Assassin
| Intelligence Requirement: | Low (2) | ||||||
| Stage Stamina: | 2D+2 (4-14) | ||||||
| Bonuses: |
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The primary function of an assassin is to take down their target with one, well prepared attack, usually using surprise. They are the masters of hit and fade battle tactics, but do not fare well in intense combat.
An assassin's primary skill is to perform what is known as an assassination attack. To perform an Assassination attack, the assassin must prepare the attack by concentrating on the target. This is called acquiring a target. Each round, the assassin will get to use 0 to 4 dice from their dice pool for the acquire. These dice are rolled and the assassin will add their assassin bonus to the total.
The goal for the acquire is to achieve a total of 15. Once they achieve that total, they can attempt the assassination. If they do not reach 15, the total is carried over to the next round and the assassin adds to it by acquiring again. If an assassin reaches 15, they can continue to acquire up to their total assassin bonus. These extra acquire points are then used as a bonus to hit for the actual attack. If an assassin is close to 15, they may opt to attack and deduct from their attack roll whatever points are necessary to finish acquiring to 15.
To be successful, an assassination attack needs to achieve placement, either by rolling a 6 on the placement roll or by beating the target’s defense roll by 10. A successful assassination attack will:
- Reduce the target’s stamina to 0 or less, no matter what their previous state of health was.
- Render the target unconscious (no will power roll).
- Inflict a mortal wound.
If a target is assassinated, then his stamina will be reduced to zero for a first stage assassin, -1 for a second stage assassin, and so on. A fifth stage assassin will reduce their target's stamina to -4. The assassin may opt not to inflict a mortal wound if they choose.
An assassin can be acquiring on one target and performing another action at the same time. For example, they can be slowly acquiring on one target using only their assassin bonus, while devoting their dice pool to attacking and defending against a different combatant. However, if ever the assassin must use all four dice to defend with, they will lose whatever acquire total they have accumulated.
Acquiring a target is often not obvious. Aside from an intense stare, the assassin need not show any outward signs that he is preparing for the attack. To spot an assassin acquiring on you requires that you either be an Assassin yourself, be seasoned, or have dealt with a few assassins already (referee discretion). Also, you must beat the assassin in a stealth roll, with the assassin adding any hide bonus, and you adding any locate bonus.
When a character gains a stage of Assassin, they gain bonuses for duck and stealth, and gain the ability to make an assassination attack. Also, they get the assassination bonus for both ranged attacks or hand to hand attacks.
Assassin is an occupation that can be very frustrating to play, especially in the early stages. A low stage assassin in a group of combatants could go through battle after battle without being effective at all. To make matters worse, once the enemy realizes you are an assassin, you suddenly become a prime target. It takes a great deal of patience and finesse to play an assassin.
Once a character has three or more stages of Assassin, however, he could suddenly find himself the most effective in the group. A high stage Assassin can usually perform an Assassination attack every other round, or, given time to acquire, could amass a huge bonus to hit. High stage Assassins are some of the most feared combatants.
Because of the difficulty of being a low stage Assassin, and the immense effectiveness of a high stage Assassin, high stage Assassins are somewhat rare. Often a character will not have the patience required to gain experience towards Assassin, or will be killed because so many enemies don't like the possibility of being eliminated with one shot.
