THE ASSASSIN
Complexity: Medium.
Suggested Ability Scores: Dexterity, Intelligence.
Playstyle: Stealthy specialist.
This is a tweak of the GLOG Assassin to fit with the rules for Knave, a fantastic rules-light RPG you can pick up for $3. It refines the class to fit with the Knave ruleset and also adds a reputation system. You can slot the class right into the Knave rules, or use it with any GLOG-compatible system. Click here for more classes and info on the system.
If you're interested in the Director's Commentary on what I've done with the Assassin and why, read on. I have a bunch more of these classes to release so I'll see you next time.
John Nash, The Murder of Holofernes, 1929 - Wood engraving on paper
The big thing I wanted to achieve with the Assassin is to distinguish them from the Thief in fun, meaningful ways that made the player feel like an Assassin. The Reputation is a big part of that.
Reputation
The Thief builds their reputation by having living enemies. The Assassin, naturally, wants dead enemies. You create a Hit List of your targets, and the first time you deal damage against one of them, you deal +1 damage for each fact you know. Importantly, this works on damage dealt by planned "Accidents" like loosening the balcony railings, etc. It only works the very first time you ever deal them damage, so you want to hang back and trail your target until you can get the maximum bonus.
You get reputation rewards for killing your enemies, and you get double the reward if you made it look like an accident, or no-one knows it was you. The reputation in this case represents the assassin building power and influence, not everyone knowing your name.
I think this tweak of the OG Glog assassin's ability is a really nice point of difference. The thief is a daring show-off who wants to become infamous for stealing something right out from under your nose. They're the type to leave a calling-card to rub your nose in it. The Assassin is slow, methodical, and silent. If they've done their job, you'll never know they were there.
Specialities
The Speciality system from the Thief returns to replace the traditional skill system, and you can see the Assassin is all about disguises, poisons and sneak attacks. A subtle but meaningful point here is that the Assassin can reroll enemy dice as well. If an enemy makes a perception check, a constitution save or a healing check related to one of their specialties, the Assassin can force them to reroll.
Poisons
I'm really happy with this table of poisons, it gives the Assassin a lot of fun tools to work with. Everyone can use poisons, but the Assassin can add +d6 damage or +d6 duration, and they get an encouragement to mix and max poisons in fun ways or seek out new dangerous ingredients.
Here's how poisons work in Goblin Knave. To see if a poison works, roll an Intelligence check against your enemy's Constitution Defence (I.E., your Constitution Score). On a success, the poison takes effect. A basic poison deals d4 damage a round for d4 rounds. Better poisons can use d6, d8, etc. Medicine or healing can end the effect with an Intelligence check.
If you poison your weapon, the poison works once against the first enemy you hit. After that you have to apply another dose to make it poisoned again (Takes a standard action).
That's all for now
Let me know if you have any thoughts or feedback. I think the Fighter will be the next up.
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