| KI05 |
So I was looking at the assassin prestige class and was confused as to why some of the abilities were written the way they were. For example, assassins receive poison use and poison resistance, but no abilities that make them better than anyone else at using poison. Death strike also seems to have a really easy DC to make, which is ok when killing low-level NPCs, but in any fight, it's borderline useless. So I made a few changes to some abilities and completely changes their poison abilities for other things. Just posting this to get the opinions from other people and some balancing tips for some of the abilities. Ty in advance.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ONnyRtT1epbWABU4S14kD2XpDUQkodvPlZPTe5Y tQOI/edit?usp=sharing
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the assassin prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Assassins are proficient with the crossbow (hand, light, or heavy), dagger (any type), dart, rapier, sap, shortbow (normal and composite), and short sword. Assassins are proficient with light armor but not with shields.
Sneak Attack
This is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 every other level (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th). If an assassin gets a sneak attack bonus from another source, the bonuses on damage stack.
Death Attack (Ex)
If an assassin studies his victim for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target (assassin’s choice). Studying the victim is a standard action. The death attack fails if the target detects the assassin or recognizes the assassin as an enemy (although the attack might still be a sneak attack if the target is denied his Dexterity bonus to his Armor Class or is flanked). If the victim of such a death attack fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the assassin’s class level + the assassin’s Int modifier)(if the assassin has more hit dice than than target, they may also add their strength or dexterity bonus to the DC, whichever is higher) against the kill effect, she dies. If the saving throw fails against the paralysis effect, the victim is rendered helpless and unable to act for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per level of the assassin. If the victim’s saving throw succeeds, the attack deals normal damage with sneak attack and then doubles that damage. At 6th level this increases to triple damage. At 10th level this increases to quadruple damage. This multiplier is only applied on creatures/characters with fewer hit dice than yourself. Once the assassin has completed the 3 rounds of study, he must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds.
If the assassin does not launch the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before he can attempt another death attack.
Evasion (Ex)
At 2nd level, the assassin can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If they succeed at a Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the assassin is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless assassin does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Presence Concealment
An assassin with this ability is able to mask their presence to a nearly supernatural level. When this ability is first gained at 2nd level, eyes seem to roll right over the assassin. When making a stealth roll, the assassin can add his assassin level to the roll. At 4th level, an assassin can choose to make no sound with their actions, making perception via hearing impossible. At 6th level, the assassin is indistinguishable from the average citizen. When out of combat, any(non magical) attempts to identify the assassin will show them as a level 0 commoner. At 8th level, even magic struggles to identify the assassin. Out of combat, the assassin is immune to any spell used to identify, locate, or otherwise find out information about them. In combat, they receive a modifier equal to their assassin level against these kinds of spells. At 10th level the assassin can truly remove themself from the world. When out of combat, the assassin may use a free action to go invisible as per the invisibility spell(not greater invisibility). While using this ability, the assassin retains all other bonuses received from presence concealment. This ability cannot be dispelled by dispel magic.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
At 2nd level, an assassin cannot be caught flat-footed, even if the attacker is invisible. He still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. An assassin with this ability can still lose his Dexterity bonus to AC if an opponent successfully uses the feint action against him.
If an assassin already has uncanny dodge from a different class, he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.
Hidden Weapons (Ex)
At 4th level, an assassin becomes a master at hiding weapons on his body. He adds his assassin level to all Sleight of Hand skill checks made to prevent others from noticing them.
True Death (Su)
Starting at 4th level, anyone slain by an assassin’s death attack becomes more difficult to bring back from the dead. Spellcasters attempting to bring a creature back from the dead using raise dead or similar magic must make a caster level check with a DC equal to 15 + the assassin’s level or the spell fails and the material component is wasted. Casting remove curse the round before attempting to bring the creature back from the dead negates this chance. The DC of the remove curse is 10 + the assassin’s level.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
At 5th level and higher, an assassin can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the assassin by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has assassin levels.
If a character already has uncanny dodge from another class, the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.
Quiet Death (Ex)
At 6th level, whenever an assassin kills a creature using his death attack during a surprise round, he can also make a Stealth check, opposed by Perception checks of those in the vicinity to prevent them from identifying him as the assailant. If successful, those nearby might not even notice that the target is dead for a few moments, allowing the assassin to avoid detection.
Hide in Plain Sight (Su)
At 8th level, an assassin can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as he is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, an assassin can hide himself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. He cannot, however, hide in his own shadow.
Swift Death (Ex)
At 9th level, an assassin can make a death attack against a foe without studying the foe beforehand. He must still sneak attack his foe using a melee weapon that deals damage. This ability can only be used against creatures that are 10 or more hit dice lower than the assassin(a 16th level assassin with this ability can use death strike with no study against 6 hit die creatures).
Angel of Death (Su)
At 10th level, the assassin becomes a master of death. Once per day, when the assassin makes a successful death attack, he can cause the target’s body to crumble to dust. This prevents raise dead and resurrection (although true resurrection works as normal). Additionally, this allows the assassin to add their strength or dexterity(whichever is higher) bonus to the DC of their death strike even if the target is equal or higher level than them.The assassin must declare the use of this ability before the attack is made. If the attack misses or the target successfully saves against the death attack, this ability is wasted with no effect.