Ideal Assassin??

[PDF]

Ohhh yesss, Leeho, I forgot that : with an Assassin/Mage the poison works with Melf's Meteor !!! They're just kicking *sses !!

[Astafas]

@Soujourner:

I don't think an elf gets any THAC0 bonus with the Short Bow and Thieves can't use Long Bows.


According to ADnD, most classes have assassins. IIRC, the description of Blades for example states that for every Blade working as an entertainer, there is another one working as an assassin. As the most effective assassin, I hold a Human Assassin dualed to Fighter at 10 level. This PC can obtain 100 % in both Hide in Shadows and Move Silently and will get a x 4 multiplier. His THAC0 will soon be extremely low, making sure he very rarely miss a back stab. I prefer dualwielding a Long Sword and a Dagger (should the back stab not kill the ennemy, the next hit comes immediately), but a Short Bow would of course be nice, too.

[psicow]

here's a great pic of 2 thieves about to stick it to some victims

[url="http://belegost.mit.edu/steve/images/addI11.jpg"]2 thieves 2 victims[/url]

[Sojourner]

Originally posted by Astafas:
<STRONG>I don't think an elf gets any THAC0 bonus with the Short Bow and Thieves can't use Long Bows.</STRONG>

Actually, an elf does. Test this yourself in a multiplayer game, by creating two different assassins, making one an elf, and the other a human, with the same stats and proficiencies.

[ 08-09-2001: Message edited by: Sojourner ]

[Astafas]

Originally posted by Sojourner:
<STRONG>Actually, an elf does. Test this yourself in a multiplayer game, by creating two different assassins, making one an elf, and the other a human, with the same stats and proficiencies.

[ 08-09-2001: Message edited by: Sojourner ]</STRONG>

Unbelievable! I actually asked this question a few month ago on this board and got several responses stating that elves do NOT get bonuses with Short Bows. Guess you have to do the tests yourself... Thank for the correction, though.

[Astafas]

Originally posted by Astafas:
<STRONG>
According to ADnD, most classes have assassins. IIRC, the description of Blades for example states that for every Blade working as an entertainer, there is another one working as an assassin. As the most effective assassin, I hold a Human Assassin dualed to Fighter at 10 level. This PC can obtain 100 % in both Hide in Shadows and Move Silently and will get a x 4 multiplier. His THAC0 will soon be extremely low, making sure he very rarely miss a back stab. I prefer dualwielding a Long Sword and a Dagger (should the back stab not kill the ennemy, the next hit comes immediately), but a Short Bow would of course be nice, too.</STRONG>

I'm quoting myself here - has to be a first. Although I got no feedback on what I think is the best assassin, I'd like to add two things. For the first, this PC will get three poison weapons per day, which is rather good considering how soon he duals. Second, the main reason for dualing at level 10 and not at level 9 is to get the faster working poison (and enough theif points, too).

[Sojourner]

@Astafas: I prefer the pure-class assassin, especially in ToB. The only creatures that gave my assassin serious trouble were the Drow in the Underdark. What I couldn't backstab I led into nasty traps and/or hit with poisoned arrows. And when my assassin got her hands on some arrows of detonation, she went to town...

[Astafas]

Originally posted by Sojourner:
<STRONG>@Astafas: I prefer the pure-class assassin, especially in ToB. The only creatures that gave my assassin serious trouble were the Drow in the Underdark. What I couldn't backstab I led into nasty traps and/or hit with poisoned arrows. And when my assassin got her hands on some arrows of detonation, she went to town...</STRONG>

Of course, it depends pretty much on how you use your assassin. Most times you could let your Assassin sneak up on a mage, kill him with a backstab and then run away with boots of speed to hide behind your fighters (or use a bow from distands with poisoned Arrows of Detonation). On the other hand you could choose to backstab a heavily armed fighter (and still hit) and then stand your ground and fight him down as a master swordsman while your party occupies the rest of the ennemies. This is very much how I imagine Artemis Entreri, for example (except he works alone). IMO, that's a better assassin. However, I do understand your point of view.

[Xyx]

*** Cheese Alert ***

An Assassin-Mage or Assassin with Use Any Item and a scroll can cast Mislead and backstab over and over again.