Assassin

Assassin is a specialization available to the **Rogue** class.

**Restrictions:** None. his specialization is available to new players so long as the training is explained in their backstory. It may also be earned through roleplay.

## History

For as long as people have been around, there have been people worth killing, and for as long as people have been worth killing, there have been assassins to do the job quickly. The most notorious are the famed Antivan Crows, but even their wingspan is not infinite. Any dark alleyway in any country in Thedas has the potential to be a grave - given that the wrong person has been pissed off, of course. Assassins are ubiquitous, requiring only the will to learn, a steady hand, and a deaf heart for their craft to thrive.

Generally, the act of taking someone's life permanently and irrevocably comes as one of those great moral shocks to a developed mind, so career assassins tend to be trained for it from youth. A mentor to guide the blade, a teacher to brew the poisons, and a confidante to take away the nightmares. Fortunately, after enough practice, the fledgling assassin is proficient enough with these skills to strike it out on their own, an unwincing clash of deadly steel taking contract after contract.

And yet assassins are not merely psychotic serial killers, either. There are plenty of reasons to want someone dead and assassins know them all. Be it for gold, glory, vengeance, or vindication, they are detached from the act itself and see murder as only a means to an end. Because of this, learning to slay quickly and efficiently is the least an assassin can do for all future victims.

## Combat Skills

### Novice

* **Mark of Death:** A pernicious sort of scholar, any assassin worth their salt is well acquainted with all the standard critical points of a living creature. A healthy knowledge of anatomy guides each strike closer to a completed contract.
* **Lacerate:** Even if the first hit doesn't kill, the wound it leaves just might. Serrated blades and poisons are a favorite, assassins often leaving such severe injuries that the bleed out alone can be lethal.

### Intermediate

* **Bloodlust:** With combat comes fatigue, and with fatigue comes sloppiness, arrests, and murder charges. Those who like to remain free know better than to relax prematurely, execution of a contract merely motivation to complete the rest of the job.
* **Knockout Bomb:** As assassins hone their craft, they begin to carry a variety of tools to fulfill their contracts as efficiently as possible. One such tool is a concoction that can put onlookers to sleep so that the assassin may more easily dispatch of their mark.

### Expert

* **Pinpoint Strikes:** With honed zeal and an experienced hand, the assassin focuses on a weak point with an overwhelming stream of attacks. After all, only a few need get through for massive results.
* **Hidden Blades:** A lightning attack from the shadows that can fell not only the target, but any potential witnesses, with a flurry of strikes delivered from every angle.\*\*

### Master

* **Assassinate:** The best can kill in one fell swoop, needing only an opening and the right angle for their weapons to take a life. Of course, this is easier said than done on those trained specifically to not die in combat, but a mistake will be made eventually and the assassin will be there to profit. \*\*
* **Infamous:** While assassins thrive in the shadows of the underworld, some contract killers are notorious for their ruthless efficiency. These few, feared souls can terrorize their mark and any around them from the mere suspicion of their presence, creating a confusion that they can turn to their advantage.

	+ - While the Assassin is a specialization based around killing, death of OCs is a major plot point in Thedas: Timelines and requires careful planning by all involved. As such, the skills Hidden Blades and Assassinate can only be used against NPCs.

## Non-Combat Skills

Stealth is a vital skill to any assassin. Others include Poison Lore, Alchemy, Legerdemain (to slip the poison into a cup with none the wiser) and Lockpicking (unless you want to be like Zevran - and who doesn't?).