy through a ki focus. When using a ki focus, an assassin taps into the power of shadow magic and channels it into his weapon attacks, gaining access to its magical properties and adding its enhancement bonus to the attack rolls and the damage rolls of any weapon attack you make using a weapon with which you’re proficient.
If you have a magic ki focus and wield a magic weapon, you choose before you use an attack power whether to draw on the magic of your ki focus or to employ the magic of your weapon. Your choice determines which enhancement bonus, critical hit effects, and magic item properties and powers you can apply to attacks with that power. You can’t, for example, use the enhancement bonus of your ki focus and the property of your magic weapon with the same attack power.
Assassin gains this ability at level 2.

- shade form
When you gave part of your soul to the Shadowfell, the power of that dark realm fused with your material form. As a result, you can assume a shadowy form that allows you to pass through barriers and evade enemies that you could not normally avoid.
When you adopt this form, you blur, your skin becomes gray, and all the gear you carry and the clothes you wear adopt similarly dull colors. Your eyes lose their pupils, becoming blank, white orbs. You cannot damage your foes without returning to your normal form, which prevents you from doing more than maneuvering in for the kill against your enemies.
As a swift action, you assume a shadowy form that lasts until you make an attack roll or until the end of your next turn. While in this form, you are insubstantial, and you gain vulnerable 5 radiant. In addition, you can make Stealth checks to become hidden if you have any cover or concealment, and you can use cover granted by your allies both to become hidden and to remain hidden.
You may assume shade form 1/day starting at level 3. This increases by 1/day every 3 levels.

Alternate Builds (replace class features, forthcoming)
a. shadowblade (replace ki focus with weapon made from shadows with bonuses that grow with level)
b. executioner (replaces ki focus & shrouds with attack finesse and asassin's strike)
c. black flame zealot (anger based. swap shade form for black flame form)

[Drejk]

Initial notes:

To make it more Pathfinderish you should consider following matters:

Base Attack Bonus: With d8 for HD it should be Medium progression (i.e. 3/4 BAB per level).
Saving Throws: Obviously Reflex should have good progression, maybe one other save could have good progression.
Skills: Its is somewhat traditional for classes to have 2+Int mod, 4+Int mod, 6+Int mod or 8+Int modifier skill points per level. I think that unless your Assassin is to be full skill monkey like Rogue it should have 4+Int or 6+Int modifier. Also, its list of class skills seems to be quite small - I would add at least Disable Device, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge: Nobility and Use Device.

I can find the reason why such Assassin should be at least partly neutral in alignment - but I may not know important part of its fluff.

Shrouds: Interesting mechanic but I cant say now how well it would be balanced against other combat abilities in Pathfinder. Surely it should give bonus damage dice when activated but should not inflict damage on a failed attack. Unlike 4th edition where lots of attacks deal some damage on a miss, Pathfinder, like earlier editions actually requires physicall attacks to hit to deal damage - dealing damage even of a miss is feature of area magic here.
Because shrouds can be placed only one at a time and are used up with successful attack I don't think that they should reset when you "enshroud" another target, as long as you are able to keep track of them. I would think about reducing range of this ability to 30 feet to keep it in line with ranged sneak attack and create either feat or higher level class feature extending its range.

Shadow Step: Ability to teleport at will is extremaly powerful thing in PF, even if it is only 15 feet per move action. It rather should have some sort of limit, like once per day per class level or a total daily limit of distance traveled.

Guild Training: I am in favor of any customizable option for class. We'll see what you brew.

Ki Focus: At the moment I hardly can grasp concept of Ki Focus a presented - is this actual object or just a replacement bonus for any weapon wielded?

Shade Form: Needs updating (or is it downgrading?) into Pathfinder, including removal of insubstantial condition and vulnerability to radiant damage that are specificially 4th edition invention.

Keep your work and tell us how further development of this conversion goes.

[The Shaman]

Guild training sounds like either "bonus feats from the below list" or "bonus to attack/damage with X weapons". Overall, it sounds like a more "magic" class than the regular rogue or PF assassin.

Consider checking the below classes or PrCs for inspiration:

- 3.5 DMG assassin
- 3.5 Teflammar shadowlord (Unapproachable East FR book)
- PFRPG shadowdancer
- PFRPG inquisitor

If it is a base class, I can imagine it getting some specialized casting... How does 6-level casting sound to you? The incorporeal form may be a spell or an ability - it reminds me a little of the monk abundant step or the 3.5 ninja invisibility.

[Acantha]

Drejk wrote:

Initial notes:

To make it more Pathfinderish you should consider following matters:

Base Attack Bonus:
Saving Throws:
Skills:

Good notes, thanks. I just converted the 4e skills over, but now that i'm reading over more pathfinder classes, i'm seeing that they tend to have more class skills.

I can find the reason why such Assassin should be at least partly neutral in alignment - but I may not know important part of its fluff.

Drejk wrote:

Shrouds: Interesting mechanic but I cant say now how well it would be balanced against other combat abilities in Pathfinder. Surely it should give bonus damage dice when activated but should not inflict damage on a failed attack. Unlike 4th edition where lots of attacks deal some damage on a miss, Pathfinder, like earlier editions actually requires physicall attacks to hit to deal damage - dealing damage even of a miss is feature of area magic here.
Because shrouds can be placed only one at a time and are used up with successful attack I don't think that they should reset when you "enshroud" another target, as long as you are able to keep track of them. I would think about reducing range of this ability to 30 feet to keep it in line with ranged sneak attack and create either feat or higher level class feature extending its range.

this was where i was most uncertain, and you make really good points re: removing the n-1 on miss thing, and the range limits.

Drejk wrote:

Shadow Step: Ability to teleport at will is extremaly powerful thing in PF, even if it is only 15 feet per move action. It rather should have some sort of limit, like once per day per class level or a total daily limit of distance traveled.

On this i suspect we may simply disagree re: the power level of a 15 foot teleport. Given the restrictions on it, i think its fair. really all it does is save you from attacks of opportunity, which i'll grant is handy but i want to differentiate this class from the shadowdancer and i think this is the key area to do so

Drejk wrote:

Ki Focus: At the moment I hardly can grasp concept of Ki Focus a presented - is this actual object or just a replacement bonus for any weapon wielded?

its a magical item. the assassin has to meditate/focus/train with it 1 hour per day, and as a result gain the bonuses and properties of the ki focus while wielding a weapon with which they are proficient.

Drejk wrote:

Shade Form: Needs updating (or is it downgrading?) into Pathfinder, including removal of insubstantial condition and vulnerability to radiant damage that are specificially 4th edition invention.

i wasn't sure about either of those, but i looked them up on the pathfinder srd and found examples of both. i'll go back and check though. i'm guessing that i can rephrase both of them in more standard pathfinder ways.

Thanks for the comments! really appreciated. i'm working on the guild training and the alternative paths currently.

[Drejk]

Acantha wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Shade Form: Needs updating (or is it downgrading?) into Pathfinder, including removal of insubstantial condition and vulnerability to radiant damage that are specificially 4th edition invention.

i wasn't sure about either of those, but i looked them up on the pathfinder srd and found examples of both. i'll go back and check though. i'm guessing that i can rephrase both of them in more standard pathfinder ways.

The closest thing would be incorporeality, which was in 4th edition split into two separate abilities: insubstantiality and phasing. Unlike 4th edition insubstantiality incorporeality grants complete immunity to nonmagical attacks, however, and thus is very powerful ability to have in certain circumstances. Instead of incorporeality you could consider Shade Form to be granting concealment or total concealment (personaly I would give concealment first and then either high level class feature that would upgrade it to total concealment or a feat doing the same). Maybe with sprinkle of Evasion while Shade Form is active.