So I was looking at making a character and going with an assassin type of character. This is my first time as a Pathfinder player looking at a rogue type build. (Disclaimer: long time 3.5 player. I've only had a few Pathfinder characters thus far, I tend to DM more often than play)
My initial thought was that the perfect assassin build would be a level 5 Rogue who then went Assassin.
Now I'm not so sure. I'd like feedback from others as to their thoughts on this.
Firstly identical character at level 20, the rogue master strike beats the crap out of the assassin's death ability in most all situations.
At lower levels, the need to sit out of combat for several rounds is a significant hindrance for the PC assassin. Also, compared to straight Rogue, Assassin does not get the favored class bonus and gets less skill points.
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My opinion thus far is that the assassin class is best for a non rogue who wants to play an assassin, like a monk, ranger, or even as a single class dip for a fighter.
I am eager to see others opinions on this.
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Yeah, if you're looking at making 20th level characters, the Rogue's master strike trumps it. One big thing- you can get Death Attack by level 6, which is a very good way to start a fight or complete some missions. Note that death attack is usually not an in-combat ability, since you could possibly be landing full attacks with sneak attack for those rounds, possibly downing the foe anyways.
The assassin is really good in concept for a monk, since you can go unnoticed since you can go in completely unarmed and unarmored. This can be said of rogues with Imp. Unarmed Strike, or with hidden weapons, but nonetheless it's not bad for a monk. A 1 level dip for Bards might be good if you're simulating the mystical ninja-assassin type, since it gives you access to the death attack and poison use while not imposing on the bard's spellcasting too much. Great in conjunction with Invisibility, and Gaseous Form allows you unparalleled infiltration (especially with invisibility, since no one will notice air sneaking into a building...)
Good call out, actually character is starting at level 3. This is most likely going to be a 3-15 level campaign. For my personal usage, that is my target range.
I was more looking ahead at long term play and comparing a 10 Rogue 10 Assassin vs 20 Rogue. An *assassin* should be better at assassinating but I don't think that it does.
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grr, the board monster ate my post again. That's been happening a lot more, lately.
Anyways, what I was going to say was that the people that the Assassin kills are harder to bring back, and his Hide In Plain Sight ability (which is better than the Shadowdancer's, btw) allows him to slip in and out very easily. Factor in his Quiet Death ability, and the Assassin can avoid much of the attention that a rogue might otherwise draw.
Also, his Angel of Death ability, combined with his True Death ability makes it a real pain for his targets to come back from the dead. So, first they need a True Resurrection spell (with the accompanying 25,000gp diamond) and need to pass a DC 25 caster level check (not that hard for someone casting True Res, but still is a chance at failure) or waste the spell. This can be foiled by a Remove Curse spell, but I doubt many would actually know to use it the first time around.
Case-in-point: The rogue is better at killing people at that level, but the people that the Assassin kills tend to stay dead more than the rogue's targets.