Wife wants to play an Assassin


Homebrew and House Rules


I run many solo campaigns for my wife, and she really enjoys them. Lately, she's been working her way through the catalog of Assassin's Creed games, and it's stoked her fire for wanting to play an assassin.

Questions:
1. What is (in your opinion) the best assassin* build?
2. Are there any assassin* builds that allow for a character to not be evil?
3. To the point in (2), what kinds of plot hooks might I use for a non-evil assassin*?
4. What are some interesting weapons, armor, etc. ideas (not necessarily magical) that I can toss her way as she levels up?

--
* ... or assassin-like character


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Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

slayer
yes, slayer
someone needs to die
pretty much anything, there's shadow enhancements for armor and creeping to allow for heavier armors.


Historic female serial murderers are infamous for poison. And the axe on occasion.


Theres a assassin like prestige class called the spy master that doesn't need to be evil. Instead of being the one who goes in getting the kill and getting out without being seen the spy master goes in with a disguise made by the gods (seriously I did a disguise roll as a lvl 8 bard lvl 6 spy master and I think i got over 40 with it as a grippli disguising himself as a human) gets the kill then walks out. The spy master also allows for a lot of role playing instead of just rolling several stealth checks roll attack and damage and roll more stealth. It was pretty fun for me to play as one.

Sovereign Court

Slayer basically, Stygian archetype is even decent if she wants to be more like shadowy assassin type.


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Slayer is the way to go, IMO. And the Stygian archetype is mighty cool. If you don't have access to the Advanced Class Guide, you can find all the information here:

Slayer

Archetypes here:

Slayer Archetypes

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

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My suggestion for the campaign:
10% Speaking to interesting NPCs
10% Assassinations
40% Profession (Sailor) checks
40% Survival checks (Craft or Profession might be applicable for skinning small woodland creatures as well)

Is she a royal assassin, part of a guild (like in AC), or self-taught?


Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber
Petty Alchemy wrote:

My suggestion for the campaign:

10% Speaking to interesting NPCs
10% Assassinations
40% Profession (Sailor) checks
40% Survival checks (Craft or Profession might be applicable for skinning small woodland creatures as well)

Is she a royal assassin, part of a guild (like in AC), or self-taught?

hopefully it's more like AC 1 and not AC black flag...


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Slayer with a touch of Slayer, a side of Slayer, and some Slayer for desert.

Also, you know what you should totally be listening to while you make the character?

Whitesnake.


Stalker (guide).
If she wants to dual wield, consider Dragon Fury PRC (guide).


I think the people have spoken and I happen to agree. Slayer rocks as an assassin.

As for plot points for a non-evil assassin, I would suggest a kind of anti-hero type campaign. Have her hunt and eliminate evil with shady tactics. Like target a corrupt noble that's abusing his people or infiltrate a fortress run by a warlord and eliminate him to stop a brewing war. Use targets that are clearly evil, but not necessarily easy to hit without using stealth.

As for items, there a tons of pre-made items that are great for sneaky types (Shadow armor, Burglar's Gloves, etc). Also, if she'd been into AC, imitate a few of the items there or build from the idea. A knife hidden in a gauntlet, a ring that holds poisons, that sort of thing.


Some free assassin stuff incl plot hooks: here.

Buy Razor Coast and start her as an apprentice to

Spoiler:
Old Fish

Old thread on assassination modules

Thread about Burglary and other fine hobbies with lots of advice and a few rogue solo starter modules...


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I'm not actually all that familiar with Assassin's Creed, so I can't help you with finding something close to that without knowing a bit more. Assassin-style games can be a lot of fun, but they vary a lot in how they are executed. Running a solo-campaign can add a lot of options that would be difficult or more stifling in a traditional group-sized campaign.

Concur with the recommendations that a Slayer is probably your best single-classed assassin character. Assassin as written is a poor choice. The Red Mantis is flavorful, but possibly not what she would want.

A lot of the thematic choices about the nature of the adventures / missions that she would go on are going to be dependent on the world she inhabits. Do you run in a homebrew world or do you use Golarion, or some other published world?

Some fun themed games I've used / played / pondered / written that use "assassin tropes":

Last of their Order:

The PC is the last of their specific Order. Their goal is to either avenge the demise of the others, discover what led to their downfall or disappearance, recruit new order members, create a new and different order, or find sanctuary from those who destroyed the old in some combination.
PC hooks / allied NPCs could include ghostly mentors, former order members, prior contacts, extra planar allies, sentient weapons, and allied orders.
Adversaries / Antagonists could include prior clients, prior victims or their families, rival orders, those who were actually responsible, those who abandoned / quit the order before their destruction, and well, just about anyone who thinks that killing for reasons other than the ones they think are good are bad.
Adventures could be training missions, investigation / infiltration missions, seeking of lost order artifacts, exchanges of favors (ie I kill someone for you, you give me what I need to further goals) or threats, exfiltration from when things go bad, and possibly recruiting or training of new order members.
Complications / things to look out for: standard solo-play solutions (GM PC or other "trusted allies") tropes rarely work well with assassin / stealth style games - I'd probably ponder using a sentient item that scales with the character, ghostly mentors, or find a way to let the PC have multiple effective cover identities so that they have access to more resources than a lone assassin normally would.
Themes: paranoia (as you are alone), hope vs. hopelessness, loneliness vs. security, temptations to give up / give in, struggle to keep from falling to evil, honor amongst thieves & killers, wretched hives of scum & villainy, from soaring heights to deepest depths of social interactions, etc. A lot of the themes would be driven by what happened to the order and how long ago it occurred.

Inspirations: Kelly McCullough's Fallen Blade series ; Kill Bill ; Col Buchannon's Heart of the World books

Lone Killer:

Sub-categories: For King or Country (assassin works alone and was never part of an order, but may have had a mentor - they kill only to protect their liege / country), Dark Defender (assassin kills to promote or defend a cause, religion, or non-political group or territory - perhaps their family), Washed Out, but not Washed Up (assassin had a mentor, but for whatever reason never completed their training, they now use the skills that they received, but have to supplement their limited training with "on the job training" or other skill sets in order to succeed in their gols / missions), Last Resort (character is trained to kill, but prefers to use killing only as a last resort or when other options have failed - whether they are options directly explored by the assassin, or someone else or even another group can vary, but the assassin specifically trains to overcome obstacles and deliver messages, not always death), It Takes One to Stop One (assassin was trained to be an assassin, but now specializes in security or counter-assassinations, they seek to bring down or hunt rivals, and sometimes to keep a specific group or individual protected - varies from For King or Country as the "protectee" changes throughout their adventures), etc. For some stranger themes, you could also consider ways that the character might suddenly gain powers or skills that they don't understand without the years of training that might make them an effective assassin who is unknown outside of the "normal circles".
Much like the "Last of their Order" one of the keys is to stress the lone nature of their work, friendly NPCs should be either considered potential security breaches, dispensable, kept at arm's reach or someone who may need to be protected and thus serve as a distraction / threat in the future. Again, a good dover or several dozen may help flesh out both the character and their interactions in the world that don't revolve around sneaking & killing. Establishing and maintaining cover identities, finding contracts, making sure you aren't being trapped / betrayed / lured / duped are common tropes for those who operate alone. Maybe the character wants to fool others into thinking that they ARE part of an organization, or has a desire to form one. NPC / Ally interactions should be established to try to support this.
Antagonists are not only similar to the "Last of their Order", but also include possible political rivals of their patron, competitors, former mentors or students of their former mentors, and of course many of those who may hire them for their services.
Complications and themes would vary based on the sub-category and what motivates the character to do the killing or what driving them to the conflicts that escalate to the killing.

Inspriations: Mickey Zucker Richert's Nightfall, Steven Brust's Draegaran (Vlad) series, Robin Hobb's Royal Assassin books (& sequals), Brent Weeks' Night Angel series, Lilith Saintcrow's Dante Valentine series (& the Jill Kismet series, perhaps), the Professional (movie), Star Wars Sith (always there are two, well, at least now...)

One Blade of Many:

Character is part of a relatively large group of assassins with their own support systems, allies, enemies, etc. Character may be an active assassin, someone in charge of security or safehouses in a specific area, a trainer, or some combination therein.
Can be used in a manner similar to a more traditional "adventuring group" in that character may often be part of a team, but one who is sent off on their own to do things (which in a traditional non-solo campaign tends to bog down the game, but is actually the point of a solo-campaign). Character is likely a specialist of some sort, which will affect which missions they are assigned.
Allies would be the same as "Last of their Order", but would also include order members and would be unlikely to include those who left the order under anything but good conditions. Fun opportunities for unusual allies (ie undead order members or order members who are extra planar creatures, dopplegangers, etc) and rivals.
Antagonists would vary by mission and the nature of their order. If their order is one who seeks to disrupt the slave trade, for instance, they might assassinate those protect or promote the slave trade itself, prominent slavers, or even those who they feel are not active enough in opposing it in order to replace them with someone who is. Red Mantis Assassins go where and do what their Vernai tell them to, for the most part, but may also be involved in security or establishing safehouses or investigating potential future targets or even performing Red Cell types of operations on Mediogalti itself.

Inspirations: Red Mantis Assassins from Golarion lore, historical assassin groups, traditional D&D assassin groups, fantasy ninja clans

OK, that was a bit longer than expected... spoiler tags added to cut down on the wall-of-text. Hope it helps.

-TimD


I use a homebrew world.

And thank you for the plot suggestions. I like 'em!


I've been patiently waiting for the Twilight Talon prestige class from Paizo. It's part of the Eagle Knights group in Andoran. The descriptions sound like the Assassin's Creed characters.


Read the newest Parhfinder Tales novel Pirates Promise by Chris A.Jackson for a great Master Spy / Twilight Talon protagonist


Dotting this for my own purposes. (Also: Slayer.) :D

If you want a different suggestion than just "slayer", you may be able to get by with poison and Investigator, though they're less "SUPER-SLAYER" or maaaaayyyybe ninja (the ability to be invisible by expending ki helps a lot with getting sneak attacks).

((But really: slayer.))


The thin grey line. For people to survive(Humans, elves, dwarves, ect.) monsters have to be taken down) vampires, werewolves, demons, aberrations, people allied with them). If you have to use poison to stop the ripper's latest host, you do it.
Inspirations: Grim, MIB, Constantine, Supernatural, ect.

I plan on starting a topic about roles for characters. The Thin Grey Line will be on that list.

Dark Archive

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I recommend

Hitman
The hitman specializes in the art of assassination. She strikes with diligence and guile. She excels at stalking her prey, waiting for the right moment to strike. With this offensive training, she loses many of the defensive abilities of most rogues.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/archetypes/flaming-crab- games---rogue-archetypes/hitman


Nice!


Shadow Assassin from The Genius (not sure if it is now under Rogue or still under Super). One of the best assassin classes and it lets you play a non-evil, fairly customisable fun class!


First thing that comes to mind when I hear Assassin is Ninja.

Loads of stealth, full sneak attack, ability to turn invisible, use poisons, and everything else they can do? Yeah, Assassin is the first non-eastern flavoring that comes to mind for that class.


Also cool, EOD!


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Ninja would work great (lots of stealth, infiltration, movement, and assassination abilities, and uses Charisma so it works as a face character with Intimidate/Bluff/Diplomacy/Disguise), and Inquisitor would work as well, especially for the tracking skills and the motivation to hunt down and kill a target (it would depend on the character's deity, though).

Dark Archive

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Keep in mind it was mentioned that the wife had been playing Assassins Creed, which if I remember correctly are assassins without magical or mystical abilities. As such a Ninja, a Shadow Assassin, and an Inquisitor would all not be the best fit.

Really I would say the choice is between the Slayer class or as I offered in suggestion the Hitman rogue archetype... yet that is just my thoughts based on what was offered in the original post.


JonathonWilder wrote:
Keep in mind it was mentioned that the wife had been playing Assassins Creed, which if I remember correctly are assassins without magical or mystical abilities. As such a Ninja, a Shadow Assassin, and an Inquisitor would all not be the best fit.

I would just like to point out that the clearly magical stuff are relegated to optional Tricks the Ninja learns. The core stuff is non-magical (well, the light step stuff is boarderline there), and they can spend their Ninja tricks on Rogue talents.

Ninja is only as magical as you want it to be.

Dark Archive

#Edymnoin
Ah, I apologize I didn't realize that. I admit though I have seen people argue Ki abilities count as magical or at least mystical, an argument made involving the monk.

If you can make a non-magical Ninja though then my concern is unfounded.


JonathonWilder wrote:

#Edymnoin

Ah, I apologize I didn't realize that. I admit though I have seen people argue Ki abilities count as magical or at least mystical, an argument made involving the monk.

If you can make a non-magical Ninja though then my concern is unfounded.

Eh, its just flavor tacked onto a more standard resource pool. Other classes call it Grit, or Luck, or whatever else, but if we look at things it does, it is (or at least can be) decidedly non-magical.

Baseline stuff is just using Ki for an extra attack, or an insight bonus to Stealth, nothing supernatural there.

They get ninja tricks for things like Smoke Bombs, Flurry with shuriken, attacks that cause bleed damage, getting weapon focus, all very mundane stuff.

Now granted, they *CAN* take tricks that give them very magical abilities, like turning invisible, feather fall, making shadow clones, etc. But they're all optional, don't have to take magic stuff if you don't want to.

Plus, they get a Master Trick specifically called Assassinate that gives them a flat out Save or Die attack.


When I DMed a ninja, I explained their hide in plain sight as they were simply not where anyone was looking. They were on the wall, the ceiling, or climbing under the walkway. Their training seems magical but is unaffected by anti magic field.


Since you didn't like the Ninja for the supernatural Ki Pool, and definitely not Inquisitor, then go for the Daring Infiltrator archetype for Swashbuckler. Non-supernatural, uses Stealth, Disguise, and social skills, and good at killing things.

Dark Archive

#Bloodrealm
Well the two above convinced me that you can play non-magical ninja... though perhaps I can still ask this.

Would ninja fit when it comes to a player being inspired in playing an assassin because of the game Assassin's Creed? This that class really the right fit?

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