Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CryoSilver 11-01-07, 11:35 PM	Iron Assassin “We won’t lose to the dogs of Murafe this time; not once our Iron Assassins take out their battle-mages.” Iron Assassins are highly skilled mage-killers. They train in the arts of infiltration and silent murder, and receive special powers that help them evade magical detection and resist the enchantments of the enemy. Most iron assassins start out as swordsages, though a few multi-class rogue/warblades with the Martial Study feat can also qualify. Prerequisites: BAB +6 Skills: Hide 6 ranks, Move Silently 6 ranks, Spellcraft 2 ranks Other: Must have at least 1 Shadow Hand martial maneuver Hit Die: d6 Skills: Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Hide, Jump, Listen, Martial Lore, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Swim, Tumble Skill Points: 4+Int modifier/level Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Known Readied Stances 1 0 2 0 0 Suppress Auras 1 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 Evasion 0 0 0 3 2 3 1 1 Mettle 0 0 0 4 3 4 1 1 Blind the Arcane Eye 1 0 0 5 3 4 1 1 Spellbane Stance 0 1 0 6 4 5 2 2 Deflect Spell 0 0 1 7 5 5 2 2 Spell Resistance 1 0 0 8 6 6 2 2 Cleave Barrier 0 0 0 9 6 6 3 3 Mage Killing Strike 0 0 0 10 7 7 3 3 Spellbane Stance (Sim) 1 1 0 Disciplines: Diamond Mind, Setting Sun, Shadow Hand Suppress Auras (su): The first trick an iron assassin learns is to hide the power of his magical equipment. Any magical item the iron assassin wears has the power of its apparent aura lowered by 2 steps. Blind the Arcane Eye (ex): The next thing an iron assassin learns is to hide himself from prying magical eyes. If observed by any divination spell (including See Invisibility and True Seeing), the iron assassin is invisible. He can still be seen normally, by creatures not observing him with divination spells. Evasion: If the iron assassin already has this ability, he gains Improved Evasion instead. Spellbane Stance: At level 5, the iron assassin gains a special stance, which allows him to make an attack of opportunity against any creature casting a spell within his reach, including those casting on the defensive. At level 10, he may use this stance even when he has another stance active. Deflect Spell (ex): At level 6, if the iron assassin is not flat-footed, he may replace his touch AC with an attack roll as an immediate action when targeted by a spell. Spell Resistance: At level 7, the iron assassin gains spell resistance 5+character level. Cleave Barrier (su): Three times per day, the iron assassin may attempt to destroy a magical barrier. A magical barrier is any physical effect generated by magic that impedes movement through itself (such as Mage Armor, Wall of Ice, Prismatic Wall, but not Wall of Fire (because it doesn't impede movement) or Wall of Stone (because it's nonmagical once created)). The iron assassin makes an attack roll as a full round action opposed by a caster level check of the creator of the barrier. If he succeeds, the barrier is destroyed. Furthermore, if the barrier destroyed was an effect on a creature (such as mage armor) the iron assassin gains an attack of opportunity against that creature. Mage Killing Strike (su): Once per day, the iron assassin may make a mage killing strike as part of a normal attack or martial strike. The iron assassin gains a +4 bonus to hit, and a bonus on damage equal to the highest caster level of the target.
CryoSilver 11-21-07, 02:05 AM	:bump:
Cartigan 11-21-07, 08:20 AM	Mage killing strike seems weak for a level 9 PrC ability, though what do I know. And why have Cleaver Barrier? Why not have the ability let you dispel any targeted magical effect 3 times a day, including Wall of Force?
CryoSilver 11-21-07, 02:38 PM	Because the ability represents the IA actually hacking the barrier apart with his sword. It doesn't seem right to to allow him to hack apart, say, Invisibility. What's he gonna do? Slice it until its covered in visible blood or something?
Cartigan 11-21-07, 05:07 PM	Because the ability represents the IA actually hacking the barrier apart with his sword. It doesn't seem right to to allow him to hack apart, say, Invisibility. What's he gonna do? Slice it until its covered in visible blood or something? It's a theoretical thing. Like the Iron Assassin's continued training in hunting mages has given him the ability to see the very threads that hold magical enchantments together. Three times per day, the Iron Assassin may make an attack against these invisible threads and dispel the magical effect that they held together. You would be able to see invisibility any more than anyone else, but you gain the ability to 'see' magic out to your natural line of sight.
CryoSilver 11-21-07, 07:03 PM	That has less to do with killing mages than with understanding magic, though. You don't need to understand something to kill it; you just need to know where to stick the pointy end of the sword, which Cleave Barrier helps enable.
Cartigan 11-21-07, 07:26 PM	That has less to do with killing mages than with understanding magic, though. And Blind to the Arcane Eye and Suppress Auras do?
CryoSilver 11-21-07, 07:36 PM	Charging headlong at a wizard is a bad idea. With the emphasis on Shadow Hand and sneakiness, yes, they do have a lot to do with killing wizards. In any case Cleave Barrier is going to destroy most protections a wizard is going to use (mage armor, wind wall, wall of ice, etc). It might also be construed to destroy Shield of Faith, Protection from (Alignment), Holy Aura, etc because they grant AC bonuses and therefore "impede movement." It won't destroy Invisibility, but that's what See Invisibility is for, after all, or Hearing the Air. You're right that Mage Killing Strike seems weak, though. Maybe it would be better if it could be used as a regular melee attack, allowing it to be combined with a martial strike?
CryoSilver 11-23-07, 11:55 PM	Edited mage-killing strike.
ShadeSeraph 11-24-07, 06:48 AM	Ok, this is my take. First, the Blind the Arcane Eye is too great to be at second level. It would make this class an excelent two level dip, specially with shadow hands maneuvers. True, he is not invisible to normal senses, but he can easily take an invisibility ring, or anything like that and get invisibility to both normal and magical senses. He is still detectable throught earth sense, blindsense or similar, but it is still a pretty strong ability for a second level one. Maybe you could delay to 5th or 6th level. Also, your class does not have any means to deal with two of the most important things a wizard has: Conjured creatures and mind affecting spells. As far as I can see, the first one is not a matter for this class, as it look stealth centered, but the second is pretty important. Maybe something like blank mind or nondetection? For those times when he gets caught. He sure does not want to be mind readed. You could call it something like "iron mind". Creative name, huh. Lastly, you have listed mettle as one of the gained features, but you do not include it later on the list, as you do with evasion.
CryoSilver 11-24-07, 12:07 PM	Maybe I could just give it a trong Will save instead of a new ability? Swordsage also has a good Will save, so it'd be a strong combination. I only lsted Evasion to note about Improved Evasion; Mettle isn't on there because people should already know what it is. Maybe I could switch Evasion (level 4) with Blind the Arcane Eye (level 2)? EDIT: Performed said swap.