How to play an Assassin [WIP]

[Kirabo]

Greetings! My name is Kirabo, and I am bringing to you this guide on how to play your everyday stalkers and murderers. Some of you may be wondering 'Why, Kirabo? Why an Assassin guide?', and you'd be right to wonder. See, I have two major reasons for it. The first of the two would be the fact that I want to aid the community in some way, return the favor it's been granting me for over two years now. Why not write a guide on a class that seems to have been quite commonly played ever since I joined CotH? The second reason would be a more of a selfish one - I want to roleplay with other assassins. Yes, I said it.

Now, this is a HEAVY work in progress, seeing that the idea only came to mind a few days ago, and I'd be really glad if each and every one of you could provide some constructive feedback/criticism in order to get the guide finished faster. I'll be updating it on a 1-2 day basis, taking in consideration everything you guys offer. Here it goes!

What is an assassin?

To answer this, we're best off starting on our own Earthly basis. An assassin is, by definition:
"one who commits a targeted murder or assassination"

That brings us to the next question - What is an assassination? An assassination is, again by definition:
"the act of murdering (usually a prominent person) by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons."

Assuming you know of Abe Lincoln's death, you're probably beginning to see a pattern here. An assassin is a tool. A tool of political or other power. The most fun part - an assassin is a completely disposable asset. Take as examples John Wilkes Booth, Gavrilo Princip, James Earl Ray et cetera. These men did not appear out of the shadows, they did not prepare some magical poisons, and they did not leave anonymous, as if to let the crowd tremble in turmoil, fear and confusion. They wanted that crowd to know that the people murdered were wanted dead, that their 'political positions' were unwanted by some larger fish. They went straight in, leaving a loud message and two dead bodies. Got that? Now we can move on to the part you actually came here for!

Assassins in World of Warcraft!

1. What an assassin represents

An assassin in our roleplaying universe was originally presented as a prestige class of the Rogue archetype. Their specialties vary from reconnaissance, infiltration, interrogation, scouting, single-target hits (assassinations), dispatching of whole units, et cetera. A well-known 'assassin' organization based on Azeroth is the "Assassins' League", more commonly known as the "Ravenholdt Organization", this being a neutral one. Stormwind holds the Alliance's assassin HQ, known and loved under the name of Stormwind Intelligence 7 (SI:7), and the Horde has its own large bases in the Undercity (Darkstalkers) and in Orgrimmar (Shattered Hand). This does not mean that the other races of Azeroth don't have their own assassin units, but only that they've done a much better job at concealing the fact that they do. It is not hard for me to imagine a whole hidden war playing between a handful of fantastically skilled individuals from each racial group, which keeps full-out wars from breaking out.

The most common misconception is that an assassins in WoW matches one in our real world. On Earth, an assassin is a notorious title carried by killers of important political individuals or groups. On CotH, it is a class, a class like a Gladiator, Demon Hunter, Ley-Walker. It is a path which does not necessarily carry the act of murder with itself. An assassin can rely only on gathering information, maiming or otherwise disabling their target(s). An assassin is not specifically a killer in the WoW universe.

Now, specifically on CotH, assassins are hireling PCs who are often hired to dispose of other PCs (or NPCs, mind you!). When not on a mission, they usually present themselves as mercenaries, and you'll see them sitting alone, dressed in tight black leather, equipped with many, many, many blades and different weapons. Some may even go out and shout their name along with their 'Assassin' title around the town's market. Trust me, you do not want to do that. You would be jailed on the spot if in a faction city, or kicked out if in a Goblin port. Back to the point, however!

Assassins can come to be in a few different ways. Some of them kill for justice, and act as avengers. Most of these got their motivation from witnessing their parents' deaths, or some other person which is close to them. Others may have begun walking the road of the assassin for reasons such as money, glory, power. Another possible guiding star can be simple bloodlust in a very intelligent person. One who can kill to feed their hunger, and evade being caught with ease, only to continue killing after. Finally, an assassin may be somebody who never knew better. Taken as a child and trained to be what it is now. A cold blooded machine of life-taking, taught to get the job done. There are more possibilities, in fact - they are endless! These are just the most common and easy-to-flesh-out origins.

2. Types of assassin

Depending on your play-style, you may want to 'categorize' your type of assassin. Keep in mind though, that these are not 'rules', simply guidelines that are supposed to help you play what you want to play!

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The 'Blade' Assassin

The most wide-spread and frequent representative of the assassin class is something that I like to call Bounty Hunter. If you know an assassin on CotH, they quite possibly fall into this category. They excel in using dual blades for combat, martial arts for both combat and evasion, and acrobatics for evasion and quick movement over land when needed to flee from a threat or chase their prey. Many go past the point of melee combat training, grasping the knowledge of the bow and arrow, guns, or explosives. Other tools can be gadgets, poisons or potions, enchants or runes. Their most specific method of taking out targets is analytically preparing their own Ambush Point, taking every precaution they can to make their entrance, coup, and escape perfect. Patience is a virtue in this line of work, not only with Bounty Hunters, but with all assassin sub-classes.

Quick summation:
- Very agile both in movement and combat
- Stealthy, able to sneak their way in and out of almost everywhere.
- Proficiency with (dual) blades and other weaponry, if forced to conflict with an enemy face to face. (Which should be avoided at all cost)

I recommend you play this class much like a hunter hunts his prey. Prepare yourself thoroughly, prepare the field, and then jump from the most unexpected location you can think of. From there, it's just acupuncture-combat, deadly precision, and the dirtiest way you can think of to win. Use dirt off the ground, numbing poisons, direct sunlight into the eyes of your enemy, anything at all. If you're caught off guard, well... Run. As fast and far as you can, and don't return until you've devised a whole new ambush from scratch.

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The Magic Assassin

This sub-class focuses on using magic for their works. Here, I'll cover my view on the Arcanist and Shadow Priest assassins, in respective order, but first give some general information on the subject.

If one has spent much time studying magic for use as a tool and weapon, it is a given that their body won't be in the same condition as the one of a Blade. They'll rely on spells a great deal, if not definitely. Mental tricks, illusions and mind-twisting are the most important tools of escape in this direction of the assassin.

The Arcane-assassin! The first things that come to mind when combining these two words are probably things like Invisibility, Blink, Slow Fall, and the likes. That's not far from the truth, in fact, it's exactly what one assassin should have in his spellbook for such a path. However, every spell from all three schools has its own very important role in the attire of an Arcane-assassin. I'll list a few that weren't mentioned at first, beginning with Slow. Need I explain the endless possibilities regarding that spell? Slow your chaser or chasee down, slow down projectiles aimed at you, slow down gates which may be lowering in order to make a blockade between you and your prey.

The Gentleman Assassin

The All-rounder

3. Know thy enemy

4. Trust no one

[Nostra]

If you want to write a guide to assassination I think a practical segment is crucial, the how and who you assinate from a OOC perspective, as in how do you approach players if you wish to assinate their character, the importance of compromise and to keep long term RP in mind and how NPC assasination can be just as much fun as killing a PC.

[Xigo]

Pretty much the only important part of being an assassin is arranging it with the player before-hand, jah.

[Kirabo]

Pretty much the only important part of being an assassin is arranging it with the player before-hand, jah.

NPC assasination can be just as much fun as killing a PC.

I do believe there's more than just that to it, Xigo.

[mimloopen]

Best to wait until the guide comes out but I cant really see any certainties in an assassin other then 'agree on it with a player'. Everyone will have different motives, personalities and methods, some more successful then others

Still i may be proven wrong

[Kage]

Well to start, I think this guide is too long. I'm sure you could slim it down.

Spoiler:

Anyway, still agreed with above. Agreement with the player. But yeah, there is much more to it. Like where, how, in public, in secret, many many details.

-Edit-

Vee's got the right idea. I keep thinking Assassin's Creed. (Hurr hurr who wants to make a guild like that?) But i'd be fine with loosing characters. I'll make random characters sometimes for events that die, just to keep it real.

[Bovel]

These guys did not appear out of the shadows, they did not prepare some magical poisons, and they did not leave anonymous, as if to let the crowd tremble in turmoil, fear and confusion.

To be honest what worth as an assassin is that?
The entire world knows your face and name after your first body. Unless you are one sneaky snake there'd not be much more work to get.

In my opinion, good assassins should be unknown and remain unknown apart from the victims they leave behind. The Umbrella Poisoning is one of my favourite examples, even though the murder has been revealed in later years. As you wrote, they are tools and they should have no names and be easy to throw away.

That makes me quite positive that most assassins would work alone on the orders of ONE contact, unaware of others in the group he works for or others killers on their payroll. And that brings me to the cruical detail I think most RPed assassins lack, solitude.

The good assassin never shares a single word about his work, the only one who knows about his or her profession is the contractor and perhaps the victim for a brief moment. Having people around you makes it so much harder to keep it a secret so chances are you as a payed murderer isolate yourself from the world around you. Or perhaps you are good enough at lying and covering your tracks that you manage a family on the side, but still you cannot share and perhaps makes those connections even harder.

[Kirabo]

Right you are, Bovel. I've never met an assassin in person, which leads me to believing that each and every one of them may be different. Perhaps each of them takes a single trait you've mentioned? One's a lone wolf, the other's a weapon, et cetera.

The solitude factor is something I've been planning to cover in the guide. I'll not explain much here, but the psychological background of an assassin would be filled with lies directed at the people they've had contact with, lies in order to hide their true face. That'd have quite the impact on their relationships, which would probably end with "You never tell me anything", and the loved person leaving.

[Kirabo]

Bumping this, I don't want it to get lost, and I want to continue working on it until it's done. Now active again.

[Jonoth]

I didn't notice this the first time around. Glad to see someone taking the initiative on assassins, as there is a lot to them! And I think the RL perspective on them adds a lot.

For lore, don't forget to give mention of the Stormwind Assassins, which would form the foundation for SI:7. There is also the Shattered Hand based in Orgrimmar and the Darkstalkers of Undercity for a Horde perspective, and to a degree even the Farstriders would have more Rogueish members, though most are hunters and marksman.

Also, and I am guilty as hell of this, it would be a good point to address the phenomena of assassins introducing themselves casually as assassins. It's a practice not usually optimal to their profession, but I think we as RPers tend to look for that aura of badassery that referring to ourselves as one of that trade brings. Now, referring to those who very publicly revealed themselves during or after assassinations, I think it is important to note a difference between mercenaries, who kill repeatedly for financial gain, and those who kill a single or multiple targets to gain notoriety for personal glory or to establish themselves as the face of a movement. So if the character is looking to be feared and doesn't care for the repercussions, then its a different animal from someone looking to continuously kill without having to concern themselves with reprisals.

[Kirabo]

Edit!

Added a whole bunch to 'What an assassin represents' and started working on 'The Blade' assassin section. This is a lot more fun than I expected.

[Jurkey]

Why would an assassin want to sit in a corner of a tavern in tight black leather? It makes them obvious to the crowd.
I've might have met a hired killer in real-life. I wouldn't know, because it's not neccessarily their identity. It's a job. They still wake up every morning, eats breakfast, drink their morning coffee, turn on the radio. They are still people - just with a twisted sense of morality.

I'd imagine (as someone else stated) that they'd have only a few contractors. You don't want to attract unnecessary attention.