This is a page about a playable character class. For other uses, see Assassin.
Assassins are branded by the manual as masters of stealth and guile, skilled at killing in shadows or with deadly poison. In reality, Assassins have a very flexible skillset that can lend itself to a variety of playing styles, including an enviable skillset for any melee fighter that includes Dodge, Find Weakness, Backstabbing and Alertness. Their abilities with missile weapons are notable thanks to the Archery and Find Weakness skills. They are also the only combat-oriented class trained in Alchemy, a skill that can be made excellent use of. Nearly any race can make an effective Assassin, depending on playing style: Drakelings, Gnomes, Humans, Hurthlings, and Dwarves all offer some nice advantages; for players who enjoy Trolls, Assassin is one of the best (if not the best) skillsets for a Troll.
Basic Information[]
Base Stats[]
The base stats for male Assassins are tabulated below. Female Assassins will, on average, have -1 Strength and +1 Dexterity compared to males. Note that any value may vary from these typical values by around +/-5 due to starsigns or birth effects, and further if the question system is not employed. See Talk:Archer for details on how these tables were generated.
Assassins have relatively balanced stats (typically enough Learning to get Literacy), excepting a rather severe penalty to charisma.
Race | St | Le | Wi | Dx | To | Ch | Ap | Ma | Pe |
Human | 13 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 14 |
Troll | 24 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 26 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 9 |
High Elf | 13 | 17 | 11 | 20 | 11 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 19 |
Gray Elf | 13 | 17 | 12 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 19 | 19 |
Dark Elf | 12 | 13 | 14 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 20 | 18 |
Dwarf | 16 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 15 |
Gnome | 12 | 14 | 11 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 15 |
Hurthling | 8 | 13 | 12 | 20 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 14 |
Orc | 18 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 11 |
Drakeling | 17 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 12 |
Mist Elf | 12 | 19 | 12 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 22 | 25 | 22 |
Ratling | 13 | 13 | 12 | 18 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 18 |
Starting Skills[]
Skill | Typical Value | Typical Modifier | Available In-game? |
Alchemy | 10 | 3d4 | No |
Alertness | 25 | 4d4 | No |
Archery | 20 | 3d5 | No |
Backstabbing | 40 | 4d5 | Yes |
Climbing | 40 | 4d5 | N/A |
Detect Traps | 25 | 4d5 | Yes |
Dodge | 20 | 4d5 | No |
Find Weakness | 40 | 4d4 | No |
First Aid | 20 | 3d4 | N/A |
Haggling | 30 | 3d3 | N/A |
Listening | 20 | 3d3 | N/A |
Pick Locks | 40 | 4d5 | Yes |
Stealth | 40 | 4d5 | Yes |
Two Weapon Combat | 20 | 3d3 | Yes |
Crowning Gifts[]
Assassins have a 4 in 6 chance of getting an extremely desirable humanoid slaying weapon. Even if they don't get one, The Far Slayer and Cloak of Oman are both very decent. The Far Slayer increases missile damage output considerably, including that of quarrels of slaying. The cloak of Oman is indestructible and has excellent powers, whereas normal cloaks don't usually give much beyond some armor rating and are quickly destroyed.
HP, PP, To-hit Growth by Level[]
HP: Medium
PP: Low
Melee to-hit: High
Ranged to-hit: High
Special Abilities[]
Class Abilities[]
- Dagger expertise: Assassins start with extra skill levels in the dagger categories compared with other classes — Assassins of all races start at level 4 with Thrown Daggers, with Trolls, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs starting at level 4 in Daggers & Knives and other races at level 5.
- Guild membership: Monsters in the Assassins' Guild are initially peaceful, and the Filk Quest requires being level 30, rather than level 45.
- Heir gift: Poisonous adamantium dagger (+0, 1d4+5 or more).
Class Powers[]
- Level 6: Can make potions of poison from other potions (not water or carrot juice).
- Level 12: Backstabbing gets more deadly. The exact effect is extra *2 modifier for backstabs; this stacks with critical hits (*2) and blessed weapon bonus against undead/demons (*1.5), for a maximum damage multiplier of 12 against undead/demons and 8 against others.
- Backstabbing bonus was increased [[1]] in 1.2.0pre7. Exact mechanics are not known at the moment.
- Level 18: Missile range is increased by 30%.
- Level 25: Critical hit chance is increased by 20%.
- Level 32: Dodge bonus is doubled. This yields a maximum of +10 DV at 100 skill.
- Level 40: Poison immunity.
- Level 50: Random chance to instantly kill a monster. Exact chance depends on the level of the monster, but the details are not known. Don't expect this to work on those you really want it to.
Starting Gear[]
Human | Troll | High Elf | Grey Elf | Dark Elf |
Dwarf | Gnome | Hurthling | Orc | Drakeling |
Mist Elf | Ratling | |||