Guide to playing an assassin

[Incognito]

A few FAQ's and ideas on how to play a well-fleshed assassin role:

An assassin is neither a warrior nor a ranger. Many players tend to think that they should play an assassin, just to play something different, and end up wondering why their long-lived assassin still sucks as compared to some other guilds, in combat. An assassin's forte is not one-on-one combat (even though they do get decently good at it at very high levels), but rather, to be the master of delivering deathly strikes, using the elements of stealth, camouflage and surprise.

An assassin should almost always opt to use all the skills at their disposal, to carry out strikes and complete them as soon as possible. Using projectiles is always a safe bet, to keep an assassin's identity secret. The use of poisons cannot be stressed enough! You have the ability to disable the target critically by using poisons - make it a point to find a teacher in-game, and learn about poisons and their cures.

An assassin is a hunter and killer of humanoids primarily, and that too in urban regions. Yes, some may adapt to use their skills in the outdoors, but they will never be as effective as they can be in their own milieu. (Yes, an uber-trained sniper rifle assassin RL CAN go out hunting game in the great outdoors, but he'll never be as good at it as a hunter who has trained and hunted all his life in the outdoors -- try to imagine a huntsman on one hand, and an assassin on the other, trying to hunt a bear or a wild boar in the wilderness, who do you think will be more effective?).

Assassins are able to kill or knock out their targets instantaneously - both are very effective tools, depending on the end-goal. Again, this has to be considered in context with the assassin's training and capabilities. (An experienced assassin RL would be able to take out a human target with ease, but, you would never consider employing an assassin to kill an elephant or knock-out a rhino!).

A lot of players assume that playing an assassin in the shadier parts of Zalanthas is the de-facto choice. This is a misunderstanding. Burglars and Pickpockets possibly have a wider vista of opportunities in urban areas, and are as adept at shady activities. It is common for players to apply for an assassin's role, and never carry out a single assassination during the course of their PC's existence (practising backstab and sap and randomly killing NPCs do not count!).

So, to put it succinctly, plan on playing an assassin if you are interested in carrying out humanoid assassinations primarily - over the long run. You may opt to be a master of disguise and subterfuge, but bear in mind that urban espionage is something other guilds can do more expertly than a hardcore killer.

• How do I practise backstab/sap with the appropriate RP?

First of all, both these skills are meant to be used to attack real targets, and it is considered to be bad form to practise them with sparring weapons and with sparring partners, even if the partners are willing to let you practise your skills on them. (Its unrealistic to tell someone that you're gonna try and surprise them and shove a sharp object into their back, or, try to crack their skull, even if it's just in a sparring compound or friendly setting -- knowing that the attack is imminent is enough to vitiate the concept of a hidden attack).

As far as RPing these skills is concerned depends entirely on your imagination. Perhaps you're a breed who's hated by all other races, and you're retaliating their unkindness to you. Or perhaps you're a human who hates elves or vice-versa. Perhaps someone tried to trip you while you were sneaking around. Or perhaps someone tried to steal something from you. Whatever the case, RP the interaction between yourself and your target, and then RP how your PC attempts these critical attacks.

Senseless backstab and sap attempts without appropriate RP and reasoning/thinking will brand your assassin as a random killer -- and people are always watching from the shadows -- be prepared to face the consequences if you go this route - which could well result in a similar attack on YOU, without any RP or prior warning.
 

• How can I make my assassin good?

There is only one answer to this: Reputation.
Everyone needs to get someone or the other killed, for whatever reasons they might have at some point. But no one would entrust the job on some unknown person with doubtful capabilities, lest their own hand be revealed.
An assassin must play a dual role of guarding his identity, but at the same time having a reputation that will tempt people to hire them. Making your name or alias known in different circles, will ensure a steady flow of enquiries. Carrying them out successfully will ensure riches and reputation. Having friends or front-men who will promote your reputation in different locations is something you as an assassin might wish to consider after reaching a certain level.

• This could get boring, what do I do in the meantime?

Assassins don't get up every morning, read the news, and go out and assassinate a few people. We're not talking about some terminator machines here! As an assassin, you will have a dual life - one that is your normal life, which might entail the life of a crafter, or that of a mercenary, or that of a House guard or even that of a lazy good-for-nothing loafer; the other side of your life will involve your shady activities - and these might be periodical, depending on your effectiveness, reputation and the general socio-political sentiment of the place you live in. So, a good assassin will always try and be on the move, to keep getting more jobs, and at the same time, not stick around in one place too long, after the completion of prior jobs. Again, this will only help build up the assassin's global repute.

• Are there any suggestions to fine-tune assassins?

Several. Each player will come up with their own techniques. The main advice I'd offer is for an assassin to scope out his target, the people his target deals with, and the general vicinity of where the target lives and operates, and identify safe hiding places nearby in case a retreat is warranted, or, identify points where the assassin might be able to get his hands on the target easily, with the least chances of detection or arrest. Getting into and out of difficult/locked places gives an assassin a huge edge in covering his tracks or delivering surprise attacks! Effective use of incendiary devices is always something to be considered when it comes to assassinating high-profile targets or when an assassin wishes to remain completely out of the picture. An assassin's ability to scope out other hidden folk is a life saver. Knowing how to effectively shadow a target is the assassin's best weapon.

Assassins - don't think of shadow ninjas or Chuck Norris or The Terminator........think of the sweet, eclectic, mild-mannered old man living next door to you for the last 20 years, who dresses up in a suit and takes off for a few days randomly, and comes back home with a million dollars added to his off-shore bank account!

[Delirium]

Good write-up, except 'incendiary devices' is no longer an option, unless your assassin makes certain friends.

[Lizzie]

Though this should be obvious, I'll add a comment:

You don't have to pick assassin guild, to be an assassin. Rangers, warriors, mages of various types, muls with little skill but that insane rage thing, half-giants with brute strength, can all PK effectively and become known (or unknown) assassins.

The assassin guild, however, is particularly geared toward sneaky assassin-related skills. Whereas other combat-related guilds are geared specifically toward other things.

But you want to play an assassin, RP-wise, don't feel you have to pick assassin guild, code-wise. There are other ways of murdering PCs than the path of the coded assassin. Assassins just do it, assassinish

[Romy]

Very good, thank you

[tapas]

Somebody needs to make me a demotivational.

Picture of Ezio from Assassin's creed.

"50 day assassin"

"Didn't kill anyone"

[Dar]

I love and hate playing assassins. Love them for their superb skill sets and hate for their tendency to OHK. I feel dwarven assassins are just ... over the top personally.

[palomar]

Also, you don't have to be an assassin RP-wise, because you pick the assassin guild. You can be a lot of different things, regardless of coded guild.

Personally, I find stereotypical assassins (ie, where by various signs you can tell they sneak and stab people) tedious and unappealing.

Some people complain about PCs using the 'bard excuse' for being an assassin. It's not a bad 'excuse'. They are usually bards first and stealthy killers second.

[Cutthroat]

This seems more of a guide for guild_assassins that want to play an assassin, and it's very well written for that purpose. I think the points past the backstab practice are pretty useful for assassin characters of any guild.

Edit: I should add a couple of things. This guide seems geared toward people that never successfully tried the concept of an assassin before, which is great. Also, the Player Collaboration forum is a good spot for posts like these.

[RogueGunslinger]

Cutthroat played my favorite sort of guild_assassin I've seen in game. He did a lot of things suggested here.

[Nyr]

This is in roleplaying discussion, not code discussion, so limit your critiques and input to things to do with roleplay.  (I've moderated myself as well in this regard concerning a reply I made aimed at another post.)  If you have nothing to offer except "this stuff sucks," kindly do not post.

[Romy]

I can't really add anything to this, op did a great job. Can we please have this archived when the discussion is finished though? 

[Incognito]

This seems more of a guide for guild_assassins that want to play an assassin, and it's very well written for that purpose. I think the points past the backstab practice are pretty useful for assassin characters of any guild.

Edit: I should add a couple of things. This guide seems geared toward people that never successfully tried the concept of an assassin before, which is great. Also, the Player Collaboration forum is a good spot for posts like these.

Thanks Cutthroat.

The reason I posted it first in Roleplaying forum is to get feedback/views/suggestions from the other players/Staff.

I personally prefer to post in Player Collaboration after a post/idea is fully-fleshed out, and ready to be viewed in it's entirety - especially for the benefit of newbies.

I'll wait till replies stop coming in, and then consolidate various inputs, and then post it in Player Collaboration forum.

[Bogre]

Be a character first, assassin second.

Why does your character watch people fall forward with a dagger in their backs for a living? Probably the most important question.

-Are you interested in furthering a cause?
-Is this the only thing your character knows?
-Do you kill out of necessity, or enjoyment?
-Do you want to excel at killing people, and building a reputation?
-Why can you stomach killing people?

I think one of my favorite assassin-guild characters who played as 'an assassin' was a Corporal for the Tuluki Legion, who was convinced that he was saved from a magicker's first manifesting by the Sun King's grace. He was stone cold, and determined to root out and destroy any subversives, especially mages. For him, he was a tool to be used, a citizen soldier. He wasn't interested in killing for money, fame, or power- he wanted to be able to silence voices against the Highlord.

I think a motivation gives a character much more body than, "I want to take contracts and perform kills."

[Dar]

To be honest, the only time I ever play an assassin as an "assassin" is if he is actually licensed as an 'assassin' in Tuluk or after a pretty long period of time.

All the other times an assassin is basically a dude without military training who has a knife. Or a coward who has a knife. Or a dude who thinks he is smarter then those silly soldiers with their weird ways and stabbing a dude in a way that finishes the fight is much smarter then carrying around shields and formations and all that crap.

I do not believe that a beginning backstab is ... any kind of an art form or a special move or anything like that. It's just a foolhardy stab where you put all of your strength and weight in, which totally puts you off balance and would make any seasoned swordarm facepalm himself. After awhile, after many scraps, after many experiences, after improving sneak/hide, after dealing with all kinds of awesome character development stuff that is usually linked to coded skill improvement but not 'only' that, does a backstab become this ... speshul way of killing and a dude with a knife becomes a 'deadly' assassin.

In all the movies, all the professional hit men. Not the drug addict kids who got paid peanuts to walk into an alley, shoot, and run away. But real pro hit men who pull off high scale assassinations and so on. I bet they're all ex-military, or ex-spooks, or ex-somekindofamilitarysemimilitary organization. I believe very few of let's say ... rinthi assassins fall under a category of professional hit men.

Rinthi assassins more come from the gangs of new york movie. Where a dude explains how to kill a person the best way by butchering a cow.

Ofcourse special organizations that worship silent death (Kali worshippers, hassassins, include IC orgs here) are somewhat exempt 'as long' as they really are worshipping it and put aside at least 'some' kind of a roleplay of worship/self perfection, and not just limit themselves to scrapping and a le Byn training.

[Karieith]

Once you decide it is time to kill someone it's usually incredibly detrimental to actually try to role-play with them, sometimes people are good about it. But, more often than not, people want their character's to live. They reach out of the way to anyone they ever saw all, and I've done it too. On one end, I understand, on the other hand it's really difficult to do right by someone RP-wise when they really need to die.  

You wind up getting people who are just Assassinate X because it's SAFER, and then a mountain of complaints and hard feelings... 

It's a vicious cycle.

[Hot_Dancer]

Tough role to play.

Generally, for a contract to come up -someone- or some group has to be playing in a way that brings up
conflict/interaction/competition and actually has the audacity to rub someone the wrong way. It takes
two to tango and a death generally very simply ends the story. The staff isn't holding our hands in pushing
plot lines these days so crushing our own story-lines with a quick murder of a key figure will often just lead
to more idle time in the tavern for everyone involved. This includes the assassin, contracts don't come up
often (past the kill the latest uber sorcerer/psionicist/chase whatever into the most dangerous depths of
the world and end it stuff that is generally available static).

Your character is just a local knife, you collect your reward and move on (or get murdered by your employer).
Your story contribution will likely be small.

Every now and then you'll get a low impact contract, like some thug who is causing trouble for the Merchant
House that has employed him. Thing is, you wont hear about it as said House can probably handle the
problem on their own without paying your obscene rates or even risking sharing sensitive information with
you.

[lordcooper]

You have to put the sharp thing in the person.

[perfecto]

Good write-up, except 'incendiary devices' is no longer an option, unless your assassin makes certain friends.

God I miss those...

Good times blowing my own face off...

[jstorrie]

My tips for being an assassin:

a) Don't assume that you're going to be a ninja any time soon unless you go heavy on the skill bumps. Plan and play accordingly.
b) See a).
c) Don't get tunnel vision on your backstab skill. There's more to life.
d) All of the above.

[Jingo]

E) Make friends that can help with training and gathering supplies. Assassin's need this more than rangers or warriors combined.

[Irathu]

On a side note, but something I found interesting is read this book, it has greatly changed my viewpoint and idea of an assassin...



I am not trying to say it is an amazing book and what not, but it is something that has a more appropriate viewpoint for us and works well with what you said before.

[Reiteration]

>e
>backstab figure
>e
>backstab figure

[ten hours later]

>e
>backstab templar

[Fredd]

My favorite Assassin was a Winrothol Cavalier with poor wisdom that over a few years could kill gortok and tandu, and never once Pked. In fact he got to hold and see copper once. and had the trust and admiration of the noble he worked for.

my second favorite burglar was about the same in the south. A house guard that never stole a thing, and used his skills mostly to pull people out of holes. LOL.

[Morrolan]

My longest-lived assassin was a low-strength Bynner who eventually became a sergeant under a PC Lieutenant. Rumor was he was a sekrit magicker, because he could not fight particularly well and "never" did anything stealthy.

It taught me about "lead from the back" tactics in Arm, which I found suit my preferred RP much better.  I do not think he ever used backstab.  But his approach to life was assassin-like. Scope the target, bait the target, have it taken down quickly and brutally. Do not fight unless you are getting paid.

[roughneck]

Everything is in the bible.  This is how the bible says you should play an assassin:

Judges, Chapter 3...

15 Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer —Ehud , a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit[d] long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. 19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, "Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you."

The king said to his attendants, "Leave us!" And they all left.

20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace[e] and said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king rose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. 22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23 Then Ehud went out to the porch[f]; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace." 25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

28 "Follow me," he ordered, "for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands. " So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. 30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.