OHKO: A Guide to Assassins
By Kenderbard and BackHandofFate
Table of Contents
Overview
Abilities
--Archetypes (external document)
Equipment (external document)
Overview
Assassins are romanticized as being the ultimate killers and in pathfinder they can be under the right circumstance. At its core, the assassin prestige class relies on one being 1) extremely stealthy, 2) patient, 3) and making the most every few rounds of your death attack.
The books referenced are many and varied: Core, APG, ACG, ARG, UC, UM, UE, and more, though the previous listed are the most commonly referenced.
Here is the color coding (with stars) for the various builds and bits that we'll be looking at.
Blue (****) - Every assassin should make sure they grab this.
Green (***) - A great, solid choice, only bumped down because of one or two little flaws.
Orange (**) - Although this won't hurt you in your quest to be the stealthy master of death, it's not your best choice either.
Red (*) - Pass. Avoid. Nix. You'll only be wasting your time with these.
Abilities
STRENGTH: Hidden Brute Assassin (**-***)
Strength is great for fighters or any melee class that's looking to deal a high amount of output damage. For the assassin? Not entirely necessary. Each time you strike, you should be striking to either kill or paralyze with no concern for whittling away at HP. If you're concerned about the fallout of not taking down your enemies after a single hit, you either should consider a different class, reassess your build, or hope you've got a great supporting cast in the rest of your party to clean up the mess.
One thing going good for Strength is that if you know you’re going to be melee focused, you could rely on Strength, find other ways to optimize your stealth and hiding, and then make Intelligence your top stat (for the save DC) with Strength coming in close second for accuracy. This would negate the need for weapon finesse. It’s not the most synergetic build, however.
DEXTERITY: Ninja Assassin (****)
The quintessential assassin. With weapon finesse, stealth, and a high dexterity score, you're almost ready to go right out of the box. Dexterity should always, always be your top ability for any would-be assassin.
CONSTITUTION: Surprise Tank Assassin (*)
This is unnecessary. Your job is to hide, watch, strike, and repeat. If done right, you shouldn't be visible long enough to take a sustained beating.
INTELLIGENCE: Crafty Assassin (***)
Your next best stat after dexterity. Death Attack's Fortitude DC vs death or paralyzation is this: DC 10 + the assassin's class level + the assassin's INT modifier. Although Dexterity will carry you through the entire set-up, a high intelligence score will help make sure that when push comes to shove, your enemies aren't going to be able to beat your DC. Combine this with a good STR score and you have the makings of a battlefield nightmare.
WISDOM: Sage Assassin (*)
A good wisdom score is necessary for one thing and one thing only for any assassin: protecting against charm and compulsion spells. Since there's a wide plethora of feats and traits and spell buffs to help you through that anyway (not to mention you may already have a modest Will save depending on your base class), you really don't need to worry about this.
CHARISMA: Betrayal Assassin (**-***)
There's more than one way to put a target off their guard around you beyond simply being undetectable, and that's by making them think you're their friend. The main problem with this approach is that it only works well against one, isolated target. If you find yourself going up against those quite a bit, then this is definitely a great consideration for you. Otherwise, you may want to reconsider how many points you sink into your Charisma.
Class Features
Sneak Attack (***)
Sneak attack on the Assassin can be merely a nice perk to an excellent plan B depending entirely on what your base class and how many levels you have in it. Ranger and Rogues are just about the only two who are ever going to see a lot of mileage out of Sneak Attack as a viable backup plan for when your death attack fails. Favored enemy or stacking sneak attack damage can develop a powerful wallop of damage even if you fail to kill your target, weakening them nicely for someone else in your party to take over.
Death Attack (****)
Your bread and butter and the entirety of what it means to be an assassin. Your build should revolve around this ability.
Poison Use (***)
Not poisoning yourself is always nice and since this is included in your first level, it's not as if you have to sink extra levels of assassin just to get this.
Save Bonus vs Poison (**)
It's not bad to have this at all but you shouldn’t be overly focused on this. It's a nice perk of being an assassin, but unless your DM enjoys poisoning you regularly, you may or may not need to worry about poison much at all. A wand of Neutralize Poison makes this almost defunct.
Uncanny Dodge (****)
Nobody likes to be caught flat-footed, ever, even if your opponent isn't equipped to tear you apart for it. Rogues get the improved version of this so there's no reason not to be glad you have it. As the 2nd level ability, it's a tempting invitation to grab at least two levels of assassin at minimum.
Hidden Weapons (****)
This is fantastic for assassins, especially the charisma-focused Betrayal Assassin who needs to look harmless before going in for the kill. Even for a regular assassin, having your weapons hidden on you will help towards making you look like you're not a threat or an enemy if you're careful how you spend your first three rounds of studying, which might save you if you fail to be stealthy enough.
True Death (*-**)
The usefulness of this ability varies depending on how compassionate your enemies are in your campaign. If they've got friends inclined to raise them, you'll be glad to have this, although with remove curse cancelling it out, it's not really anything to get excited about. If your enemies tend to stay dead after you kill them regardless, true death is kind of dumb.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (***)
Not being flanked is nice, but this ability is less magical if you already have it, which nudges it down to a green three-star.
Quiet Death (****)
The assassin is built up in such a way that if there's a surprise round, it should probably be because you surprised the enemy who had no idea you were there or about to straight up murder them. That said, this will only extend your maniacal fun by making you even sneakier than you already are. It kicks off combat with you in a very strong position.
Hide in Plain Sight (****)
This ability is a godsend to assassins. No more scrambling for cover. No more being unable to study your target during that long three-round wait because they slipped out of your view. Just find somewhere in low-light and where you're not likely to get in the way and get ready to kill someone. For melee assassins, this is even better as--if the lighting is right--it gives you the ability to spend your three rounds maneuvering into the perfect position for a quick kill once your studying is done.
Swift Death (****)
Perfect for when you really don't have three rounds to waste. The one-time-a-day use is a drag and you still need to sneak attack, but by the time you hit level nine assassin, you'll be a master at being ready to take advantage of a sneak attack already.
Angel of Death (**)
See True Death. This is just flashier and slightly more effective as a remove curse isn't going to take it away from you. (Missing wastes the use of the ability, though, and you only get one a day, so it's almost just as bad.)
Base Classes
Assassin's requirements are extremely easy to fill, making technically any class viable. However, you're going to want the classes with the most effective combos to bring the best out of assassin. Since every class carries archetypes that can help them fit this mold, I'll be focusing only on how the vanilla version of a class fits with archetypes to be reviewed later.
For archetypes, please click here. Archetypes can take a low-rated base class and make it more viable.
Alchemist (**-***)
Alchemist is an odd class that can fill many roles simply by virtue of its metagens. The wide range of extracts are a fantastic edge and ultimately this build could go quite far as an assassin. It would require a careful eye to your build to make sure you're thinking 'stealth' while you work on it, and the lack of stealth or disguise as class skills is a mark against it, but it's not an impossible class to work with. It's less recommended if you don't often have time to down some potions real fast and set yourself up though.
Antipaladin (***)
Although a paladin build is both impossible and laughable, antipaladins have a lot going for them. Their spells include such beauties as Invisibility, Darkness, Blindness/Deafness, and Silence all of which would be great tools for an assassin. Stealth is a class skill for them and they can beef up their weapons and debuff their enemies. They get good BAB and some great saves too.
Barbarian (*)
Barbarians are not your first choice for assassin, not even a crafty assassin. If you're a barbarian and you want to be an assassin too, don't bother taking more than a level or two. That way once you use up your first death attack in a glorious mouth-frothing rage, you won't need to worry about doing so again.
Bard (****)
Charisma Assassins are almost required to be bards first. For other assassins, bards are still pretty good choices for their spells. You won't get much mileage out of your bardic music if you're trying to be sneaky and unnoticeable (*coughDervish Dancer archetypecough*), but the versatile performance will save you a lot on your skill points, Perform (act) will be invaluable for out of combat use, and well over half your bardic spells starting even at level one are geared towards making you seem harmless. Charm Person and Disguise Self will become your best friends.
Cavalier (*)
Waving a flag around as you issue challenges and charge forth is kind of the opposite of stealth and misdirection. The only thing that cavalier is good for is teamwork and even then it's not worth trying to set up an assassin build for unless you plan to be the ringleader of a whole group of them.
Cleric (**-***)
Clerics on the surface might not look like assassin material and if you intend to be a standard healbot then you probably won't want to head into that direction anyway (unless you often find yourself standing about twiddling your thumbs as you wait for someone to bandage.) However, the Trickery Domain gives the cleric a big boost towards being well equipped to sneak about. Otherwise, I'd give this a pass.
Druid (**)
Druids, like clerics, aren't at a glance well equipped for sneakery and subterfuge. However, clever use of wild shape to seem innocuous and out of the way could help you get some sneak attacks in. However, this is a limited trick since your enemies will catch on after the first time you try it in combat. Druids tend not to drop a lot of points into dexterity and intelligence. Flexible builds could see this through but it would require a great deal of careful planning.
Fighter (***)
Fighters in pathfinder are so versatile that they can really shine in a variety of roles and this includes assassin. The Crafty Assassin works great with fighters who are optimized to cover up their sneaking weaknesses. Remember, just because you're a fighter, doesn't mean you have to be BSF.
Gunslinger (*-**)
Gunslinger would be fantastic… if it weren’t for the fact that they rely on ranged weapons for a good amount of their best traits. Someone who is crafty, especially with the Pistolero archetype might be able to salvage this though.
Inquisitor (**)
Two stars only since you can take trickery domain with an Inquisitor as well. Otherwise, their abilities and spells are almost entirely tailored for striking fear into the hearts of the enemy and extracting information. Some abilities, such as exploit weakness and bane, are nice for assassins, but the difficulty in setting up the inquisitor to be a really good assassin is a hard one.
Magus (****)
This is the go-to, best pick class for anyone wanting to play the crafty assassin. With Strength and Intelligence being the primary abilities of the magus, being able to use your weapon to deliver touch attacks, being able to use your weapon AS touch attacks, and more, the magus is an amazing and frightening choice for that type of build. Grab Invisibility and go wild.
Monk (**-***)
Monks are fairly flexible and you can usually find a build for any ability focus you care to choose. However, most monk abilities are focused on making full-attacks which aren’t as conductive towards assassin’s one-strike kill methods. Other class abilities make this not a bad choice regardless, though.
Oracle (**)
Although Oracle's heavy use of Charisma sets them up for use as a Charisma Assassin, the class is not greatly equipped for battle. Oracles tend to be a supportive class. Careful choice of spells and mystery (Time most recommended) can make it work but you'll need to plan ahead and rely on the help of some magic items.
Paladin (*)
HAHAHAHAHAHA you’re kidding right? Hope you like falling.
Ranger (****)
Rangers give Rogues a run for their money as the best choice for assassin. With favored enemy and favored terrain giving bonuses left and right in striking your foe, and abilities and spells to aid with stealth, rangers are always a good choice.
Rogue/Ninja (****)
The default choice for assassins, Rogues go hand and hand with the prestige class. Ninjas work just as well, as Ninjas and Rogues are highly similar in either case and count the same everywhere the matters to the assassin. It actually takes effort to make a rogue that won't make a good assassin too.
Samurai (*)
See Cavalier.
Sorcerer (**)
Same as oracles; the high charisma can be a boon but the lack of martial skill can be a huge detriment. Sorcerers at least have access to more sneaking-inclined spells which gives them a slight nudge above oracles, but not much.
Summoner (*)
Summoners fall into the same category as all charisma casters. Further, they're focused entirely on their eidolans, usually, or other summoning abilities, making them a poor choice.
Witch (*)
Although Witches are INT casters, they aren't equipped towards melee builds. Witches can incapacitate enemies with the right choice of hexes and spells, but if you want to make a killer witch that badly, just render an enemy helpless and coup de grace them. It'll be less of a headache.
Wizard (**-***)
Wizards are odd. Their wide range of spells makes them much more versatile than what first meets the eye. Although a Magus will always dust a Wizard when it comes to a comparison on who makes the better assassin, if you've only got a Wizard to work with, it's still doable. True Strike as a spell makes the Wizard's low BAB less of an issue, and the Wizard has access to Invisibility and similar spells. They also can cast to teleport around as necessary and any other combination of spells that can help an assassin out. It's not a top tier choice, but it's not bad with careful planning.
Arcanist (**)
Half BAB and a weak 2 skillpoints/level make this a rather unattractive class for Assassin at first glance. However, there are a few things that make Arcanist potentially good at what an Assassin does. Dimensional Slide can help with infiltration as well as retreat. Arcane Weapon will let you put the spellstoring enhancement on your weapon, which can be used in a number of ways to assist an assassination attempt. There's always good low level spells to take advantage of as well.
Bloodrager (*)
While not the most horrible base class to make an Assassin, the Bloodrager is pretty much the exact opposite of subtlety in every way. A bard mixed with a sorcerer? At least you have spells and some interesting bonuses based on your bloodline. But, it's not really enough.
Brawler (**)
The name makes this sound like a wierd choice for an Assassin. But there are some perks to the gig. Full BAB, two good saves, move action access to combat feats. Most of the class features, however, do not really benefit you in executing the role of an assassin.
Hunter(***)
This class has some nice options for assisting an assassin in his role. Choosing the Owl as an animal focus will help you remain undetected alot more easily. It has 6 skillpoints/level and a skillset that meshes quite well with the assassin skillset. The real drawbacks are the scaling class features such as your animal companion and Animal Focus. If you PrC out, you lose the increased benefits that a Hunter gets as he gains levels. This causes the importance of Animal focus to diminish over time, and it forces you to put effort into keeping your animal companion effective in level appropriate encounters.
Investigator(****)
The investigator has a lot to offer an assassin right off the bat. An alchemists extracts are always useful while inspiration and trapfinding/sense make infiltration a hell of alot easier. The poison themed class features fit right in. Even low-level talents have the ability to bring a great deal to the table. Underworld Inspiration and Expanded Inspiration makes an Investigator excel at social and infiltration skills. Inspired Alertness keeps him on his toes against unexpected threats. You can even choose from a plethora of rogue talents if you want!
Shaman(**)
It doesn't look like shamans really mesh well with assassins. Sure, you've got some spells and maybe even a few hexes that could help you out with a killing strike like evil eye. Spirits offer some interesting options. But there's nothing that really stands out as useful.
Skald(*)
A combination of the two most vocal classes in the game? Yeah, not going to work. Versatile Performance and Spell Kenning can be quite useful. But your main class feature, raging song, is not going to help you at all.
Slayer(*****)
All the yes! Slayer talents are amazing and wide ranging. Studied target and sneak attack mesh right in with an Assassin's job description. Full BAB, d10HD, 6 skill points/level, 2 good saves. Is there any reason not to take this class over Rogue aside from Uncanny Dodge?
Swashbuckler(***)
This class may not offer much in the way of stealth support. But boy oh boy does it help with combat. With just 5 levels of this class, you get weapon finesse, weapon training, an initiative bonus, a combat bonus feat, precise strike, and IMPROVED CRITICAL 3 levels earlier than any other class! How many classes can you name that give you this much so early on? Not to mention full BAB and d10 HD.
Warpriest(*)
Naahhh.
Fighting Style
Although ranged is often a top choice for those looking for safe sneak attacks, Death Attack requires the use of a melee weapon. When building your assassin, keep this in mind; you’ll want a strong focus on melee, but if you have the feats and abilities to pull it off, feel free to keep a ranged weapon ready for those targets you just can’t pull a death attack off on. That way you can fall back on your sneak attack damage from a nice, safe distance. When choosing your ranged feats, keep in mind that sneak attack still has to be fairly close range. Point Blank Shot will be a must.
Two Weapon Fighting (***) - This isn’t a bad choice, but arguably not your best option considering your death attack should only be one blow.
Sword and Board (**) - This build isn’t popular in Pathfinder in general but it’s a fair choice for an assassin who wants the extra protection. It’ll require a bit of work to get something that works comfortably with all your other feats, though.
One-Handed (****) - Your best choice overall and for any of the caster bases as you’ll need to keep a hand free for casting with (especially for a Magus) and for delivering sneak attacks without wasting a hand like two-weapon fighting might cause you to do.
Two-Handed (***) - Powerful, but assassins aren’t built for dealing a big, meaty blow for damage as outlined in abilities. One-handed is always a better choice.
Skills
Skills should focus on your ability to maneuver and pull off death attacks.
Acrobatics (****) - Maneuver around without drawing that pesky attack of opportunity.
Appraise (*) - Unless this was already your job before taking your prestige class, get someone else to do it.
Bluff (**-***) - Dependent on if you are a Charisma Assassin or not. If so, you’ll be using this a lot. If not, not so much.
Climb (**) - Not a great skill but useful if you need to find a safe spot to use archery from when death attack isn’t going to work.
Craft (***) - Craft poison will save you money.
Diplomacy (**-***) - See Bluff.
Disable Device (*) - Unless you’re also the party rogue, don’t bother.
Disguise (****) - Useful for all assassins if you’ve got the time and materials to prepare a good disguise before sneaking up on your target. Especially useful in more urban settings.
Escape Artist (**) - Two stars because it’s a dex skill that can often be useful, but hopefully you won’t be getting into a situation where you need to use it in the first place.
Fly (*) - Nope.
Handle Animal (*) - Nope.
Heal (*) - Good for if you cut yourself shaving.
Intimidate (*) - Although intimidate is useful for debuffing, this is a skill better left to another teammate so you don’t need to give yourself away.
Knowledge (*) - If you got the points to spare, Knowledge Local isn’t too bad for a Charisma assassin, otherwise nope.
Linguistics (*-**) - See Bluff. It’s hard to be charming and disarming if you and your target can’t understand each other. Also useful if you plan on playing a more espionage flavored assassin. Otherwise, pass.
Perception (***) - Everyone needs perception, always.
Perform (*-***) - See Bluff, although has some practical use as Perform Act for even regular assassins.
Profession (*) - Nope.
Ride (*) - Only if you find yourself riding a lot. Hard to sneak attack people from on a horse though.
Sense Motive (**) - A tad useful for the charisma bard in gauging how guarded their target is. Otherwise, who cares? You’re just going to kill them anyway.
Sleight of Hand (****) - Must have for hiding weapons.
Spellcraft (*) - Nope.
Stealth (****) - Must have period.
Survival (*) - Nope.
Swim (**) - Similar to Climb, mostly for getting around various terrain.
Use Magic Device (**) - Not something you’re going to be using much, especially in anything to do with combat, but handy for the wand-lover.
Feats
The feats you choose will often rely heavily on what your base class and play style are; assassins are fairly versatile which means you’ll have plenty of builds to work with. The following come highly recommended regardless of these factors, however.
Death From Above (Requirements: None): The +5 bonus to attack rolls ensures accuracy for opponents with a higher than normal flat footed armor. It especially helps if the class you used to qualify for Assassin had less than full BAB. It is situational.
Disposable Weapon (Requirements: BAB +1, proficient with weapon): Normally, I wouldn't give this feat the time of day. However.. for an Assassin, this could be extremely useful. There are many ways to debuff a targets saves on a critical hit. This feat would ensure that critical is confirmed. This feat also fits thematically.
Go Unnoticed (Requirements: Dex 13, Small size or smaller): EVERY SMALL ASSASSIN SHOULD HAVE THIS.
Improved Critical (Requirements: Proficiency with Weapon, BAB +8): If you use feats or other methods that debuff saves on a critical hit, this feat is essential. Otherwise critical hits are of little importance when it comes to death attack.
Improved Initiative (Requirements: None): Some might say, "Why include this if the primary goal of an Assassin is to kill a target on the suprise round?" There are many factors to consider when an Assassin goes in for the kill. There may be others around that will retaliate against you if they notice you. You may roll a natural 1 on your attack roll. In these cases, having a +4 to initiative will give you a much better chance to either follow up your missed attack, or retreat to live another day.
Perfect Strike (Requirements: Dex 13, Wis 13, Improved Unarmed Strike, BAB +8): This feat is extremely useful for ensuring your death attack lands. It does limit your weapon choices and is only usable a few times per day. Weapon Master Monks get this (and weapon focus) within the first five levels of their class.
Shadow Strike (Requirements: BAB +1): If your DM is fond of using concealment in the campaign, this is going to be very handy. Otherwise not as important.
Sickening Critical (Requirements: BAB +11, Critical Focus): On a critical hit, you make your opponent sickened for 1 minute. Why does this matter? It matters because they take a -2 to all saves for that duration. That means a -2 to saves vs the death attack you just delivered.
Skillfocus(Stealth) (Requirements: None): For obvious reasons. I'd still take this over Stealthy.
Spring Attack (Requirements: BAB +4, Dodge, Mobility): Spring Attack is a costly feat to acquire. That said, it could be extremely useful. Consider that being in melee with your target could put you in a strategically vulnerable position. An Assassin with this feat and a high land speed could move into melee, attack and withdraw to a more favorable position before Initiative is rolled. Unfortunately NOT useable during a surprise round.
Weapon Finesse (Requirements: None): If you are the traditional dex focused Assassin, you'll probably already have this feat by the time you take your first level in the class.
Weapon Focus (Requirements: BAB +1, Proficiency with weapon): Your BAB will be lagging a little depending on the class you used to qualify for Assassin.
Hellcat Stealth (Requirements: Skill Focus(Stealth), Stealth 6 ranks): We’re starting to dip into the more obscure materials, as this comes out of Cheliax: Empire of Devils, but it’s such a great feat it deserves a mention. It covers your bases in terms of what lighting you need to stealth and allows you to make stealth checks observed which will be extremely handy until hide in plain sight kicks in.