An assassian's blade [Archive] - Wizards Community

An assassian's blade [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Illithid13
08-31-05, 12:08 PM I'm thinking about making a weapon for my "assassian" (not sure on the build) and I was wondering what kind of base weapon I should use.

I'm thinking either dagger or short sword or some variation of the 2.

I wanted it to be one that had built in poison capsules inside the flat of the blade or just above the hilt.

As for magical abilities, I was thinking about haste and the one from Compleat adventure (adds +2d6 to SA) and keen.

My questions are these:

What should I use as a base weapon?

What would the price of the base weapon (before enhancements) with these customizations?

Can you think of any better enhancements for an assassian's weapon? (it will be carried around in a glove of storing for concealment)
tarkin
08-31-05, 12:22 PM I dislike the idea of the pellet weapon.

In the DMG there are the following:

Dagger of Venom

Assasin's Dagger

But if you want to make your own up, I would start with a Dagger of Spell Storing, used to store a Spell of Poison cast by a Druid.

If by "haste" you mean Speed, that is a good thing for a Rogue to have.

Not sure that Keen is worth it, it does not increase your Sneak Attack damage and any creature immune to your sneak attack will probably be immune to the criticals. So you might pay for something to help you out when the creature ignores your Sneak Attack, not when your Sneak Attack is going to kill them.
JadeSpider9643
08-31-05, 03:32 PM +1 Keen Kukri with as many bursting options as you can afford. effective? probably not so much. Fun? HELL YEAH!
Illithid13
08-31-05, 03:33 PM Dager of venom only allows for 1/day and is kind of weak at higher levels of game play.

Assasin's dager is a little limited in that you need the PrC Assasian for it to do you any good.

Yes I ment Speed.
Atar
08-31-05, 05:19 PM Go for a dagger, Returning with all the stuff said above. Daggers can already be thrown over 10 feet so no need for Throwing :cheer:
FlameLover
08-31-05, 10:52 PM I beleive in CAdv there is a Barbed Dagger that can do extra damage with a SoH check...

Also in CAdv are the alchemy capsules. Stock up on different injury and contact poisons, attatch a brace that can hold four and you'll be poisoning EVERYTHING! (For poisons go with a Con/Str/Dex one, a Wiz/Int/Cha one and then one that does something special like completley non-lethal incapacitation or just something super strong)
bondious
08-31-05, 11:32 PM How 'bout a sickle? I know that it is a simple weapon with only a 20/x2 critical threat range, but I've always thought that the it was a pretty scary looking weapon. You could probably customize it with a jagged inner edge or something, to make it scarier.

On a related note, I always thought that the sickle (at least the 3.0 and 3.5 version of it) should either be on par a bit with the scythe or there should be a "war sickle" variant. It could be a martial weapon that does the same d6 damage, 20/x3 (possibly even the 20/x4) critial threat and with the same trip weapon status...making it be more on par with a scythe. The text for the regular sickle, the one stating that it is strengthened for combat, could be applied to the war sickle instead, and the regular sickle could be of mundane construction, denoting its simple weapon status.

Anyhow, make that an Unholy Speed Sickle (simple or martial) with a triple alchemical weapon capsule, filling it with three doses of your favorite poison! :devil:

A little FLAVOR for you assassin, I think... :smirk:
Singularity
08-31-05, 11:51 PM There is a heavy sickle in the 3.5 planes book. That might look good. I think it does do d6.

Consider the stiletto. I don't remember seeing it in any WotC books. It would be historically appropriate.

Medium - d3 - x4 crit - piercing

You couldn't throw it. It has the chance for a huge crit. Those stats are for a simple weapon, I believe. You could consider upping the damage to d4 and calling it martial (or exotic... I'd have to stare at the weapon table for a few minutes).

I would concur with FlameLover also. Check out complete adventurer. The alchemical capsules are a MUST for this weapon as you describe it. The rules are elegant. The barbed dagger would be sweet. Make sure your assassin has plenty of ranks in SoH.

If you are looking for a great assassin weapon, I would also recommend the blowgun. It does dinky damage, but it doesn't matter. You use to blowgun to sneak attack from a good hiding spot and deliver poison. Check out the rules for sniping and the feats which augment sniping in complete adventurer. Your assassin becomes increasingly deadly. If you can deliver a sneak attack and poison delivery with your blowgun, hide for three rounds, and close to make your death attack; things will die. Ninja would allow you a few rounds of invisibility to make this more possible. Of course, levels of sorcerer or high levels of assassin do the same thing. Don't forget sudden silent and sudden still spell feats for those caster levels.
Watchman
09-01-05, 10:37 AM If one looks at what historical medieval assassins (both the Middle Eastern sect and individual amateurs after someone) used, the dagger wins out. Hands down. And why not - it's damned easy to hide if needed, most everyone has one anyway so it's not going to attract undue attention, and it's extremely nasty and very lethal in grappling ranges, which are where you most likely want to be anyway. Get in fast, kill the guy, and bail out ASAP in the chaos - although in practice hits against important folks were usually suicide runs carried out by people fully willing to die afterwards. The Assassins were rightly infamous of that.

For D&D Rogues the base damage of a weapon is largely irrelevant for assasination purposes - it's the Sneak Attack they kill with. D&D poisons aren't too hot, but if you want to use them I don't really see why you'd need to get any more complicated about it than simply coating your weapon with a dose beforehand. It's not going to last overly long on the blade in combat conditions, but then again if you're tryin to murder someone one or two succesful stabs ought to be quite enough - odds are you're not going to have time for many more anyway...

Incidentally, a suitably large dagger or fighting-knife ought to rank as a Shortsword in D&D terms; the line was historically speaking often rather blurry too.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Illithid13 08-31-05, 12:08 PM	I'm thinking about making a weapon for my "assassian" (not sure on the build) and I was wondering what kind of base weapon I should use. I'm thinking either dagger or short sword or some variation of the 2. I wanted it to be one that had built in poison capsules inside the flat of the blade or just above the hilt. As for magical abilities, I was thinking about haste and the one from Compleat adventure (adds +2d6 to SA) and keen. My questions are these: What should I use as a base weapon? What would the price of the base weapon (before enhancements) with these customizations? Can you think of any better enhancements for an assassian's weapon? (it will be carried around in a glove of storing for concealment)
tarkin 08-31-05, 12:22 PM	I dislike the idea of the pellet weapon. In the DMG there are the following: Dagger of Venom Assasin's Dagger But if you want to make your own up, I would start with a Dagger of Spell Storing, used to store a Spell of Poison cast by a Druid. If by "haste" you mean Speed, that is a good thing for a Rogue to have. Not sure that Keen is worth it, it does not increase your Sneak Attack damage and any creature immune to your sneak attack will probably be immune to the criticals. So you might pay for something to help you out when the creature ignores your Sneak Attack, not when your Sneak Attack is going to kill them.
JadeSpider9643 08-31-05, 03:32 PM	+1 Keen Kukri with as many bursting options as you can afford. effective? probably not so much. Fun? HELL YEAH!
Illithid13 08-31-05, 03:33 PM	Dager of venom only allows for 1/day and is kind of weak at higher levels of game play. Assasin's dager is a little limited in that you need the PrC Assasian for it to do you any good. Yes I ment Speed.
Atar 08-31-05, 05:19 PM	Go for a dagger, Returning with all the stuff said above. Daggers can already be thrown over 10 feet so no need for Throwing :cheer:
FlameLover 08-31-05, 10:52 PM	I beleive in CAdv there is a Barbed Dagger that can do extra damage with a SoH check... Also in CAdv are the alchemy capsules. Stock up on different injury and contact poisons, attatch a brace that can hold four and you'll be poisoning EVERYTHING! (For poisons go with a Con/Str/Dex one, a Wiz/Int/Cha one and then one that does something special like completley non-lethal incapacitation or just something super strong)
bondious 08-31-05, 11:32 PM	How 'bout a sickle? I know that it is a simple weapon with only a 20/x2 critical threat range, but I've always thought that the it was a pretty scary looking weapon. You could probably customize it with a jagged inner edge or something, to make it scarier. On a related note, I always thought that the sickle (at least the 3.0 and 3.5 version of it) should either be on par a bit with the scythe or there should be a "war sickle" variant. It could be a martial weapon that does the same d6 damage, 20/x3 (possibly even the 20/x4) critial threat and with the same trip weapon status...making it be more on par with a scythe. The text for the regular sickle, the one stating that it is strengthened for combat, could be applied to the war sickle instead, and the regular sickle could be of mundane construction, denoting its simple weapon status. Anyhow, make that an Unholy Speed Sickle (simple or martial) with a triple alchemical weapon capsule, filling it with three doses of your favorite poison! :devil: A little FLAVOR for you assassin, I think... :smirk:
Singularity 08-31-05, 11:51 PM	There is a heavy sickle in the 3.5 planes book. That might look good. I think it does do d6. Consider the stiletto. I don't remember seeing it in any WotC books. It would be historically appropriate. Medium - d3 - x4 crit - piercing You couldn't throw it. It has the chance for a huge crit. Those stats are for a simple weapon, I believe. You could consider upping the damage to d4 and calling it martial (or exotic... I'd have to stare at the weapon table for a few minutes). I would concur with FlameLover also. Check out complete adventurer. The alchemical capsules are a MUST for this weapon as you describe it. The rules are elegant. The barbed dagger would be sweet. Make sure your assassin has plenty of ranks in SoH. If you are looking for a great assassin weapon, I would also recommend the blowgun. It does dinky damage, but it doesn't matter. You use to blowgun to sneak attack from a good hiding spot and deliver poison. Check out the rules for sniping and the feats which augment sniping in complete adventurer. Your assassin becomes increasingly deadly. If you can deliver a sneak attack and poison delivery with your blowgun, hide for three rounds, and close to make your death attack; things will die. Ninja would allow you a few rounds of invisibility to make this more possible. Of course, levels of sorcerer or high levels of assassin do the same thing. Don't forget sudden silent and sudden still spell feats for those caster levels.
Watchman 09-01-05, 10:37 AM	If one looks at what historical medieval assassins (both the Middle Eastern sect and individual amateurs after someone) used, the dagger wins out. Hands down. And why not - it's damned easy to hide if needed, most everyone has one anyway so it's not going to attract undue attention, and it's extremely nasty and very lethal in grappling ranges, which are where you most likely want to be anyway. Get in fast, kill the guy, and bail out ASAP in the chaos - although in practice hits against important folks were usually suicide runs carried out by people fully willing to die afterwards. The Assassins were rightly infamous of that. For D&D Rogues the base damage of a weapon is largely irrelevant for assasination purposes - it's the Sneak Attack they kill with. D&D poisons aren't too hot, but if you want to use them I don't really see why you'd need to get any more complicated about it than simply coating your weapon with a dose beforehand. It's not going to last overly long on the blade in combat conditions, but then again if you're tryin to murder someone one or two succesful stabs ought to be quite enough - odds are you're not going to have time for many more anyway... Incidentally, a suitably large dagger or fighting-knife ought to rank as a Shortsword in D&D terms; the line was historically speaking often rather blurry too.