The Assassin
You focus your training on the grim art of death. Those who adhere to this archetype are diverse: hired killers, spies, bounty hunters, and even specially anointed priests trained to exterminate the enemies of their deity. Stealth, poison, and disguise help you eliminate your foes effectively.
Assassin Features
| Rogue Level |
Archtype Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Assassinate, Modus Operandi |
| 9th | Contractor's Guile, Honed Skill |
| 13th | Methodological Perfection |
| 17th | Assassin's Promise |
Assassinate
You are at your deadliest when you ambushing unassuming victims. Your weapon attacks have advantage on attack rolls made against creatures that haven't acted in combat yet, and those you are flanking. In addition, any hit you score against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit.
Modus Operandi
All assassins are trained in the arts of stealth, poison and disguise; providing you with proficiency in Stealth, and with the Disguise- and Poisoner's Kit. However, each has its own favored approach. Choose yours among the following:
Infiltrator
You specialize in impersonation and subterfuge to gain convenient access to your victims:
- You gain proficiency in Deception. If you already have proficiency in Deception, you gain expertise instead.
- You become exceptionally adept at analyzing people's psychology and behavioral patterns. When making Deception, Insight and Persuasion skill checks while interacting with humanoids, you may use your Intelligence modifier in place of the skill's inherent modifier.
Poisoner
You specialize in the subtleties of poisons to dispatch your targets, providing you with the following benefits:
- You gain expertise with the Poisoner's Kit.
- Injury poisons applied to your weapons do not lose their potency immediately, instead they last for a number of attacks equal to your proficiency bonus.
- You have advantage on Dexterity (Slight of Hand) checks made to conceal the poisoning of foods or liquids.
Stalker
With subtlety you stalk your victims, waiting for an unseen moment to swiftly send them to their deaths:
- You gain expertise with Stealth.
- You can attempt to hide even when you are within a lightly obscured area or in a crowd of at least ten bystanders.
Contractor's Guile
At 9th level, you have learned exactly what questions to ask and what signs to look for in order to track down a target. While gathering information in an urban environment, you have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) and Charisma (Intimidation, Deception, Persuasion) skill checks made to discern a humanoid creature's whereabouts.
Honed Skill
Exposure to your bloodstained trade has made you cold-hearted and fast to act. Starting at 9th level, your Sneak Attack dice is increased from a d6 to a d8.
In addition, you may add your proficiency bonus to Initiative rolls.
Methodological Perfection
At 13th level, you have perfected your preferred methodology. You gain one of the following features based on your Modus Operandi choice:
Doppelgänger
Perfection of the Infiltrator feature
You gain the eerie ability to perfectly mimic another person's appearance and mannerisms:
- By studying a humanoid creature for three hours, you can craft a near perfect disguise. While wearing the disguise, you can deceive any casual observer. If a wary creature suspects something is off, you have advantage on any Charisma (Deception) checks made to avoid detection.
- When you attack a creature that you are assuming the identity of, or of a person that creature has a close relationship with, it must succeed a Wisdom saving throw or becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. The DC is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. If the creature's saving throw is successful, the creature is immune to this ability for the next 24 hours.
Master Toxicologist
Perfection of the Poisoner feature
Through extensive study and first hand experience, you are capable of exploiting the poison arts to their full potential:
- You learned how to effectively exploit the detrimental effects of poisons. Attacks you make against poisoned creatures are made with advantage.
- You have discovered unique formulations that enhance the potency of your poisons. When you apply a self-crafted poison, you may have the saving throw DC become equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier, instead of the poisons normal DC.
Silencer
Perfection of the Stalker feature
After silencing countless of targets, you have mastered the art of the unseen assailant:
- When you make a melee attack against a creature using a short sword or dagger, you score a critical hit on a 19 or 20.
- With a single mercilessly stroke, you swiftly slice your victim's throat. When you make a melee sneak attack enabled by the Assassinate feature using a short sword or dagger, you may announce to Go for the Throat. If you do, your target must make a successful Constitution saving throw or becomes unable to speak; casting a spell that includes verbal components becomes impossible to it. The DC is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier. The creatures speech can be restored by taking a long rest after a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check, or by the effects of lesser restoration magic. This ability can only be used against creatures that have a discernible throat.
Assassin's Promise
At the pinnacle of the profession, you are able to dispatch your targets with unequaled certainty. Starting at 17th level, you gain a pool of kill points equal to 10 + your Intelligence modifier. Whenever you make a weapon attack roll, you may spend any number of kill points to increase the roll by that amount, to a maximum of 20. The resulting number is considered natural for the purpose of determining critical hits or failures.
You regain all expended kill points when you finish a long rest.