Post by the1kobra on Apr 14, 2009 20:39:13 GMT
About Assassins
Assassins on higher ground have some nice abilities at their disposal. As far as tanks go, they serve a unique niche: instant kills. Assassins, once they attain a certain item, are able to perform blows that instantly kill targets unless they make a saving throw. It runs on similar mechanics to Devastating Critical in the base game, though for this character, it's power is based on dexterity. I'm not allowed to tell you here where to find this item, however, you can ask around in game, most people will gladly tell you where it is. You can only get it once you get a base 30 dexterity, so you might want to hold on finding it until then.
Be sure to keep these changes in mind when playing and considering this character:
You also get some other nice benefits with them, sneak attacks mean a decent amount of damage as long as you get them. High dexterity naturally means good AC, and assassins get their own improved invisibility, which will grant you a good deal of concealment(enemies have to roll against your concealment in addition to your AC to hit you). This makes this character quite offensively and defensively powerful. This build also features the open lock, disable trap, and search skills, so that you can open up every locked chest in the game, as well as find secret lootables.
The build gets it's name because (I hope anyways) that you will be able to go through enemies like a happy kid goes through cookies. It's worked very well for me so far. Also, kobolds like eating cookies...
Below is a screenshot of the character, he has a 2 higher dexterity than normal, due to use of a stat enhancing artifact, but otherwise he is the same as the build posted below. He is also wearing an item with the epic will feat, so his will appears 4 higher than normal as well.
About the build
So why did I take the level combination that I did? Fighter is a full BAB class, and I wanted to be able to get 16 BAB by 20, as that would allow me to get 4 attacks a round instead of 3. The rogue levels give extra skill points, as well as add more sneak attack dice, to a total of 17d6 at level 40 for this character. That can hurt, quite a lot. You also want to have 30 assassin levels, 28 are required for the instant kills, 30 gives you the maximum possible DC for them.
Also, some terms will be used throughout this build that you may not be immediately familiar with:
AB: AB means 'Attack Bonus'. The higher this is, the higher a chance you have of hitting someone when you attack. You will want this as high as you can realistically manage.
AC: AC means 'Armor Class'. When a hostile is swinging at you, they have to roll their Attack Bonus against your Armor Class to determine if they hit you. A high Armor Class means getting hit less often, so again, you want as much of this as possible.
DC: DC means 'Difficulty Class'. This is generally used for spells, but for this character, it measures how difficult it is to resist the instant-kills. Obviously, you want this as high as possible.
For this build, use this subrace:
Base: Human
Subrace: Humanoid - Kobold
STR -2, DEX +2, +2 search, free feat: Darkvision, reduces character size to small, speaks Draconic, speaks Kobold
The reason I use kobold (aside from the appearance ^.^) is that it gives you more dexterity for strength, a stat shift that is certainly welcome. So why use it over halfling? Well kobold keeps the human base's extra skill per level and the extra feat, both are bonuses which are far more useful than what halfling can give you. Elf may be a solid pick, but it only has one starting feat, and the constitution penalty really hurts. Being small also nets you +1 to AB and AC, which is certainly welcome.
Put all level up points into dexterity.
Also remember, to gain assassin levels you must be of evil alignment, lawful or chaotic doesn't particularly matter. After you take your last assassin level, you can turn your assassin neutral, however you should be aware that assassins cannot cast their unique spells if they are good aligned.
At creation, take these stats:
Base (Kobold changes)
STR 10 (8)
DEX 18 (20)
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 8
Every four levels, you will get a stat point, put them all into dexterity.[/i]
1: Rogue: Bullheaded, Strong Soul
Take a rogue level at first level, you'll start at level 3 instead of 2, and you'll get many more skill points. This build is somewhat tight on skill points, so you'll want every one you can get.
Bullheaded is an investment feat, per say. Assassins don't get discipline as a class skill. Discipline is a very useful skill, it will help you resist being knocked down, disarmed, having your gear destroyed, and other nasty stuff. Bullheaded allows you to take a feat 'Legendary Skill Affinity Discipline' at level 42, which will allow you to treat discipline as a class skill. It also raises your will save by one, which is certainly nice.
Strong soul is a feat that raises your fortitude and will saves by 1. It also allows you to later take the feat Legendary hardened soul, which adds five to both. You definitely want to grab this. Note that you won't need to raise your reflex save with feats, as your high dexterity alone with it being a favored save of both rogues and assassins means it will be well into the 70s when you reach level 60 and a full compliment of gear.
2: Fighter: Weapon Focus crossbow
This might sound like an odd pick, but it's certainly worth the investment. Crossbows on HG have 2 extra attacks over other weapons, meaning they can get up to 7 with this character. With the damage from your sneak attack, it can add up quickly. It will also help you deal damage and survive early game, before you get your instant kills. Anyways, this adds 1 AB when you use your crossbow of choice. Whether you pick light or heavy doesn't really matter, one deals slightly more damage, but weighs more. The differences aren't very significant.
3: Fighter: Blind Fight, Weapon Finesse
Blind fight is a feat that allows you to reroll against enemy concealment if you miss based on it, and negates the defensive penalties from being blinded or struck by an invisible foe. It's a worthwhile grab.
Weapon Finesse allows you to use your dexterity modifier instead of your strength modifier for attack rolls for melee weapons. Since you will be using a melee weapon later on, you will want to get this.
4: Rogue
5: Rogue (Get 8 hide and move silently, you need it to become an assassin)
6: Assassin: Rapid Reload
Normally, crossbows cap at 3 attacks per round, this feat ensures that it uses your normal attack progression + 2.
7: Assassin
8: Assassin
9: Assassin: Weapon Focus Club (Assassin Dagger)
Weapon Focus will give you +1 AB when swinging with your chosen weapon. Your instant kills are based on critical hits, and this is the weapon you will be using for it. The assassin dagger has a base critical range of 17-20X1. Normally, it means you can't get critical hits with it. On the other hand, since on those, ideally you would be threatening instant death, the severity doesn't really matter. If you've played assassin's creed, you can kind of think of the assassin dagger as Altair's stiletto, the 'knife-in-the-neck' weapon.
Important note on CEP weapon changing: If you use Higher Ground Enhanced (See: wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/HG_Enhanced), you can take weapon focus assassin dagger directly. If you don't, take weapon focus club, then use the !charedit command. Be sure to do this in a safe location! Once you run through the dialog, there will be an option there that allows you to swap weapon focus club for weapon focus assassin dagger. Follow this process for the remaining assassin dagger feats, and you'll receive your proper focus.
10: Assassin
11: Assassin
12: Assassin: Toughness
Toughness is a feat that gives you 1 extra hit point per level. It's a nice feat that will let you survive taking more damage.
13: Assassin
14: Assassin
15: Assassin: Iron Will
Iron will adds 2 to your will save. Will will be your weakest save, so it will need some support from feats to stay high. Failing will saves often include effects such as stunning, paralyzation, being held, confused, etc, none of them are pleasant.
16: Fighter
17: Fighter: Improved Critical Assassin Dagger
This feat doubles the threat range on the chosen weapon. Since your instant kills are based on getting critical hits, this is a feat you certainly want.
18: Fighter: Great Fortitude.
This feat adds 2 to your fortitude save. Having a high fortitude will protect you from poison, disease, and instant death. It's a good idea to keep this high.
19: Rogue
20: Fighter: Weapon Specialization Assassin Dagger , Greater Weapon Focus Assassin Dagger
Weapon specialization adds 2 damage to the select weapon. It's not a lot, but it does add up.
Also, on this level, be sure to maximize the skills: Concentration and Parry, they are not class skills for assassins and you will never get another chance to raise them. Maximize discipline as well, you won't get another chance until level 43.
This build was made using the assumption that the user does not use HG enhanced. If you do however, I would recommend taking greater weapon focus (Assassin dagger) instead of Weapon Specialization. This will net you +1 AB instead of +2 damage, which is more useful for an instant killer and sneak attacker.
21: Assassin: Armor skin
Armor skin is a feat that adds 2 AC to your character. Any character who spends a lot of time on the front lines should get this.
22: Assassin
23: Assassin
24: Assassin: Epic Weapon Focus Assassin Dagger, Great Dexterity 1
Epic weapon focus adds 2 AB to the weapon selected. It helps in making your swings connect.
Great dexterity feats add to your base dexterity. Every 2 dexterity means 1 AB and AC, and every 4 means a +1 to the DC on your instant-kills. It might not sound like a lot, but 10 of these means 5 AB, AC, and 2.5 DC. Now that is pretty significant. You will want to get all 10 of these.
25: Assassin
26: Assassin
27: Assassin: Epic Prowess
Epic prowess adds 1 AB no matter what weapon you wield, it's something any front liner should get.
28: Assassin: Great Dexterity 2
29: Assassin
30: Assassin: Great Dexterity 3
With this level, you should now start looking for the instant killer item, ask around in game for where to find it.
31: Assassin
32: Assassin: Great Dexterity 4
33: Assassin: Great Dexterity 5
34: Assassin
35: Assassin
36: Assassin: Great Dexterity 6, Great Dexterity 7
37: Assassin
38: Assassin
39: Assassin: Great Dexterity 8
40: Assassin: Great Dexterity 9
Legendary levels:
Congratulations for making it this far. Once you get to these levels, you will use an altar to level up instead of the normal method, see in game documentation for details.
You gain a plethora of bonuses in these levels, 7 feats, 10 stats, 5 to all saves, and more skills. Below are the feat choices listed.
Again, put all stat points gained from legendary levels into dexterity.
42: LSA Discipline
This feat will allow you to take discipline as a class skill in legendary levels. It's a vital skill, so be sure to take this.
45: Legendary Weapon Focus Assassin Dagger
This feat gives 3 AB when wielding the select weapon, it will make you hit much more often.
48: Legendary hardened soul
This feat will give you +5 to fortitude and will, both of which are saves you want to keep high.
51: Legendary Will
This feat will give you a +7 to your will save.
54: Great Dexterity 10
57: Epic Skill focus Search
This character will want to be able to maximize search in order to get all traps and find all secrets. You won't hit the engine cap without this feat.
60: Epic Skill focus disable trap
This feat will allow you to disable every trap in the game.
Ending stats (Assuming +12 stat gear, +20 saves cap from items):
Ungeared (Geared)
STR 8 (20)
DEX 50 (62)
CON 14 (26)
INT 14 (26)
WIS 8 (20)
CHA 8 (20)
Top AB: 93
Saving Throws: 60 Fortitude, 75 Reflex, 62 Will
Top Assassin instant-kill DC: 55
Skills:
Assassins only get 4 skills per level, you get 3 more per level, 2 from intelligence, 1 from being a base 'human'. You are still going to be somewhat skill tight, here is what I recommend taking.
You get 7*8(rogue levels, including 1st level extra points) + 6*2(fighter levels) + 50*4(Assassin levels) + 63*2(intelligence) + 63('human') = 475
You will want to spend these on:
63 Discipline
Discipline skill prevents you from being knocked down, disarmed, having your gear destroyed, and other unpleasant things, keep this as high as you can. You will get the opportunity to 'dump' points into it at level 20, and raise it from level 43 on.
8 Move Silently
Required to become an assassin, serves no other function.
63 Hide
The concealment that assassins get is based on this skill. Be sure to keep it high.
60 Tumble
5 ranks in this eqauates to 1 AC, capping at 12 AC at 60. Since you don't get any more AC after 60 ranks, you shouldn't maximize this skill at 63 points.
63 Open Lock
This skill is required to pick the locks of locked chests and doors, often meaning a larger haul of loot.
63 Search
This skill is required to find secrets and traps, it's a skill worth taking.
63 Disable Trap
This skill, obviously, is required to disable deadly traps, so they don't zap you.
23 Parry
Parry on Higher Ground is a skill that reduces the severity of critical hits. With high concealment and AC, these shouldn't happen too often. On the other hand, they can be debilitating when they do, and the points you spend here could save you a lot of frustration. You will need to maximize these at your fighter level at level 20, since this is not a class skill for assassins.
23 Concentration
This might look like an odd pick, since you don't cast any spells, but there are some checks that go against this skill in the later areas of the game. There aren't very many but it can be terrible[/b] if it happens. You will need to maximize these at your fighter level at level 20, since this is not a class skill for assassins.[/color]
46 Use Magic Device
This skill allows you to use wands, scrolls, and other items you would normally not be able to. It's a very handy skill.
Spells:
Assassins on HG get real spells and spellbooks instead of what they normally get. There are some hurdles you'll have to jump through to use them, so how that works is explained here:
First, you'll need to type in "!sb change as" any time you want to customize your spellbook. Do this in a safe area! Once you do this, you'll be given a conversation to customize your spellbook.
Once you do this, be sure to pay a visit to the spells pedestal at the docks. (This section assumes the user does not have HGE, if you have the hak then you can cast these spells directly.). Once you do this, you'll be granted several spell 'rods', which you can use to cast your spells. What spells you can use on the rods depends on what you prepare, like any normal caster. Once this is done, cast away, and enjoy! Just be aware that most of your spells are for self-buffing, such as your caustic weapon spell at level 1, which you can use on weapons to make them deal additional acid damage. Be sure to read up on the documentation in game as to what each spell does.
Because the assassin spellbook on higher ground is so much different than how normal assassins work, I have written the guide below to aid you in that. Hopefully you will find this guide helpful.
Level 1 Assassin Spells:
Caustic Weapon: Likely by far the best assassin level one spell, this useful spell will add additional acid damage to every one of a weapon's hits. You can buff yourself and your party with this. Also note that this spell is most effective on weapons that already have acid damage, since it will amplify the weapon's acid damage.
True Strike: This spell is neat and in the right circumstances very powerful. On HG it can grant AB bonuses above the standard +20 cap, and can last longer as well, up to 45 seconds on this character. It can be useful to help take out a specific enemy, but you won't have enough castings to keep this on all the time. Use wisely.
Expeditious Retreat: This spell is more useful late-game, due to it's increasing effects and increasing, but still short duration. However you can often attain a better effect from freedom of movement from party members. I'd use this if you had no one to grant you a substitute, but your spellslots are probably better spent elsewhere.
Grease: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Sleep: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Level 2 Assassin Spells:
Cat's Grace: This spell can be very useful early game, as it will provide a good jump to your dexterity without having to rely on gear and potions. Once your gear reaches the +12 mark however, this spell gets less useful, though can still be used to counteract dexterity ability inflictions enemies may toss your way.
Fox's Cunning: Boosting int from items/spells only really serves to add to your search and disable trap. Your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Invisibility: Can be useful early game, though later on almost all of your enemies will have true seeing. Your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Darkness: Can be useful early game as a method of helping yourself get more sneak attacks, though later on almost all of your enemies will have true seeing which nullifies the effect. Your spellslots are usually better spent elsewhere, however I will mention that there's one run in the late game areas where this spell can be used to weaken your foes significantly.
Web: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Ghostly Visage: This spell will give you a short duration greater sanctuary like effect if your character can attain some spell foci in illusion. Once you have that (I can't tell you where to find such, unfortunately, ask in game), you can use this spell to escape sticky situations, heal, buff, etc, then rejoin the battle.
Level 3 Assassin Spells:
Haste: This spell can be very nice early game when you don't have permanent haste items, however such are easily available on the server and this spell's power will greatly diminish once you attain such an item.
Find Traps: A true jewel of a spell for this character, this spell will find all traps around without having to spend the time searching for them. Suffice to say this spell is incredibly useful in many situations.
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: This spell provides a buff to spot/listen, neither of which this character has a large amount of. Furthermore this spell is only marginally useful without spell foci in divination. It may be useful to party members in the right situations, but it's probably better to have your spellslots spent elsewhere.
Iron Silence: A unique higher ground spell, and unique to assassins, Iron Silence negates the armor check penalty to the hide and move silently skills. Since this character is dexterity and not strength based, the character will incur only a minimal armor check penalty from their shield/light armor and thus will only get a minimal benefit out of it. It's better to place your spellslots elsewhere.
Poison: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Level 4 Assassin Spells:
Improved Invisibility: A very useful spell indeed! Though the name is a bit of a misnomer, since it doesn't provide invisibility. It does however, provide a gracious amount of concealment which should increase your defensive capabilities significantly. The concealment provided is based on the hide skill, and those with spell foci in illusion get bonus hide out of this as well. My assassin fully geared at level 60 gets 65% concealment. Every assassin should have plenty of these prepared.
Foebane: An interesting HG specific spell, to say the least. This spell will make your next instant kill attempt check against death magic immunity instead of the normal critical hit immunity. This spell is very situational and you'll have to know your enemies well to use it effectively, however you can get some good use out of this if you use it properly.
False life: This spell will give you some bonus temporary HP, but not much. You're better off using a potion of heal most of the time than this spell. Your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Wrack: While this HG specific spell is certainly interesting, it's rather disappointing as well. This spell will reduce the physical damage resistance your opponents have, but it won't do much, doing 1 per 10 levels, which means a maximum of a 5 physical damage reduction. Later in the game, this won't be a very significant boost. I'd save this for tough boss-fights, and only use sparingly. Most often your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Heartbane: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Enjoy!
Assassins on higher ground have some nice abilities at their disposal. As far as tanks go, they serve a unique niche: instant kills. Assassins, once they attain a certain item, are able to perform blows that instantly kill targets unless they make a saving throw. It runs on similar mechanics to Devastating Critical in the base game, though for this character, it's power is based on dexterity. I'm not allowed to tell you here where to find this item, however, you can ask around in game, most people will gladly tell you where it is. You can only get it once you get a base 30 dexterity, so you might want to hold on finding it until then.
Be sure to keep these changes in mind when playing and considering this character:
Assassin
- Assassins can speak Assassin's Cant.
- At Assassin 20, a character with at least 30 base Strength or Dexterity can acquire a scabbard which will let him hone weapons, delivering extremely damaging penetrating strikes or even mortal strikes which can cause instant death.
- Epic Assassins can exchange Epic Reflexes feats for Epic Great Strength feats.
- Assassins can speak Assassin's Cant.
- At Assassin 20, a character with at least 30 base Strength or Dexterity can acquire a scabbard which will let him hone weapons, delivering extremely damaging penetrating strikes or even mortal strikes which can cause instant death.
- Epic Assassins can exchange Epic Reflexes feats for Epic Great Strength feats.
You also get some other nice benefits with them, sneak attacks mean a decent amount of damage as long as you get them. High dexterity naturally means good AC, and assassins get their own improved invisibility, which will grant you a good deal of concealment(enemies have to roll against your concealment in addition to your AC to hit you). This makes this character quite offensively and defensively powerful. This build also features the open lock, disable trap, and search skills, so that you can open up every locked chest in the game, as well as find secret lootables.
The build gets it's name because (I hope anyways) that you will be able to go through enemies like a happy kid goes through cookies. It's worked very well for me so far. Also, kobolds like eating cookies...
Below is a screenshot of the character, he has a 2 higher dexterity than normal, due to use of a stat enhancing artifact, but otherwise he is the same as the build posted below. He is also wearing an item with the epic will feat, so his will appears 4 higher than normal as well.
About the build
So why did I take the level combination that I did? Fighter is a full BAB class, and I wanted to be able to get 16 BAB by 20, as that would allow me to get 4 attacks a round instead of 3. The rogue levels give extra skill points, as well as add more sneak attack dice, to a total of 17d6 at level 40 for this character. That can hurt, quite a lot. You also want to have 30 assassin levels, 28 are required for the instant kills, 30 gives you the maximum possible DC for them.
Also, some terms will be used throughout this build that you may not be immediately familiar with:
AB: AB means 'Attack Bonus'. The higher this is, the higher a chance you have of hitting someone when you attack. You will want this as high as you can realistically manage.
AC: AC means 'Armor Class'. When a hostile is swinging at you, they have to roll their Attack Bonus against your Armor Class to determine if they hit you. A high Armor Class means getting hit less often, so again, you want as much of this as possible.
DC: DC means 'Difficulty Class'. This is generally used for spells, but for this character, it measures how difficult it is to resist the instant-kills. Obviously, you want this as high as possible.
For this build, use this subrace:
Base: Human
Subrace: Humanoid - Kobold
STR -2, DEX +2, +2 search, free feat: Darkvision, reduces character size to small, speaks Draconic, speaks Kobold
The reason I use kobold (aside from the appearance ^.^) is that it gives you more dexterity for strength, a stat shift that is certainly welcome. So why use it over halfling? Well kobold keeps the human base's extra skill per level and the extra feat, both are bonuses which are far more useful than what halfling can give you. Elf may be a solid pick, but it only has one starting feat, and the constitution penalty really hurts. Being small also nets you +1 to AB and AC, which is certainly welcome.
Put all level up points into dexterity.
Also remember, to gain assassin levels you must be of evil alignment, lawful or chaotic doesn't particularly matter. After you take your last assassin level, you can turn your assassin neutral, however you should be aware that assassins cannot cast their unique spells if they are good aligned.
At creation, take these stats:
Base (Kobold changes)
STR 10 (8)
DEX 18 (20)
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 8
Every four levels, you will get a stat point, put them all into dexterity.[/i]
1: Rogue: Bullheaded, Strong Soul
Take a rogue level at first level, you'll start at level 3 instead of 2, and you'll get many more skill points. This build is somewhat tight on skill points, so you'll want every one you can get.
Bullheaded is an investment feat, per say. Assassins don't get discipline as a class skill. Discipline is a very useful skill, it will help you resist being knocked down, disarmed, having your gear destroyed, and other nasty stuff. Bullheaded allows you to take a feat 'Legendary Skill Affinity Discipline' at level 42, which will allow you to treat discipline as a class skill. It also raises your will save by one, which is certainly nice.
Strong soul is a feat that raises your fortitude and will saves by 1. It also allows you to later take the feat Legendary hardened soul, which adds five to both. You definitely want to grab this. Note that you won't need to raise your reflex save with feats, as your high dexterity alone with it being a favored save of both rogues and assassins means it will be well into the 70s when you reach level 60 and a full compliment of gear.
2: Fighter: Weapon Focus crossbow
This might sound like an odd pick, but it's certainly worth the investment. Crossbows on HG have 2 extra attacks over other weapons, meaning they can get up to 7 with this character. With the damage from your sneak attack, it can add up quickly. It will also help you deal damage and survive early game, before you get your instant kills. Anyways, this adds 1 AB when you use your crossbow of choice. Whether you pick light or heavy doesn't really matter, one deals slightly more damage, but weighs more. The differences aren't very significant.
3: Fighter: Blind Fight, Weapon Finesse
Blind fight is a feat that allows you to reroll against enemy concealment if you miss based on it, and negates the defensive penalties from being blinded or struck by an invisible foe. It's a worthwhile grab.
Weapon Finesse allows you to use your dexterity modifier instead of your strength modifier for attack rolls for melee weapons. Since you will be using a melee weapon later on, you will want to get this.
4: Rogue
5: Rogue (Get 8 hide and move silently, you need it to become an assassin)
6: Assassin: Rapid Reload
Normally, crossbows cap at 3 attacks per round, this feat ensures that it uses your normal attack progression + 2.
7: Assassin
8: Assassin
9: Assassin: Weapon Focus Club (Assassin Dagger)
Weapon Focus will give you +1 AB when swinging with your chosen weapon. Your instant kills are based on critical hits, and this is the weapon you will be using for it. The assassin dagger has a base critical range of 17-20X1. Normally, it means you can't get critical hits with it. On the other hand, since on those, ideally you would be threatening instant death, the severity doesn't really matter. If you've played assassin's creed, you can kind of think of the assassin dagger as Altair's stiletto, the 'knife-in-the-neck' weapon.
Important note on CEP weapon changing: If you use Higher Ground Enhanced (See: wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/HG_Enhanced), you can take weapon focus assassin dagger directly. If you don't, take weapon focus club, then use the !charedit command. Be sure to do this in a safe location! Once you run through the dialog, there will be an option there that allows you to swap weapon focus club for weapon focus assassin dagger. Follow this process for the remaining assassin dagger feats, and you'll receive your proper focus.
10: Assassin
11: Assassin
12: Assassin: Toughness
Toughness is a feat that gives you 1 extra hit point per level. It's a nice feat that will let you survive taking more damage.
13: Assassin
14: Assassin
15: Assassin: Iron Will
Iron will adds 2 to your will save. Will will be your weakest save, so it will need some support from feats to stay high. Failing will saves often include effects such as stunning, paralyzation, being held, confused, etc, none of them are pleasant.
16: Fighter
17: Fighter: Improved Critical Assassin Dagger
This feat doubles the threat range on the chosen weapon. Since your instant kills are based on getting critical hits, this is a feat you certainly want.
18: Fighter: Great Fortitude.
This feat adds 2 to your fortitude save. Having a high fortitude will protect you from poison, disease, and instant death. It's a good idea to keep this high.
19: Rogue
20: Fighter: Weapon Specialization Assassin Dagger , Greater Weapon Focus Assassin Dagger
Weapon specialization adds 2 damage to the select weapon. It's not a lot, but it does add up.
Also, on this level, be sure to maximize the skills: Concentration and Parry, they are not class skills for assassins and you will never get another chance to raise them. Maximize discipline as well, you won't get another chance until level 43.
This build was made using the assumption that the user does not use HG enhanced. If you do however, I would recommend taking greater weapon focus (Assassin dagger) instead of Weapon Specialization. This will net you +1 AB instead of +2 damage, which is more useful for an instant killer and sneak attacker.
21: Assassin: Armor skin
Armor skin is a feat that adds 2 AC to your character. Any character who spends a lot of time on the front lines should get this.
22: Assassin
23: Assassin
24: Assassin: Epic Weapon Focus Assassin Dagger, Great Dexterity 1
Epic weapon focus adds 2 AB to the weapon selected. It helps in making your swings connect.
Great dexterity feats add to your base dexterity. Every 2 dexterity means 1 AB and AC, and every 4 means a +1 to the DC on your instant-kills. It might not sound like a lot, but 10 of these means 5 AB, AC, and 2.5 DC. Now that is pretty significant. You will want to get all 10 of these.
25: Assassin
26: Assassin
27: Assassin: Epic Prowess
Epic prowess adds 1 AB no matter what weapon you wield, it's something any front liner should get.
28: Assassin: Great Dexterity 2
29: Assassin
30: Assassin: Great Dexterity 3
With this level, you should now start looking for the instant killer item, ask around in game for where to find it.
31: Assassin
32: Assassin: Great Dexterity 4
33: Assassin: Great Dexterity 5
34: Assassin
35: Assassin
36: Assassin: Great Dexterity 6, Great Dexterity 7
37: Assassin
38: Assassin
39: Assassin: Great Dexterity 8
40: Assassin: Great Dexterity 9
Legendary levels:
Congratulations for making it this far. Once you get to these levels, you will use an altar to level up instead of the normal method, see in game documentation for details.
You gain a plethora of bonuses in these levels, 7 feats, 10 stats, 5 to all saves, and more skills. Below are the feat choices listed.
Again, put all stat points gained from legendary levels into dexterity.
42: LSA Discipline
This feat will allow you to take discipline as a class skill in legendary levels. It's a vital skill, so be sure to take this.
45: Legendary Weapon Focus Assassin Dagger
This feat gives 3 AB when wielding the select weapon, it will make you hit much more often.
48: Legendary hardened soul
This feat will give you +5 to fortitude and will, both of which are saves you want to keep high.
51: Legendary Will
This feat will give you a +7 to your will save.
54: Great Dexterity 10
57: Epic Skill focus Search
This character will want to be able to maximize search in order to get all traps and find all secrets. You won't hit the engine cap without this feat.
60: Epic Skill focus disable trap
This feat will allow you to disable every trap in the game.
Ending stats (Assuming +12 stat gear, +20 saves cap from items):
Ungeared (Geared)
STR 8 (20)
DEX 50 (62)
CON 14 (26)
INT 14 (26)
WIS 8 (20)
CHA 8 (20)
Top AB: 93
Saving Throws: 60 Fortitude, 75 Reflex, 62 Will
Top Assassin instant-kill DC: 55
Skills:
Assassins only get 4 skills per level, you get 3 more per level, 2 from intelligence, 1 from being a base 'human'. You are still going to be somewhat skill tight, here is what I recommend taking.
You get 7*8(rogue levels, including 1st level extra points) + 6*2(fighter levels) + 50*4(Assassin levels) + 63*2(intelligence) + 63('human') = 475
You will want to spend these on:
63 Discipline
Discipline skill prevents you from being knocked down, disarmed, having your gear destroyed, and other unpleasant things, keep this as high as you can. You will get the opportunity to 'dump' points into it at level 20, and raise it from level 43 on.
8 Move Silently
Required to become an assassin, serves no other function.
63 Hide
The concealment that assassins get is based on this skill. Be sure to keep it high.
60 Tumble
5 ranks in this eqauates to 1 AC, capping at 12 AC at 60. Since you don't get any more AC after 60 ranks, you shouldn't maximize this skill at 63 points.
63 Open Lock
This skill is required to pick the locks of locked chests and doors, often meaning a larger haul of loot.
63 Search
This skill is required to find secrets and traps, it's a skill worth taking.
63 Disable Trap
This skill, obviously, is required to disable deadly traps, so they don't zap you.
23 Parry
Parry on Higher Ground is a skill that reduces the severity of critical hits. With high concealment and AC, these shouldn't happen too often. On the other hand, they can be debilitating when they do, and the points you spend here could save you a lot of frustration. You will need to maximize these at your fighter level at level 20, since this is not a class skill for assassins.
23 Concentration
This might look like an odd pick, since you don't cast any spells, but there are some checks that go against this skill in the later areas of the game. There aren't very many but it can be terrible[/b] if it happens. You will need to maximize these at your fighter level at level 20, since this is not a class skill for assassins.[/color]
46 Use Magic Device
This skill allows you to use wands, scrolls, and other items you would normally not be able to. It's a very handy skill.
Spells:
Assassins on HG get real spells and spellbooks instead of what they normally get. There are some hurdles you'll have to jump through to use them, so how that works is explained here:
First, you'll need to type in "!sb change as" any time you want to customize your spellbook. Do this in a safe area! Once you do this, you'll be given a conversation to customize your spellbook.
Once you do this, be sure to pay a visit to the spells pedestal at the docks. (This section assumes the user does not have HGE, if you have the hak then you can cast these spells directly.). Once you do this, you'll be granted several spell 'rods', which you can use to cast your spells. What spells you can use on the rods depends on what you prepare, like any normal caster. Once this is done, cast away, and enjoy! Just be aware that most of your spells are for self-buffing, such as your caustic weapon spell at level 1, which you can use on weapons to make them deal additional acid damage. Be sure to read up on the documentation in game as to what each spell does.
Because the assassin spellbook on higher ground is so much different than how normal assassins work, I have written the guide below to aid you in that. Hopefully you will find this guide helpful.
Level 1 Assassin Spells:
Caustic Weapon: Likely by far the best assassin level one spell, this useful spell will add additional acid damage to every one of a weapon's hits. You can buff yourself and your party with this. Also note that this spell is most effective on weapons that already have acid damage, since it will amplify the weapon's acid damage.
True Strike: This spell is neat and in the right circumstances very powerful. On HG it can grant AB bonuses above the standard +20 cap, and can last longer as well, up to 45 seconds on this character. It can be useful to help take out a specific enemy, but you won't have enough castings to keep this on all the time. Use wisely.
Expeditious Retreat: This spell is more useful late-game, due to it's increasing effects and increasing, but still short duration. However you can often attain a better effect from freedom of movement from party members. I'd use this if you had no one to grant you a substitute, but your spellslots are probably better spent elsewhere.
Grease: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Sleep: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Level 2 Assassin Spells:
Cat's Grace: This spell can be very useful early game, as it will provide a good jump to your dexterity without having to rely on gear and potions. Once your gear reaches the +12 mark however, this spell gets less useful, though can still be used to counteract dexterity ability inflictions enemies may toss your way.
Fox's Cunning: Boosting int from items/spells only really serves to add to your search and disable trap. Your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Invisibility: Can be useful early game, though later on almost all of your enemies will have true seeing. Your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Darkness: Can be useful early game as a method of helping yourself get more sneak attacks, though later on almost all of your enemies will have true seeing which nullifies the effect. Your spellslots are usually better spent elsewhere, however I will mention that there's one run in the late game areas where this spell can be used to weaken your foes significantly.
Web: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Ghostly Visage: This spell will give you a short duration greater sanctuary like effect if your character can attain some spell foci in illusion. Once you have that (I can't tell you where to find such, unfortunately, ask in game), you can use this spell to escape sticky situations, heal, buff, etc, then rejoin the battle.
Level 3 Assassin Spells:
Haste: This spell can be very nice early game when you don't have permanent haste items, however such are easily available on the server and this spell's power will greatly diminish once you attain such an item.
Find Traps: A true jewel of a spell for this character, this spell will find all traps around without having to spend the time searching for them. Suffice to say this spell is incredibly useful in many situations.
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: This spell provides a buff to spot/listen, neither of which this character has a large amount of. Furthermore this spell is only marginally useful without spell foci in divination. It may be useful to party members in the right situations, but it's probably better to have your spellslots spent elsewhere.
Iron Silence: A unique higher ground spell, and unique to assassins, Iron Silence negates the armor check penalty to the hide and move silently skills. Since this character is dexterity and not strength based, the character will incur only a minimal armor check penalty from their shield/light armor and thus will only get a minimal benefit out of it. It's better to place your spellslots elsewhere.
Poison: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Level 4 Assassin Spells:
Improved Invisibility: A very useful spell indeed! Though the name is a bit of a misnomer, since it doesn't provide invisibility. It does however, provide a gracious amount of concealment which should increase your defensive capabilities significantly. The concealment provided is based on the hide skill, and those with spell foci in illusion get bonus hide out of this as well. My assassin fully geared at level 60 gets 65% concealment. Every assassin should have plenty of these prepared.
Foebane: An interesting HG specific spell, to say the least. This spell will make your next instant kill attempt check against death magic immunity instead of the normal critical hit immunity. This spell is very situational and you'll have to know your enemies well to use it effectively, however you can get some good use out of this if you use it properly.
False life: This spell will give you some bonus temporary HP, but not much. You're better off using a potion of heal most of the time than this spell. Your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Wrack: While this HG specific spell is certainly interesting, it's rather disappointing as well. This spell will reduce the physical damage resistance your opponents have, but it won't do much, doing 1 per 10 levels, which means a maximum of a 5 physical damage reduction. Later in the game, this won't be a very significant boost. I'd save this for tough boss-fights, and only use sparingly. Most often your spellslots are better spent elsewhere.
Heartbane: Assassin offensive spells are based on intelligence. This means that their effectiveness is severely limited in comparison to dedicated casters. My recommendation: don't bother with this spell.
Enjoy!