Assassins are stealthy killers, trained by their shadowy guilds in the arts of spying, disguise, poison, and murder. Although assassins of lower level are little more than trained thugs, the eminences of this reprehensible profession are so feared as to be spoken of only in whispers. High-level assassins are artists of murder, and their experience with hunting highly-placed targets, coupled with extensive education and training, often gives the sinister nobility of this class a silken, refined veneer over their true, murderous natures. This veneer, like many things pertaining to the assassins, is deceptive; survival in the higher echelons of an assassins’ guild requires animal cunning and a complete absence of mercy. Assassin characters must begin with an evil alignment.
*Level 15 is the ceiling for assassins. Any further experience points gained by a character of this level are simply lost.
Assassination. If an assassin gains surprise (see “Combat”) he or she may elect to assassinate the victim. The assassin need not roll “to hit” for an assassination attempt, which is a special attack resulting in a chance to kill the victim instantly and ensure damage even if the victim is not successfully killed. The Difficulty Class to kill a victim is 10, with a bonus of +1 per level of the assassin and a penalty of -1 for every two levels of the target (rounding down; in the case of monsters, substitute “hit dice” for “level”). These numbers are approximate, for the GM should modify the assassin’s chances slightly upward or downward according to the circumstances - guarded or wary targets are less likely to be killed, and unwary victims are more likely to die. If the assassination attempt does not succeed, the attack still inflicts normal damage, together with any applicable bonuses. The assassin does not gain backstab multiple damage on a failed assassination attempt, even if the assassination attempt was made from behind.
Backstab. An assassin may backstab with any of the melee weapons permissible to the thief class. Backstabbing doubles the weapon’s damage at levels 1-4, triple at levels 5-8, quadruple at level 9-12, and so on. Also, an assassin attacks from behind with a bonus “to hit” of +4 rather than the ordinary +2.
Disguise. Assassins are masters of disguise. Within reasonable limits, an assassin can make him- or herself appear slightly shorter or considerably taller, fatter or thinner, or of the opposite gender. An assassin can even disguise him- or herself as a member of another race (again, within reason). Any person observing the disguised assassin has a base 2% chance to see through the disguise, with one chance per day to do so. The base chance of seeing through a disguise increases another 2% if the assassin is posing as another class, race or gender (max 8% chance). The GM may assign additional penalties and bonuses to this check if the observer is unusually wise or intelligent (or particularly stupid), and common sense, of course, applies at all times.
Poison. Assassins are not inherently better at using poison than any other character class capable of using poison, but generally have more opportunities to gain knowledge of poisons and their effects.
Skilled. The assassin - like a thief - can add his/her level to any checks if trying to: Hear noise, Hide, Move Quietly, Pick Pockets. The assassin can also use his special Thief Skills to perform certain special tasks.
The assassin has thief skills as a thief two levels below the assassin’s level. At first level, the assassin has the thieving abilities of a first level thief, but does not gain the abilities of a second level thief until reaching fourth level.
Languages. Ninth and higher-level assassins with Int 15+ may learn languages that it would be impossible for a non-assassin to learn. An assassin can learn an alignment tongue other than his or her own, druids’ cant, and thieves’ cant as additional languages, but can only learn a maximum of four such special languages, one for each point of intelligence above 14. Only one such language can be learned per level above eighth. Such languages are over and above any limits imposed by the assassin’s race and intelligence.
Read Scrolls. When an assassin reaches 12th level, he or she has received sufficient training to cast spells from an arcane scroll (magic user or illusionist).
| Level | Aimed Magic Items (e.g., rod, staff, wand) | Breath Weapons | Death, Paralysis, Poison | Petrifaction, Polymorph | Spells for unlisted categories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 15 |
| 5-8 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 13 |
| 9-12 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
| 13-15 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 9 |