Assassin

From HGWiki

• Assassin information on NWNWiki.

Assassins hone their weapons and fighting skills to such a degree that all but the toughest monsters fall to their Mortal Strikes.

Contents 1 HG customization 2 Types of Assassins 3 Play Guide 4 Building an Assassin

HG customization

• Legendary BAB: +12

Languages

• Assassins can speak Assassin's Cant. To speak it, use the command /l assassin [message] to speak a single line in Assassin's Cant, or !speak assassin to speak it until you !speak another language or opt to !speak common.
  • While they add flavour and are probably useful for RolePlaying, languages are currently not used in the game, except for the occasional monster shouting a battlecry.

Feat conversion

• Characters with at least 14 levels of Assassin may exchange Epic Reflexes feats for Epic Great Strength feats, by using the PC Scry. A character who converts feats in this manner can no longer delevel using the town priest.
  • Upon reaching character level 42 (in legendary levels), the swap is no longer available.
  • HGenhanced (use !enhmode command on first login for the character in question) adds the Epic Great Strength feats to the assassin epic bonus feat list (activated by typing !enhmode and only required once for each character you create). This means you do not need to any feat conversions, if you have HGenhanced installed and activated for the character in question.

Stat Points

• Assassins gain +1 Strength or +1 Dexterity every 5 Legendary Levels (45, 50, 55 & 60), based on which stat is higher and the time the first point is allocated. If the stats are equal, the assassin gains Strength.
  

Check Class Changes Documents for more information

Honed weapons

• At Assassin 20, an Assassin with a base Strength or Dexterity of 30 can acquire a scabbard that lets them hone weapons. They may only have one main hand and one off-hand weapon honed at a time but may switch the weapon honing once per rest. You cannot hone weapons in combat. Honing a weapon also adds the Keen effect.
• Whenever a honed weapon hits, it rolls again, and if THAT roll is a hit, and is in the critical threat range, the target must roll a fortitude save vs. half the Assassin's DEX or STR modifier (whichever is higher) + a base DC.
  • Only melee weapons may be honed, but an Assassin with at least 10 Monk levels may hone their gloves. Honed gloves receive a +2 to critical range for the purposes of Mortal Strike only, this will not show on your character sheet.
• Penetrating strike: For characters with between 20 and 27 Assassin levels, honed weapons deliver penetrating strikes, inflicting added damage. The base strike damage added is equal to the Assassin's level, plus legendary levels if the characters control class is Assassin, plus the character's Strength modifier. Critical immune creatures hit by a penetrating strike suffer no damage if they save vs fortitude, and one quarter of the base damage if they fail. Non-critical immune creatures suffer one quarter of the base damage if they save vs fortitude, and one half the base damage if they fail.
• Characters with 30 pre-legendary levels of Assassin inflict -1 parry for every 4 Legendary Levels and Paragon Levels (capping at -10). This will not stack with itself.
• Mortal Strike: For characters with 28 or more Assassin levels, honed weapons deliver mortal strikes, inflicting added damage and potentially killing the target instantly. Targets immune to critical hits suffer full base damage if they fail their fortitude save. Targets not immune to critical hits suffer the full base damage if they make their save, and are instantly killed if they fail.
• Example 1: an assassin with 95 AB and a threat range of 11-20 hits a target with 100 AC. Since the assassin needs only 5 or higher in order to hit, the penetrating/mortal strike chances on a successful hit are limited by the critical threat range. The second roll will need 11 or higher.
• Example 2: an assassin with 85 AB and a threat range of 11-20 hits a target with 100 AC. Since the assassin needs only 15 or higher in order to hit, the penetrating/mortal strike chances on a successful hit are limited by the assassin's AB. The second roll will need 15 or higher.
• The base DC starts at 35 and increases by 1 for every 3 Assassin levels above 29 (including legendary & paragon levels), as follows:

Assassin Level (including LLs & PLs)	Base DC
30	35
31	35
32	36
33	36
34	36
35	37
36	37
37	37
38	38
39	38
40	38
41	39
42	39
43	39
44	40
45	40
46	40
47	41
48	41
49	41
50	42
55	43
60	44
65	45
70	46

This means that the current maximum Mortal Strike DC you can achieve is as follows - Level 80 pure Assassin 46 + primary stat modifier 19 (xR race with +8 and base race ability to start at 20 e.g. Half-Dogai or Banshrae) +1 Death's Caress +1 Cyric's DC Ego item = 67

Spells On Higher Ground, assassins are able to cast a variety of arcane spells. Although the spells are considered arcane, assassins do not suffer from spellfailure while wearing armor or a shield. To be able to cast a spell, the assassin need to have at least 10 + [spell level] base intelligence, have the spell prepared in advance and must be evil. A complete list can be found on the wiki or on the forums. Assassins can change their memorized spells using the '!sb change ass' command.

• Note: To access metamagic spells using level 5 slots (people quite often take Extend Spell for longer duration if they have a spare feat) you will need the following - !enhmode must be switched on for the character in question, you must have a base casting stat (Intelligence in the case of Assassins) of 15 and you must be wearing gear with added level 5 slots.

Types of Assassins

• Dexterity assassins have high AC and easily maximize their Camouflage (Improved Invisibility) concealment. These high defences are countered by the low damage output. Many also feature rogue skills such as open locks and disarm traps.
  • examples: Minja (Blackguard)

• Strength assassins typically wear full plate and a tower shield. Using Iron Silence, they can still get decent Camouflage concealment. 15d6 death attack combined with a high strength modifier and usually Devastating Critical means they are quite capable damage dealers. To further augment your damage output you will need some way of fitting in Epic Weapon Specialization allowing access to both Legendary and Paragon WS, for most races this will involve taking either one or two Fighter levels during Epic levels. In this case your build would be similar to the following 4 Monk, 10 Assassin, 6 Fighter, 28 Assassin 2 Fighter.
  • examples: Dangerously Demented Decapitator

• Unitank assassins it is possible to make unitank builds through use of some of the currently available BUR or xR races with large bonuses to Str & Dex (Kolyarut, Half-Guardinal, Wemic, Rhek, Urdunnir, Favored of Solonor & Armand being suitable examples), whilst giving up one or two DC on mortal strike you can prevent the irritation of being disabled (or in some cases killed) by the Str and Dex checks present in a lot of LL runs in the module.
  • example: Fluffy the Destroyer

Monk glove assassins are a possibility, but they aren't popular (and that's an understatement). This is because the base threat range for fists is the lowest possible. Only pure monks receive keen gloves, so even with the +2 threat range from honing, you can only reach 16-20 threat range (with both improved and overwhelming critical). The additional attack you get while fighting unarmored and unarmed does not make up for the loss in threat range. It does give you the rather amusing effect of instantly punching things to death though.

Play Guide

While perfectly capable of tanking or dealing damage, the assassin's primary goal is to take out the weaker monsters that are not immune to Mortal Strike as quickly as possible. Focus on the monsters that are vulnerable to your mortal strikes first, then move on to the bigger baddies.

• Don't forget to prepare spells!
  • Caustic weapon Adds acid damage. If you have enough slots, buff your teammates and monsters like Malebranches and Screelings will go down quicker.
  • Clairaudience/Clairvoyance will not last very long, but if you have the slots to recast often, this spell can alleviate the need to get listen from gear.
  • Expeditious Retreat will make you faster on the battlefield, decreasing the time it takes to reach and kill you next target. However due to the short duration of this buff if you are in a party it will often suit you better to beg a Freedom of Movement from a Cleric/Druid as it lasts significantly longer and has other beneficial effects.
  • False Life is a great way to temporarily increase your hit points, providing an extra buffer of hit points for the monsters to chew at.
  • Ghostly Visage is a great get-away spell if you have spell focuses in illusion.
  • Improved Invisibility will be your best defensive spell. It casts a special version of Camouflage when cast on yourself, providing (25 + [hide skill]/3) % concealment.
  • Iron Silence is most useful for strength assassins, as it allows them to negate their armor class penalties from armor and shield for hide, which in turn means higher concealment from Improved Invisibility.
  • True Strike can be used to quickly maximize attack bonus, should other buffs (bard song, greater magic weapon) suddenly fail or expire. Being a swift action means you can cast this without having to interrupt your fighting.
  • Foebane is nice for when you need to kill a monster that is immune to critical hits but not to death magic, note that until the spell runs out (or is cancelled) you will be unable to mortal strike creatures that are not able to be killed with Death Magic.
• Offensive spells are only marginally useful, if you choose to invest feats in spell penetration. DCs are intelligence based, but since assassins cannot focus on both dexterity/strength and intelligence, these will not be spectacular.
  • Wrack indirectly increases the party's physical damage output and when cast by an Assassin has no save. Great cast on critical immune monsters.
  • Heartbane is probably not worth casting because it is DC based.

• If you have UMD, get some scroll stacks and wands:
  • Greater Sanctuary: GS scrolls are always nice to carry around for those moments you would rather not be targeted by monsters. Sometimes needed for a party that needs to regroup.
  • Mind Blank: while mind immune from items usually does the job, sometimes, a scripted immunity, such as that from Mind Blank, is needed to avoid effects.
  • Black Blade of Disaster: always nice to have an additional meat shield to keep monsters busy. Sometimes good to use in combination with Greater Sanctuary.
  • Stone to Flesh: useful for de-petrifying (or un-freezing) party members
  • Gust of Wind: handy to remove transient effects swiftly rather than waiting for them to expire, very useful in Stygia and Cania to remove the Arachil webs
  • Mordenkainen's Disjunction: always good to remove mob buffs and lower the sr of creatures
• NOTE However once you reach demigod status you can visit the Hell Shop in Stygia and purchase items that give this functionality meaning that taking points in UMD is significantly less beneficial (at least from a consumable item point of view).

Building an Assassin

Since Mortal Strike is what defines an assassin, the highest priority is increasing the DC:

• start with 18 Str/Dex. 20 for Half-Orcs (Str), Elves (Dex) and Halflings (Dex)
• pick a subrace with high bonus to your chosen ability score: Salamander, Half-Fiend, Brownie, Banshrae, Half-Dogai, etc.
• subraces that give a bonus to hide & move silently at creation may allow you to start taking assassin levels earlier, bonus 4 points allows taking assassin at level 2 if you start with a class that has these as class skills, bonus 6 points (or more) allows starting with any non-prestige class as you only need to take 2 points at creation. The advantage of this is that you can potentially fit in classes not usually possible due to other feat, AB or skill requirements eg Blackguard, Weapon Master, Champion of Torm, etc. as you can get to 11 before you need to take something other than an Assassin level this can help a lot where the class has a minimum base ab requirement. Examples being Grey Elf, Shadow Elf, Skulk, Whisper Gnome, One-Eyed, Half-Molydeus, Wraith, Half-Fiend, Half-Kyton, Urdunnir, Banshrae and Half-Dogai
• take all Great Str/Dex feats.
• put all regular levelling increases in the relevant stat.
• get other bonuses: XDD levels, STR or DEX artifact, (double)demigodhood.
• pick the maximum possible assassin levels, go pure.
• wear the Pit of Moliation gloves Death's Caress.
• wear a randomized Ego item that gives a +1 bonus to the Mortal Strike DC (will be purple text and called Cyric's). Note that such items (especially when applied to a good base item) are EXTREMELY rare and highly sought after.

With a high DC almost automatically comes high AB, but you will want this (near to) maximized:

• get all AB increasing feats: weapon focus, greater weapon focus, epic weapon focus, legendary weapon focus, paragon weapon focus & epic prowess.
• put ranks in craft weapon.
• pick weapon finesse if you are dexterity based.
• take at least six tier one AB class levels Fighter, Ranger, Blackguard, etc. before level 20 as taking 10 Assassin levels already loses you 3 AB, this still allows 4 levels of another tier 2 class (such as Rogue or Monk) as this will only lose you one more base AB and 16 pre-20 is the minimum requirement to achieve 4 attacks per round. Taking 10 Assassin levels pre-epic with usually cost you 3-4 AB and the legendary tier 2 vs tier 1 will lose you another 3 AB (12 vs 15) so you will end up with 6-7 less AB than a tier 1 character.

Once your AB is high enough, critical threat range will be the limiting factor for your effectiveness:

• pick the right weapon: Assassin Dagger, Kukri, Whip, Rapier, Katana, Light-Flail*, Scimitar*, Heavy Flail*, Halberd*, Falchion* are all good choices. (* for strength assassins only. Large characters may still finesse Light-Flails or Scimitars.)
  • fists are hardly ever chosen because of their low base threat range, even though it is possible to use them if you have at least 10 monk levels.
• get Ki Critical (does not work for assassin dagger).
• get Overwhelming Critical (does not stack with Ki Critical). Strength assassins will find it easy to get this, but dexterity based assassins will have to get this from items (Stygian Razor, Augments of Devastating Weapon-work (includes both OC & DC) or a Green added OC property).
• get Improved Critical. Easy to get as a feat in pre-epic levels, it is best not to depend on an Augment of Precision Weapon-work unless you are incredibly feat tight.
• since an actual critical hit is not required, Power Critical and Superior Critical will not increase your Mortal Strike effectiveness.

Another limiting factor will be opponents concealment:

• maximize your listen skill.
• pick up Epic Skill Focus: Listen or wear an item such as the Visor of Vigilance or a Sonar Amplifier.
• get Legendary Skill Focus: Listen, if you think you cannot reach the +50 cap with bard song and items.

Get as many attacks as possible:

• Assassins may now Mortal Strike twice in the same round (but not twice in the same flurry; there is still a small delay between Mortal Strike attempts), having lots of attacks means the chances of hitting your target are increased, resulting in a better chance to actually get a Mortal Strike.
• If you can fit the required Feats in dual wielding can improve the amount of attack and you can hone both your weapons however this will either cost you -2 or -4 to your AB for both weapons.
  • you need at least 16 BAB in order to get 4 base attacks. 10 levels of assassin gets you 7 BAB, so you will need at least 9 more from the other 10 pre-epic levels. 6 levels in a 1/1 BAB class and 4 in a 3/4 BAB class or 8 / 2 will get you just that.

Also make sure you have at least 14 base intelligence so you can cast all possible assassin spells.

• Use the Illusion tome (obtained from the Ssithrak area) so you can cast Ghostly Visage with added etheralness for a quick escape.
• some items may add 5th level spell slots. You will need 15 base intelligence and a meta-magic feat (such as extend spell or silent spell) in order to use these slots.

A dead character does nothing, so make sure your defenses are in order:

• maximize Hide, Discipline (pick up Bullheaded and LSA: Discipline), Tumble, Craft Armor, Parry maxed to 23 at level 20 (though secondary class and/or take Snake Blood and LSA: Parry) very useful for a Dex character and fit in some Concentration (20-25 points should be enough).
• increase your saving throws through Feats and or Blackguard class splash.
• Assassins do not get Evasion as a free (or class selectable) feat therefore most builds include Monk, Rogue or Shadowdancer levels to get this benefit, you could also build your character to use an item that includes Evasion such as the Panoply of Lliira robes.

Amnesia:

• Amnesia immediately stops you being able to MS so wearing an item that prevents this effect (this Haunted Corridors of the Mind (although can be hard to obtain) is probably the best suited for most assassins) can be extremely beneficial in area where this is prevalent such as areas with Styx Water and Hells/Abyss runs where Amnizu/Lagathi are prevalent. If you can't fit one in keep a stack of Biorevivifiers on you as this recovers your MS ability at the cost of having to rebuff.

Increase your damage output:

• devastating Critical may seem very nice, but since most monsters that are vulnerable to critical hits should die because of Mortal Strike, this is not as useful for an assassin as for other characters.
• overwhelming critical on the other hand increases the threat range of your weapon giving you another 5% chance to inflict a Mortal Strike, items with this Feat added for your weapon can be very beneficial.
• Use poisons especially the no-save ones that can be obtained from Tragidore or (at a rather inflated rate) from the Hell Shop in Stygia, these can be very effective and last a decent amount of time.
• weapon specialization can give you two more points of damage per hit (rising to a maximum of 20 if you can take the full feat line), however this will likely mean that you cannot take 30 levels of Assassin (unless you have access to a subrace with Epic Weapon Specialization in the weapon(s) you plan to use), tricky to fit in but potentially worthwhile depending on which areas you intend playing in

Useful, but not necessary, skills are:

• Use Magic Device is great for assisting in the casting of scrolls or use restricted items.
• Bluff, when successful, means there's one additional monster you get to attack with flanking bonuses: +2 AB and +15d6 death attack damage. Bluffing also reduces the monster's AB, which may be nice if there's a lot of squishies in the party.
• Craft and Set Trap are currently not favored as skill choices, mostly because parties are impatient. If you have both maximized, traps can actually be quite useful, note however With 5 or more ranks in the set trap skill a character gets a +2 synergy bonus on disable trap checks.
• Searching: As Search is a class skill for Assassins you should take this (if you have enough Intelligence) as this will allow you to find secrets in various Legendary Level areas (assuming you can get it to the maximum of 127). This requires 63 base skill +50 from gear/bard song/etc = 113 therefore you will either need a +14 Int modifier (38 Int after gear) and/or a combination of Int modifier and ESF Search +10 or SF Search +3 either from items or as Feats taken. Unless you know the locations of all the secrets it can be useful to obtain Elemental Potion of Locate Object to indicate the presence of secrets in an area.
• Open Lock and Disable Trap in combination with Search allow you to get to the best loot in the game through the opening of loot chests. All need to be maximized if you decide you want these skills. Note: If you want to disable the hardest traps you will need to include Rogue levels in your build.
• Pick Pocket can be handy for quickly depleting the healing potion stack of some monsters, more useful now due to healers in Limbo whereas there are few creatures in Hell and the Abyss this is effective on.

You can find assassin builds on the wiki or in the Assassin forum section.