By the way, it's June they're talking about, I guess, although the "Guilds & Groups: Shades of Darkness" article scheduled for May the 21st looks similar.
My hopes?? Dual-wielding assassins of course... And a third, different secondary stat, although something called "gloaming dance" is nearly screaming Charisma...
My hopes?? Dual-wielding assassins of course... And a third, different secondary stat, although something called "gloaming dance" is nearly screaming Charisma...
Dual-wielding would be nice. I'm guessing Wisdom as a secondary, just so the exceedingly rare Dex/Wis races get some love. 
My hopes?? Dual-wielding assassins of course... And a third, different secondary stat, although something called "gloaming dance" is nearly screaming Charisma...Dual-wielding would be nice. I'm guessing Wisdom as a secondary, just so the exceedingly rare Dex/Wis races get some love.
... The truth is that we would all have preferred a different PRIMARY for tha Assassin, don't we? A good INT, for example... Or even CON... Both very explainable. One as knowledge of shadow magic, the other as a form of resistance to the corrupting power of the same energy, and then the higher your resistance, the greater your mastering of it...
While they could've gone with Con as primary, I guess they chose Dex because of certain synergies (rogues and drow come to mind). Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is in the eye of the beholder. (I have no problems with it, personally.)
At least we can be thankful WotC didn't go the "V-shaped class" route.
Anyways, I remember them saying something about a archer build for an assassin. I wonder if this gloaming dance build might be it...
Sign me up for INT(Eladrin assassins FTW) and dual wielding. But then again why does EVERY freaking class have to be a dual wielding class?
Because chicks dig it.
Er, I mean, because many players think dual-wielding is cool.
Sign me up for INT(Eladrin assassins FTW) and dual wielding. But then again why does EVERY freaking class have to be a dual wielding class?
Because chicks dig it.
Er, I mean, because many players think dual-wielding is cool.
QFT. We've been spoiled by Drizzt.
I do find it strange that most dual wielding characters in 3e had high DEX (and probably took Weapon Finesse because of it) and that there's been no DEX-based dual wielding in 4e so far. I know that 3e to 4e conversions will never be exact, but isn't the image of someone dual wielding with finesse rather than raw strength iconic enough? Especially considering that 4e already has options to dual wield based off WIS and CHR!
Oh, and let's hope we'll have powers that support dual range weapons. Dual hand crossbows anyone? Or just dual throwing knives/axes?
DEX-based dual wielding? Bring it on!
I do find it strange that most dual wielding characters in 3e had high DEX (and probably took Weapon Finesse because of it) and that there's been no DEX-based dual wielding in 4e so far. I know that 3e to 4e conversions will never be exact, but isn't the image of someone dual wielding with finesse rather than raw strength iconic enough? Especially considering that 4e already has options to dual wield based off WIS and CHR!
Oh, and let's hope we'll have powers that support dual range weapons. Dual hand crossbows anyone? Or just dual throwing knives/axes?
The Tempest fighter and Whirling Barbarian both have DEX secondary. that,s close enough if you ask me.
The Tempest fighter and Whirling Barbarian both have DEX secondary. that,s close enough if you ask me.
And the two-blade ranger. Dex is generally a better choice than Wis as secondary for them, especially if you want to stay in light armour and/or go Stormwarden.
But I still want to see a Dex-based dual-wielding option, preferably with an emphasis on light blades (katars!*)
"Gloaming Dance" suggests, to me:
- elves (to me, drow = night, eladrin = day/dawn, elves = twilight/dusk = "gloaming")
- speed and agility over brute force (mobility over raw damage)
- daggers, rapiers and katars rather than fullblades and execution axes
- blinding effects
- more "3.5e shadowdancer" than "3.5e assassin"
* - Yes, I know tempest fighters like katars. But I'd like to see them be useful for more than a single class build.
Int would be Okay.. but meh.
So there are at least two more builds we'd like to see for assassins:
- Archer assassin
- Two-blade and/or light blade assassin (dual-wielding katars FTW!)
IMO Int as a secondary would make sense for an implement-heavy, "castery" assassin build, or alternatively - along the lines of the cunning rogue - an archer build. Though archers scream Wis to me...
I do agree with everyone that katar (and to a lesser extent, kukri as well) could use some love. I think were it not for the Daggermaster PP, it could've seen more use among rogues.
I'm hoping dex/wis but we'll see
Sign me up for INT(Eladrin assassins FTW) and dual wielding. But then again why does EVERY freaking class have to be a dual wielding class?
Every freaking class being the fighter, ranger, and barbarian? Thats 3 out of the 25 or so we have now.
The assassin needs a build that actually does some freaking damage, dual-wielders have historicly been neer the top.
In a way I'm quietly more excited about the potential for this article to contain stuff that all assassins can use (e.g. more powers, more feats, etc etc) than I am about this new build. But I'm not holding my breath!