Are Assassins just bad or is there something I'm not seeing?

[Knight]

They only gain two unique benefits. The first gives them a great turn one in the battle, allowing them to guarantee a crit, they make for fantastic sneak attack experts at the start of combat. Then after that initial moment they lose all value that any other class could bring to the table. They can shred a couple units early late game, but you'll begin to see the declining benefits of this abilitiy when there's a mob of 20 units attacking you, or when you're up against an unsurprised boss.

The second bonus they get at level 9 is an appearance change!? The disguise spell is free for me in this game because I get Fane's hat. Or I could buy/use spells/potions. The value of this ability looks awful.

[Robin]

I've noticed assassin's auto-crit to be pretty bugged in general. For instance, with any creatures who are Yellow (non-enemy) who you attack they tend to talk at you instead of entering surprise round of combat. If you select "fight," they enter initiative un-surprised and can act. This combined with the first alpha strike failing to get the auto-crit means that Assassin's signature ability, the auto-crit... doesn't work on anyone who isn't actually expecting to be attacked, even if you shoot from stealth.

Honestly, I want the assassin's auto-crit changed to "on any target that the assassin has the Hidden condition against." Then ducking in and out of hiding for lethal sneak attack crits would have a pure assassin rogue's damage output keep at least close to other martials, and with the right items, buffs, or multi-class combinations make it the single best option for... the thing it's built to do: Kill singular targets from stealth.

Since attacking removes stealth, that guarantees you're not mixing the auto-crit with multi-attack and action surge and such too, so it would encourage using it with high damage single target abilities... like sneak attack, smites for oath-breaker multiclasses, and high damage spells that make attack rolls. It wouldn't even be any more broken than the existing auto-crit mind-flayer ability. Just an option to get a similar capability without the tadpoles for someone building their class to it instead.

[Revan619]

Everyone bangs on about gloomstalker assassin but realistically it is just a wasted party slot. You might as well build something tougher. Even a pure ranged fighter is better.

[BigJ]

Crit synergy with warlock can come in handy specially with gear and half-orcs.

[Jimmy]

They are strictly inferior to thieves in almost every aspect

[TheBlueFox]

I've been running the entire game as a PURE class assassin, and though I recognize it's flaws, I do enjoy it quite a bit.

The main thing to note is that Rogues have the BEST Criticals. Because when it comes to critical hits, all the DAMAGE DICE are doubled. And a level 11-12 rogue is getting an extra 6d6 damage from sneak attack, so that's 12d6 extra damage on a critical hit. And they can do it every turn, all day, every day.

But how do you get those crits? Easy... Poison. Drow poison specifically. Carrion crawler poison later on. Hold person, that one murder ring, a particular Illithid power... it's not that hard to guarantee a crit.

You need to toggle "Sneak attack" to (ASK) instead of automatic, that way, you can make an offhand attack with a drow poisoned dagger and DENY the sneak attack. And when the enemy gets poisoned and falls asleep, you can make your main hand attack and accept the sneak attack.

There's a neat bug, that if you make the game ASK you if you want to sneak attack someone, it counts as a second, completely separate instance of damage! Why is this important? Because of a magical shortsword that does +10 necrotic damage on crits. If you make the game ASK you if you want to use sneak attack or not, instead of using the "Sneak attack (Melee)" Button, that particular shortsword will give you a SECOND +10 necrotic damage.


Okay, you can't get crits all the time, and you can't get surprise all the time.

It's not the best.

But the class works and it's fun! I solo fights for ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles by disappearing in the shadows and making enemies completely lose me, only to jump back in and stab away

[Shadow]

Originally posted by Ackranome:

Rogue is better.

It's rouge not rogue

[Don Cool]

Originally posted by KillSwitch:

Originally posted by Ackranome:

Rogue is better.

It's rouge not rogue

On if he is carrying a baton as a weapon.

[TheBlueFox]

Rouge is Batter

[Ackranome]

Originally posted by KillSwitch:

Originally posted by Ackranome:

Rogue is better.

It's rouge not rogue

???