Infamous 1e Class Guide: Assassins

 Introduction

While the Fighter subclasses are good by requirement, the Assassin is evil by nature. This is due to their necessity to kill sentient life as a part of their class, most often taking the lives of humanoids for profit. Assassins are a subclass of the Thief, having their own certain advantages and disadvantages to playing the class. Firstly, an Assassin must have no less than 12 in strength and dexterity, and at least 11 intelligence. Also notable is that most races, even traditionally good ones sometimes play the role of an Assassin. Due to the abilities listed for an Assassin, it seems as though they may not necessarily be intended for player use, but they function as a class nonetheless, and should be explained and detailed as such. It is recommended that you have a higher intelligence for this class, and a high dexterity is also desired.

Thieves vs. Assassins

Assassins share all of the standard abilities of a normal Thief, though will not gain the skills of a 1st level Thief until reaching 3rd level. From this point on, the Assassin will always perform at 2 levels below a Thief of their level. Combine this with the other stats required for an Assassin, and you will notice you will have a lower dexterity than a Thief with similar stats. This means your ability as an actual Thief is greatly reduced. Assassins have other notable benefits that make them a potentially strong class, most of which are related to combat and more specifically, assassinations. Instead of a Thief's backstab, an Assassin has a percent based table to determine whether or not any surprise attack will outright kill it's target, as opposed to gaining a backstab multiplier on a hit with a specific weapon. Assassination is only one part of an Assassin's deadly arsenal, as they are just as skilled in the use of poisons as they are in murder. An Assassin is capable of creating poison, and is well versed in what materials are required in its creation. Note that the usage of poison is almost always an unequivocally evil act. Poisons which kill will stop the heart, and are often rumored to cause some form of permanent damage to the soul. Characters who are killed by poison will almost always come back as corrupt, evil characters even if they have never been evil prior to this point. A good character will never use poison, and even if it is absolutely necessary it can risk a change in alignment. The combination of poison and assassination provides two chances, each at about roughly 50%, to kill a human or humanoid. Another benefit an Assassin has in combat is their unrestricted weapon proficiency list, though they can't specialize in any particular weapon as a Fighter would. This is mostly applied in the Assassin's ability to use a bow for a ranged Assassination, and a dagger for it's accuracy in close range. Damage doesn't matter much, as an Assassin will mostly choose weapons that can be easily poisoned.

The Art of Deception: Disguises

Disguise is the truly essential part to playing an Assassin. An Assassin can disguise him/herself freely, allowing the assumption of a disguise with features that are normally completely out of reach for an Assassin. For example, an Assassin may choose to don a disguise of either sex, any race, making himself appear up to 3 inches shorter, or up to 6 inches taller than normal. Now, there are stipulations concerning how detectable a disguise is. Generally the rule of thumb for detecting a disguise is that a character may notice flaws in a disguise more frequently depending on how much the disguise differs from the character's ordinary appearance. Disguise is an important tool for an Assassin, as it allows for very many possibilities. For example, an Assassin can use a disguise to conceal a weapon for use of assassinations later, which is one of the reasons a dagger is a recommended choice for an Assassin. Disguise also pairs excellently with charisma, which could be very helpful given you have the proficiency slots available for charisma skills.

The Assassin's Languages

In addition to languages granted by high intelligence, a higher level Assassin will be capable of learning languages that cannot be learned under normal circumstances. At 9th level, an Assassin with 15 or greater intelligence is capable of learning a single "Alignment tongue," or another special language. This essentially allows the learning of any language, such as Lawful Good, Druidic, or Thieves' Cant. Note that an Assassin may learn multiple of these languages if the level and intelligence requirements are met. These languages are of incredible value to an Assassin, as most characters will be friendly and sometimes trusting toward you if speaking in their alignment tongue. Note that the usage of alignment tongues in public is generally considered rude and taboo. Be careful when using any of these special languages, as they aren't meant to be used publicly often.

The Guild of Assassins

Most Assassins work under a form of Assassins guild. In Farvion, there is no guild for Assassins in specific, but rather the Thieves' Guild of Liars' Hand has three sects to it, each of which is for a different form of Thief. Thieves' have their own purposes, most often for the stealing of magical items and for infiltrating dungeons. They are also widely known for spying, a talent used by almost every organization of Thieves. The second form of Liar's Hand takes place in the form of Assassins. The guild asserts their control and power over Farvion most often through assassinating any who stand in their way. Many high level player characters will face threats of assassination all the time. This is where an Assassin character will come into play, often performing assassinations for the guild, and being compensated for the execution of threats to the guild. The third sect of Liar's Hand is one where both Thieves and Assassins often take part, (but mostly Thieves,) in the act of smuggling. Liar's Hand has a wide network of smugglers in their guild, which most often come into assisting the other to clans of Liar's Hand in their duties and missions.

Higher Levels: Masters of Elimination

The endgame of an Assassin is rather different for other classes. Like Druids, Assassins have a universal level limitation of 15, no matter the race. There are also certain requirements to reaching past 13th level, which are detailed as follows. In order to surpass the Guildmaster Assassin in the area, a character must assassinate or duel the Guildmaster to the death in order to claim his/her title. If this is done, the character will become the master of the local (and most likely national) locations and networks of Liar's Hand (or another guild which supports assassinations.) Note that an Assassin's duel has its own rules to it, or rather, it's own lack of rules. If the Assassin character is capable of spellcasting, there is no restriction on what spells may be cast. If the Assassin has a battalion of archers at the ready with poison-tipped arrows, the other Assassin may very well be slain by this method. It is likely that upon assuming Guildmaster status, most of the previous Assassin's Guild members will leave the area and join a different location's guild. A body of Assassins will be attracted to the new Guildmaster's location, numbering between 7 and 24 new members. The same procedure will be completed for an Assassin wishing to progress to 15th level, however little is known about the current Grandfather of Assassins, other than the fact that he's supposedly extremely powerful, and has an obsession with the undead.

The Skills of an Assassin

In addition to the skillset granted by being an Assassin, you will also gain proficiency slots at the same rate as Thieves, with one additional proficiency granted at the start of character creation. One specific reason behind advising higher intelligence for an Assassin is for the use of intelligence related proficiencies, and more specifically, Tracking. It is recommended that an Assassin take Tracking for the main purpose of serving as a form of "Anti Ranger" class, as evil characters never have any Rangers on their side. This is due to Rangers being a strictly good class, while Assassins are strictly evil. Other skills, especially ones used by Thieves are generally useful as a whole, as are proficiencies used by Magic-Users. Smuggler is rather useful, as are Literacy and Forgery. As always, your proficiency slots should be used with care.

Conclusion

Assassins fill a rather unique roll, exclusive to the side of evil. Their access to disguises and poisons can be a very useful asset in dispatching of the good characters in the world. Taking Tracking proficiencies can allow for significant benefit when dealing with opposing Rangers, giving you further use as an evil character. An Assassin's ability to take out the good characters when they come into too much power is what makes you an asset to the forces of evil, so use it whenever necessary. Serve your guild, make sure you're keeping the guild on top of everything. You have ample tools for performing assassinations. Use them wisely.