Assassin

The assassin is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.^[4] It first appeared in the Blackmoor supplement, as a thief sub-class. It next appeared in the 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons where it was a base class. It later appeared as an optional kit for rogues in 2nd edition and a prestige class in 3rd edition. Assassins are killers and spies; the class is loosely modeled on perceptions of real world assassins.

Publication history

Dungeons & Dragons (1974–1976)

The assassin first appeared in the Blackmoor supplement, as a thief sub-class.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977–1988)

In 1st Edition D&D, assassin was a sub-class^[5] of thief and available to characters starting at 1st level. The class included most class abilities of the thief class with an expanded weapon list and the ability to use shields. Assassins also had the "assassination" ability, offering a percentage chance to perform an assassination against a target.

Dungeons & Dragons (1977–1999)

The assassin was not available as a character class in the game's "Basic" edition.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989–1999)

The assassin was removed as a standard character class for the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.^[6] The Complete Thief's Handbook presented assassins as a "kit" (class variant) for the Rogue class.^[2]

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000–2007)

With the release of the third edition rules, the Assassin was reintroduced as a prestige class.^[6]

To become an assassin, the character must be of an evil alignment. He must also be skilled at disguising himself, moving silently and hiding from his targets. The final step is to prove his worth by hunting down and killing a target in cold blood, for no other reason than to prove his worthiness of the title.

The abilities of an assassin are aimed at being able to kill or incapacitate a target while reducing the risk to the individual assassin. They are skilled at dealing unexpected damage from sneak attacks and can poison their blades without the risk of accidentally poisoning themselves. With training they can deliver sneak attacks that can instantly kill their targets; alternatively, if the target is wanted alive they can merely paralyze the target, allowing time for them to be tied up, placed in manacles or otherwise restrained. At higher levels assassins can even hide themselves while in plain sight of an enemy.

Assassins gain a limited amount of magical talent, allowing them to cast arcane spells with a high enough intelligence. The spells are cast spontaneously in a similar manner to a bard or sorcerer in the 3.5 revision; in 3rd edition they cast more similarly to a wizard. The spell effects are generally those that make it easier to approach or kill a target, or those that aid the assassin's escape if discovered.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008–)

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (October 2009)

In 4th edition, a rogue may take the Shadow Assassin paragon path upon reaching 11th level. This gives the rogue access to several new abilities, as well as increasing sneak attack damage significantly. Martial Power includes the Perfect Assassin epic destiny.

The Avenger character class detailed in the Player's Handbook 2 includes a "Zealous Assassin" paragon path that focuses on using teleportation to gain advantage over enemies or to make a quick escape after an attack.

4th edition also includes assassin NPCs, such as the Monster Manual's Doppelganger Assassin, Rakshasa Assassin and Snaketongue Assassin monsters.

A Dragon article titled "The Art of the Kill" contained information for having characters that were assassins due to skill rather than the more magical touch the assassin had in 3rd and 4th edition.

Announced in June, the assassin is the first D&D Insider exclusive class^[3]. It has the Striker role and the Shadow power source^[1]. It had the shadow power source because they gained power from the shadowfell that allows them to manipulate shadows. It was released in a three part article series in September 2009, with the first article covering class features and the heroic tear (levels 1-10), the second article covering the paragon tier (levels 11-20) and the third article covering the epic tier (levels 21-30).^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.critical-hits.com/2009/08/14/gencon-4e-preview-the-assassin/
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/alumni/20070126a
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dred/2009July
4. ^ Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons, An Introduction to Role-Playing Games (Revised ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0710094663. 
5. ^ Turnbull, Don (Dec/January 1978-1979). "Open Box: Players Handbook" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 10): 17. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wizards.com%2Fdnd%2FDnDArchives_FAQ.asp&date=2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-10-03.