The Assassin
By talon115@juno.com
There are those among the peoples of Krynn who live outside the
laws of society, those who believe emotion is a weakness of lesser
mortals. They live only for the individual, for themselves, and for the
pleasure of murder. These beings have no interest in anything besides
money(with few exceptions), and are not above selling their services to
the highest bidder. They dwell in the darkness, revel in the kill, and
hold all others in contempt. They are assassins.
Unlike thieves, there are no assassins' guilds upon Ansalon.
These rebels prefer to work in secret, unbeknownst to anyone besides
their employers. Few assassins openly flaunt their occupations, for
doing so is virtually suicide. Indeed, the unfortunate victim rarely
knows he is targeted until the last, fearful seconds of his life.
Most assassins consider murder an art, using many intricate
factors to guarantee success. They are skilled in wielding small, subtle
weapons such as knives and daggers, able to injure a victim most
painfully when necessary, to the point of torture.
Glome the Assassin from The Covenant of the Forge and Slickblade
from The Last Thane are both excellent examples of assassins.
Role-Playing
To "normal" individuals of all races, assassins appear to be cold
and heartless killers, their only love that of killing and money. In
most cases, this isn't far from the truth. Assassins only speak when
they believe it will prove to their advantage, and feel no need to help
those who won't pay for the assistance, even their own allies or
families. This is because, at one point in their lives, these people
learned that mercy is weakness, that compassion holds only death, and
that trust is without substance.
A few select races grudgingly accept the assassin as a useful
ally. Among these are the Theiwar, Daergar, and Klar mountain dwarves,
the humans of Sanction, Neraka, Ackal Province, Estwilde, and Khur, the
minotaur priests, and most goblins and ogres. Naturally, the Dragon
Overlords, especially Malys, value assassins as some of their most skilled pawns.
Requirements For a hero to qualify as an assassin, he must have Agility and
Dexterity scores of at least 6, and Reason and Perception scores of at
least 5. No hero with a Presence score above 6 may be an assassin.
As assassins excel in lightweight weapons and armor, these heroes
must have a ability code of "C" or less in all physical abilities.
Because they operate by themselves, no assassin may have a Presence code
above "B". Also, impaired assassins tend not to live very long, so they
must have Perception codes of "C" or higher.
Due to the fact that these killers must be merciless and cruel to
remain sane, no assassin may have a nature score of 4 or less.
Advantages
As these dwellers of the night rely on ambush to vanquish their
enemies, assassins enjoy a trump bonus for all actions that involve
gaining and avoiding surprise.
An assassin's skill in small, lightweight weapons is
unparalleled. Any card an assassin plays when attacking with one of the
following weapons is considered trump: Dagger, death's tooth kala, light
crossbow, shuriken, sickle, stiletto, throwing blades, war dart. A hero
may have three such favored weapons.
Heroes with the proper background may become assassins during play.Disadvantages
Because these heroes have such heartless natures, no Presence
action performed by an assassin is considered trump. Also, when
attempting Presence actions involving heroes or characters with nature
scores of 4 or less, assassins also face a -2 action penalty.
Since an assassin is very likely to gain quite a few enemies in
his scandalous missions, he must constantly change his alias. More than
a few of these disgruntled foes are the loyal servants of a late victim
of the hero, and once per quest he will have to draw a card from the Fate
Deck to see whether he will face an agent or agents of his enemies.
Should he draw a card with a white aura, he encounters no enemies this
quest; if he draws a red aura, he discovers evidence that his foes will
face him during his next quest; if he draws a black aura, he will be
confront by his adversaries sometime during the current quest.
Some of his stalkers may be assassins themselves, or a minion of
a former employer who believes this hero's usefulness has ended. These
encounters do not necessarily have to be combat scenes—it might not even
be a life-and-death situation—but it should feel tense and threatening.
It should be noted that if the hero changes roles during a
campaign, his foes will continue to stalk him as described above.
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