Guide to playing an assassin

[FantasyWriter]

No, sorry, only that other humans (the law) would care much lass than if you had killed (or assaulted) a productive, non-sneakythievingbackstabbing human.

[FantasyWriter]

Also, be sure to report the elf attacking you to the law as soon as they flee from your failed backstab attempt.

[RogueGunslinger]

Yeah, humans getting in trouble for killing elves in a city state = lulz.
Powerful or connected humans getting in trouble for killing elves in a city state = one of the most confusing/hilarious/unrealistic things I have ever experienced IG.

Bit of a derail, but you seriously think it's unrealistic that you can't kill members of the most interconnected and xenophobic groups there are and get away with it?

You say that as if their xenophobia extends to people outside of their respective tribe... Or that a tribe is large enough to even be a blip on something of the scale of the Allanaki militia. Or that for some reason the inherent bias and racist tones of a slew of humans would care even one bit if the likes of an elf would challenge them. After all the highlord is on the side of the humans, not the elves. Otherwise they might hire them.


No, any sort of punishment towards a member of His Arm should be for disobedience or lack of control, rather than a fear of elves and their power. Killing an elf , for a Templar, or a Templar's soldiers, should be much like squashing a bug underneath their heel. Sometimes it's dissapointing, because that bug might hold some value, but there should be little punishment if that person was simply acting on their intuition or insticnts.

Not every eleven tribe is powerful. Most should not be feared in any way. And one tribe owes absolutely no respect for another, and will fear them just as much as a human, or any other race.

[spicemustflow]

No, I didn't mean that Highlord and his Templars fear elves, only that, as a human who wants to learn how to slit throats, you're much better off targeting poor humans in the commoner's quarter, not poor elves whose family will track you down and kill you. They won't bother reporting your crimes to the templarate. And the elf tribe in question doesn't have to be powerful at all, it's enough that there's three dozens of them, craftsmen and whatnot during the day.

ending the derail with: if the Highlord/Sun King didn't see any use in the most powerful elven tribes (read, the ones open to play) they'd be long gone.

[RogueGunslinger]

No, I didn't mean that Highlord and his Templars fear elves, only that, as a human who wants to learn how to slit throats, you're much better off targeting poor humans in the commoner's quarter, not poor elves whose family will track you down and kill you. They won't bother reporting your crimes to the templarate. And the elf tribe in question doesn't have to be powerful at all, it's enough that there's three dozens of them, craftsmen and whatnot during the day.

I disagree entirely. I think a Templar is going to be much more irritated with you killing affiliated humans than affiliated elves. Regardless of who those affiliations might be. It's the Templar who soldiers fear, not the random elves who's tribes extend only a couple cousins down the family line. There are plenty of humans who regard their family just as highly as any old elf, and there are plenty of humans who's families are much larger than elves. They just won't trust and respect them as much as an elf would tend to, after having gone through the many trials of friendship an elf will have.

And if you do piss off a large elf familily, it's much easier for that Templar to explain to his own superiors that "Well, it's just another elf family."

[spicemustflow]

I disagree entirely. I think a Templar is going to be much more irritated with you killing affiliated humans than affiliated elves. Regardless of who those affiliations might be. It's the Templar who soldiers fear, not the random elves who's tribes extend only a couple cousins down the family line. There are plenty of humans who regard their family just as highly as any old elf, and there are plenty of humans who's families are much larger than elves. They just won't trust and respect them as much as an elf would tend to, after having gone through the many trials of friendship an elf will have.

I think it all depends on affiliation. Seven elves who peddle ceramics are insignificant, three hundred who keep contact with outside traders are not. Mind, I'm talking about a common commoner human, not comparing a GMH to a tribe. Even though, in one or two cases, I think a comparison can be made.

I still don't see what authorities have to do with anything, it's not like elves will run to the militia to report a murder. Not if they could solve the matter themselves, at least.

And if you do piss off a large elf familily, it's much easier for that Templar to explain to his own superiors that "Well, it's just another elf family."

Is it? I thought that templars aren't necessarily up to speed about the plots of their own superiors and can fuck up just like everybody else. If you have a large tribe that, in their own way, do the templarate's will in their own territory, then you don't  have just another elf family.

If you've read the elven docs, some tribes do cooperate with the robes, out of mutual interest.

[spicemustflow]

Anyway, I think the point we're both making is that killing random people of any race and affiliation will have much more chance of turning you into a corpse, rather than a master assassin.

[RogueGunslinger]

Anyway, I think the point we're both making is that killing random people of any race and affiliation will have much more chance of turning you into a corpse, rather than a master assassin.

I think that the soldier should have much more leeway in this regard. I don't honestly know how to address this than to say that I feel they simply don't have enough power or respect, for where they are. A Templar has all this power, yes. And his underlings are probably withing this realm if they're trusted. But it honestly doesn't feel that way in game. It feels as though if you fuck up, the world will come crashing down on your head to put you in your place, much like you suggest it would.

And I just simple disagree with the notion, no matter how much IC there is to back it up.

[Is Friday]

Elves are going to track you down? Wait, what? This isn't CSI. There's no video/fingerprint evidence.

[spicemustflow]

Watch M. From imdb: "When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt". There wasn't video/fingerprint evidence in 1931 but there was a network of whores, pickpockets and other watchful types.

Every community targeted by a serial killer would eventually try to stop him.

[spicemustflow]

Btw, Richard Kuklinski - the Iceman ( a new york mob hitman), was, by his own words, practicing murder by going into the poorer sections of New York and killing bums and lowlifes. But I'm not sure if you should believe the stories of a narcissistic sociopath whose only pleasure in prison was to spook psychiatrists with his horror stories.

[Jingo]

No, sorry, only that other humans (the law) would care much lass than if you had killed (or assaulted) a productive, non-sneakythievingbackstabbing human.

There are multple variables at play. Such as the discretion of the kill, general social status, the individual templar etc. But I'm still pretty sure that the Templarate holds a monopoly on lethal force. And they ought to be very interested in any party who is violating that monopoly.

And in my opinion, a dirty grebbing human doesn't hold much more social merit that a dirty elf in the eyes of the city state. I'm sure either the elf or the human would like to think their better than the other. But according tot he people in power, they are both a part of the unwashed masses.

I can also think of several elves that had very good relations to the templarate of their respective cities. Randomly killing them would have been a -very- big deal.

Isn't this thread about assassins?

[kayza]

Yeah kill all them elves! 

Or better yet,
Kill everyone that way you are sure you got someone you are suppose to hate!

[hyzhenhok]

Yes, you can skill up backstab without leaving the city or being in the militia.

But that doesn't mean you can just go around backstabbing people. You have to be smart about it, have reasons for it. Unless you're a psychopath, you probably have no reason to be killing poor commoners, random elves or destitute 'rinthis. You can, however, find commoners that are not so poor and whose deaths can be profitable. Start out playing a murderous thief with zero finesse, and grow into the assassin role (because really, no PC besides a dwarf should start out thinking 'I wanna become a badass assassin!').

[Evoru]

Perhaps it's that newb part of me that's never been brave enough to attempt an assassin, but it always seemed to me as if killing someone wouldn't be the most difficult part. All sorts of folks can kill.

I was always curious about how assassins find jobs. Outside of being stabled by a Templar or noble, how do assassins advertise so that people know to hire them? Heck, how do people even find them to hire? "Hey, you have anyone that needs killin'?" seems a little too straight forward, and it seems like passing that around could get you picked up real quick.

[FantasyWriter]

1. Listen for marks, don't advertise.
2. Be patient and test the person for a few RL days as best you can to confirm they really want the person dead and aren't assassin fishing for the law or other parties best to not be found out by.
3. As privately as possible, let the person know that you know someone who can handle it for the right price, or have a front wo/man to do so.
4. Never admit to anything to anyone.

Also, joining clans who seem like they might get such contracts from time to time is a good place for an assassin to be.

[jstorrie]

The teach skill is of modest utility here. It'll get you off the ground floor but not much further. If you want to do things Gangs of New York style and have a mentor train you on chalton carcasses, you can log your training sessions and request a skill increase through the request tool.

Clearly jstorre, you have never done MCMAP training in the Marines, where people are happily blood choked and bludgeoned in the name of manly man-ness.

Sure, but those people are training subdue and bludgeoning weapons. Not sap.

[jstorrie]

"I swear Lord Templar, I just stumbled with my knife out and slipped it between this breeds shoulder-blades. He fought back afterwards no matter how much I pleaded with him, so I had to put him down."

I have encountered (and played!) templars who would not only accept this excuse, but might even have their aide pour you a nice drink for such an entertaining story.

[palomar]

I would imagine it's more fun to play an assassin (coded guild) if you don't focus on getting better at those two skills. Use the skills when you need to do so, instead of going out of your way to find situations where you can use them.

[Shepard]

I'll be honest I didn't read this thread, so I am sorry if this has been mentioned already but -

Guide to playing an assassin:

backstab everything you see, all the time, day and night, in city and out of city, humanoid and animal

The end.

[Gunnerblaster]

I feel we're touching base on a lot of IC info that some people wouldn't normally know about.

This thread started off as talking about the roleplaying aspect to being an assassin - Not how hard it is to max out your uber skillz compared to other guilds.

[FantasyWriter]

The OP expressed concerns with how to PLAY an assassin as much, if not more so, than how to twink out the skills.

[jstorrie]

The problem is that many people think the meat of 'playing an assassin' is 'using the backstab or sap skill on people.' I'll reiterate what I said earlier: getting tunnel vision on backstab and/or sap is the quickest way to ensure you have no fun at all as an assassin. Don't fixate.

[FantasyWriter]

The problem is that many people think the meat of 'playing an assassin' is 'using the backstab or sap skill on people.' I'll reiterate what I said earlier: getting tunnel vision on backstab and/or sap is the quickest way to ensure you have no fun at all as an assassin. Don't fixate.

Sagenod.

[armandhammer]

You guys are all either forgetting something very important or too clever to give it away.

Sap and backstab are not the assassin's most powerful skills, by any means, so I whole-heartedly agree with anyone arguing not to tunnel-vision them.

Yeah, you're all failing to mention something very important.

But I'm not going to be the one to throw it out there.