The Assassin!

The Assassin is a subclass of the the thief, and they have the functions of the latter as well as their own. An assassin character need not be a member of a guild of the town or city he/she dwells in, but all npc's are members of such guilds. There is one such guild in most towns and cities, and each controls an area of from 10-100 mile radius around the headquarters town or city. Any assassin discovered I a guild area who is not a member of the local Assassin's guild will be invited to join, thus coming under the authority and command of the guildmaster assassin. The assassin character need not join, but he/she will be under sentence of death. If the character performs an assassination while not a guild member. The primary function of the assassin is killing. They may use poison- ingested or insinuated by weapon. Poison ingested must be put into the food or drink, and the character performing this action must detail exactly when, where and how the poisoning will be done. The DM will then adjudicate the action. Poisoned weapons used run the risk of being noticed by others. All non-assassins within a 10' radius of the bared weapon have a 10% cumulative chance each per melee round (q.v.) of noting the poison and attacking the poison-using assassin and/or calling for the city watch (there is a 20% chance for attacking the assassin, 50% chance for calling the watch, and a 30% chance for shouting for the watch and attacking the assassin.

General Info: Just as thieves do, assassins have six-sided dice (d6) for determining number of hit points (q.v.) They can sustain. Assassins are evil in alignment (perforce, as the killing of humans and other intelligent life forms for the purpose of profit is basically held to be the antithesis of weal). As mentioned above Assassins have thieving capabilities and their own ability functions. Because they can use any sort of shield or weapon, they are generally considered superior in combat.

Assassins attack on the same combat tables as thieves do, including back stabbing. However, if they surprise (q.v.) a victim, they may attack on the Assassination Table. This gives a roughly 50% chance of immediately killing the victim; and if this fails, normal damage according to the weapons type and strength ability modifiers still accrues to the victim. Thus, if a poisoned weapon is used, the victim must also make a saving throw Vs poison or die. The assassin decides which attack mode he or she will use: assassination, back stabbing, or normal melee combat.

The secondary function of an assassin is spying. This mission can be coupled with the stealing of an item. Tertiary functions of assassins are the same as thieves. They have all the abilities and functions as thieves; but, except for backstabbing, assassins perform thieving abilities at 2 levels below their assassin level, i.e.. a 3rd level assassin has the thieving abilities of a 1st level thief.

Performing an assassination will gain XP points for the character - awarded for both the fee paid and the level of the victim. These awards are determined by the DM (The DM can refer to the Dungeon Master's guide)

In order for an assassin to gain experience levels beyond 13th level (prime assassin), he or she must have the requisite experience points and then either assassinate the local Guildmaster Assassin (14th level) or challenge him her to a duel to the death. Likewise, a 14th level assassin may journey to the 15th level assassin's headquarters and slay him or her by assassination or in a duel.

The headquarters of a guild must be within a large city or town. It must not be a noticeable fortress or an ostentatious place. It is typically a warehouse or other nondescript structure, with safeguards and traps added.

Primary Abilities:

Speak alignment languages, disguise (see below for alignment tongues)

Disguise can be donned in order to gain the opportunity to poison or surprise a victim- or for other reasons. The assassin can disguise himself of herself so as to appear to be human, semi-human or humanoid creature of either sex. Disguise can lower height by 2-3 inches, or raise height by 4-5 inches. It can make the assassin look slimmer of heavier. Disguise can make the assassin appear virtually any class of character, a simple pilgrim, a merchant etc.. There is a chance, however , that the victim, or his or her guards or henchmen, will notice the disguise. There is a base chance of 2% per day of a disguised assassin being spotted. This chance goes up 2% if the assassin is posting as another class, another race, and/or the opposite sex (maximum of 8% chance). Each concerned party (victim, henchmen, bodyguards) in proximity to the assassin will be checked for, immediately upon meeting the disguised assassin and each 24 hour period thereafter. The chance for spotting a disguised assassin goes downward by 1% for each point below 24 of combined intelligence and wisdom of the observer concerned, the reverse is also true; increase the chance of detection by 1% per point. Note: True seeing or a wand of enemy detection will discover an assassin, as will detect evil, or know alignment in some cases.

Class Restrictions: To be an assassin a character must have a minimum of 12 strength, an intelligence of 11 or more and a dexterity of not less than 12. Assassins do not gain any experience bonuses for having high ability scores. These characters are almost always evil or at best neutral.

Combat Bonuses: Assassination (see table below).

At 4th level

Hirelings: Upon attaining this level, the assassin may take low level assassins into service.

At 8th level

More Hirelings: After attaining this level, assassins may take thieves into service along with their other hirelings.

At 9th level

Alignment Tongues: The assassin gains the ability to learn alignment languages. Assassin's with 15 intelligence or more are able to learn an alignment tongue (even those special languages of druids and thieves). The maximum number of alignment languages which can be spoken by an assassin is 4 - one for each point of intelligence above 14, i.e.. 1 at 15, 2 at 16 etc.. Note: an assassin would have to be of 12th level and have 18 intelligence to be able to speak 4 alignment tongues.

At 12th level

Any Hirelings: Upon attaining 12th level, the character may hire any class desired. Of course, only neutral or evil characters will serve an assassin. The total number of henchmen is that dictated by the character's charisma score. " Followers" are also possible, but these come only at the two uppermost levels of the assassin class.

Special Disadvantages: nil.

Experience Table

Notes: no additional hitpoints are gained beyond this point, with the exception of the character's Con bonus

The Assassination Table