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> Suggestions for Assassin PCs, Adept powers, Magical powers, skillsets
Foreigner
post May 28 2005, 05:31 PM
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I can't remember if I've asked this before (as I've said, my memory is TERRIBLE), so please forgive me if I'm repeating myself:

Would anyone have any suggestions for Adept abilities, magical powers, and/or skillsets for an assassin PC?

I've seen skillsets for Cat Burglars and the like, as well as cybered assassins (mostly on the Web) but, to the best of my knowledge, I can't recall seeing anything specifically tailored for Adepts (of whatever stripe) who have made that particular career choice.

For starters, here's my character sheet:

"The Foreigner" (street name) (Magician's Way Adept following Hermetic tradition and Invisible Way)

Stats:
BOD: 5
QUI: 6
STR: 6
CHA: 4
INT: 6
WIL: 4
Initiative: 6 + 3D6
Essence: 6
Magic: 6

Active Skills:
Pistols (Morrissey Alta HP): 5 (7)
Athletics (Acrobatics): 4
Stealth: 4
Etiquette: 3
Negotiation: 6
Ninjutsu: 3
+ Blind Fighting
+ Close Combat
+ Ground Fighting
Electronics B/R: 6

Knowledge Skills:
Assassin Groups: 4
BK: Negotiation: 4*
BK: Pistols (Morrissey Alta HP): 5 (7)*
BK: Stealth: 3*
Classical Music: 4
Corporate Politics: 3
Corporate Security: 6
Criminal Organizations: 4
Disguise: 4
Fashion: 4
Intimidation: 4
Magic: 4
Opera: 4
Poetry: 4
Psychology: 6
Rifles: 4
Seattle Night Life: 4
Security Procedures: 5
Underworld Politics: 4

Languages, R/W:
English (British): 4 (6)
Japanese: 4

Adept Powers:
Empathic Sense
Improved Ability: Ninjutsu 6
Improved Ability: Stealth 6
Sense: Low-Light Vision
Sense: Flare Compensation
Traceless Walk


* Denotes House Rule--characters receive an automatic Basic Knowledge skill corresponding to certain essential skills given during CharGen.

As always, thanks in advance for any suggestions.

EDIT: Sorry about the double post, Ladies and Gentlemen.

My browser messed up.

:(

EDIT # 2: Whoops. Forgot to add the Adept Powers the first time around. My bad.

:(

--Foreigner

This post has been edited by Foreigner: May 28 2005, 06:57 PM
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pragma
post May 28 2005, 06:17 PM
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Distance Strike, Delay Damage II, Killing Hands D; you don't get much better as an assassin.

(Alternatively: drop 1 point delay damage for Magical power and buy the spells stealth and invisibility).
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Kagetenshi
post May 28 2005, 06:22 PM
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It would be a particularly awesome combination, but it can be unreliable—especially with important targets who may have access to either people capable of dispelling the delayed damage before it goes off or immediate medical attention.

~J
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Deuce
post May 28 2005, 06:26 PM
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personally i think traceless walk is also a good one....not just for number crunchy i can kill stuff w00t flavour....but for the roleplaying edge as well...
we all know that assassins wanna be stealthy....whats more stealthy than making no sound when you walk or not leaving footprints in the snow?
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pragma
post May 28 2005, 06:30 PM
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Don't have to delay it if they're going to have the medical attention. Just have to hightail it out of there while relying on a combination of the stealth skill and the ability to kick ass and take names.
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Ol' Scratch
post May 28 2005, 06:34 PM
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QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
It would be a particularly awesome combination, but it can be unreliable—especially with important targets who may have access to either people capable of dispelling the delayed damage before it goes off or immediate medical attention.

It's no more unreliable than any other Deadly magical attack, and far more effective than most since there's next to no way to see it coming. Especially if the assassin has Masking and a few grades under his belt.

As far as time to dispel it? Nothing in the rules says that you have to sustain the power -- you can "cast" it instantaneously if you wish. The benefits of Delay Damage 2 are in that its subtle and non-defendable. Even if the assassin did choose to sustain it until he could "get away" (which is largely not needed with the Distance Strike addition) dispelling is a difficult propsition at best especially against someone who's likely exceptionally skilled at hand-to-hand combat (since the target number to dispel is equal to the Power of the attack rather than a low Force spell). And that's assuming they succeed in activing assensing and noticing it in the first place
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Crimson Jack
post May 28 2005, 06:41 PM
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I'd bump Rifles up to 6 or higher. Raising Pistols up another notch or two would be good if you excel at the High Fidelity ;) style of killing.

As far as adept powers go, Killing Hands at Deadly is a good thing if you don't rely on your melee skill to raise the Damage Level up by successes. Typically, when I create NPC's that are proficient with this skill, I give them a higher skill and lower the Damage Level to Serious (giving me more points to buy other powers with). Traceless Walk is a really good power to possess as well for an assassin. If you work solo, Astral Sight is valuable, but I'd plead with your GM to lower the insane cost of that power. 2 points for the ability to assense objects/people is a might high in my opinion. We house rule Astral Sight as only costing .5 PP. If you find yourself tangling with opponents (melee) on a regular basis, for God's sake, buy many many ranks in Counterstrike. That is one of my favorites.

I have a player in my group (who plays an assassin type) who bought a cultured Chemical Gland sac and had it set to manufacture Atropine. This gave her an extremely nice edge when she got up close and personal with her enchanted kris. Bioware though... not sure if you want to go that route.

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Krazy
post May 28 2005, 08:18 PM
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The french basques used to (maybe still do) off people by just walking up to them on a crowded bridge or street, one shot with a suppressed pistol to the kidney and walk away. they very rearly got caught at the time.
I'd also add chemistry/biology/toxins as an active skill, as well as anatomy as a knowlege skill. the assasin needs to know more about how to kill than have the actual skill. sure you can hit a gnat at fifty paces, but making it look like a heart attack, or an accident?
I gave an assain PC an active skill of assasination. it was a reaction test (TN 12 - skill) vs TN4. he picked the method (wire garrote, break neck, whatever) and if he won the test the person was dead. more successes were quieter, in a tie they engaged in unarmed combat. it worked pretty well, he had some trouble with wired guys but he was usually good at distracting them, or otherwise uping their TN.
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Critias
post May 29 2005, 12:03 AM
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You can't have an Improved Ability higher than your base skill. In this case, for instance, Ninjutsu. And Stealth. Just a heads up.
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Foreigner
post May 29 2005, 12:13 AM
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Critias:

Thanks for pointing that out.

I'll have to ask Sahandrian about it, though. I *think*, although I am not certain, that my character sheet is the same as it was when he E-mailed it to me almost two years ago. The only real changes were when I changed the character's martial art from Aikido to Ninjutsu, and a corresponding change in some of the maneuvers that came with it.

As I've said, he's the GM, so I need to talk to him before making any changes.

EDIT: Hmm. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.... :eek:

Krazy: In THE DESTRUCTORS (a/k/a THE MARSEILLES CONTRACT (1974)), "Steve Ventura" (Anthony Quinn) used the same technique to "kill" "Jacques Brizard" (James Mason).

As I recall, it took place at a party. Ventura had asked a woman to dance solely for the purpose of getting close to Brizard, who was also dancing, and when he got close enough, he shot Brizard TWICE in the back with a suppressed pistol--a Walther PPK, I think--which he had in his left-hand coat pocket (through the pocket). By the time Brizard hit the floor, Ventura was already on his way out the door.

Brizard was apparently in such terrible pain (small wonder!) that he could only gasp, and he landed on his back when he fell, which would've temporarily hidden any wounds or bloodstains. Also, as the pistol was not only suppressed, but fired at contact distance, I doubt anyone (aside from the film's audience, that is :P ) heard a thing.

I believe that, had it been for real--and had it happened as shown in the film--
anyone nearby would have thought that the victim had succumbed to a massive and fatal heart attack or cerebral hemorrhage--at least until they saw the bloodstains on his jacket.


--Foreigner

This post has been edited by Foreigner: Dec 9 2005, 05:02 PM
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Critias
post May 29 2005, 12:20 AM
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Well, if the GM's okay with it, the GM's okay with it. I just wanted to let you know, before it bit ya in the butt from someone a little more hard-core about the rules (if you tried to use the character in another game, or something).
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toturi
post May 29 2005, 01:43 AM
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House Rules where indicated, I have no objections. Afterall, they are clearly indicated as such and House Rules are the province of the GM.

However, what the hell is the GM allowing Ninjutsu 3 to have 3 Maneuvers? And Athletics(Acrobatics) 4? WTF? Magical Adept but no Magical Power? WTF? You just lost your Magical Power (by Canon once you lose your last point of Magical Power, you lost it your Magical Skills and may never regain MP, in your case, you never had it).
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Foreigner
post May 29 2005, 01:52 AM
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toturi:

To be honest, if "The Foreigner" ever had the Magical Power Adept ability, I never knew about it, AFAIK.

I did convert my character sheet from HTML to Microsoft Word awhile back, though, so I suppose something could have been "lost in translation", so to speak.

The same goes for the other discrepancies you mentioned.

--Foreigner

This post has been edited by Foreigner: May 29 2005, 01:51 AM
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fistandantilus4....
post May 29 2005, 01:55 AM
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Facial sclp, melanin control, mimic voice

eiditc memory

imprvd senses


cognitions is good later for things like spotting weapons on gaurds, and learning skills

spell shroud
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SpasticTeapot
post May 29 2005, 02:52 AM
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Delayed Strike: Silent. (You touch someone, they take a full unarmed attack.)
Killing Hands: Serious
Improved Unarmed Combat 4
Improved Stealth 4.
(All geased to it being night, or something else suitably appropriate.)
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Glyph
post May 29 2005, 05:44 AM
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There are three basic assassin builds for adepts:

1) The distance strike/delayed damage/Deadly killing hands combo - you can either geas the powers, or just have the second two to start out with. Several people have already commented on this one, so I won't add to it.

2) The melee specialist, who uses improved stealth and traceless walk to get close enough, then improved ability in a melee skill to kill the target. For unarmed, also get killing hands. The unarmed version is pricier, power-point-wise, but killing hands is useful against spirits and other critters with immunity to normal weapons. For armed, short dual weapons are best, both for the Concealability and for the ambidexterity rules. Spirits and such can be a problem, but eventually you can bond a weapon focus (which has the bonus of also being extremely effective against regenerating critters such as shapeshifters and vampires).

3) The ranged combat specialist, who uses improved ability in a ranged combat skill to kill from a distance. An adept sniper is deadly, but you can make all kinds of others. You could even duplicate Bullseye by taking Missile Mastery and improved ability in throwing weapons - anything you picked up, such as playing cards, could become deadly weapons in your hands. For anything bigger than pistol-size, the Quick Draw power is extremely useful. Quick strike (to get the first shot off) and Sixth Sense (for surprise tests) are also very useful. If you are using guns, improved senses can give you vision magnification, but you probably still need to get a Smartlink II for maximum effectiveness. It's worth the hit in Essense, and you stilll have room for some other useful cyber/bio goodies.
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Hoondatha
post May 29 2005, 07:21 AM
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I find this amusing since my GM just had me put together an elven ninja for him (he didn't have time, and I'm nearly as sneaky as he is). He wanted me to stay as close as possible to the historical ninja, which made some options (the distance strike combo, for instance) unusable.

I need to ask my GM if he minds me posting the character I came up with, but in short I discovered that it's a lot easier to make everything work if you aren't trying to be an elf. Seriously, I'd much prefer having that C priority for attributes (or skills, if you wish) than the stupid race. But I had my orders.

Anyway, I tanked the girl up on powers, (improved reflexes 2, some improved attributes to make up for low priority, killing hands M, flexibility 2, the aforementioned great Traceless Walk [which led my GM and me into a 30 minute conversation about what it would take to recreate Legolas as an SR adept, much fun], and a smattering of great leap and pain resistence) and then geased everything except great leap. My GM said that the original ninja used special hand signs that were supposed to trigger magical powers for them, so each power has its own hand sign.

And the nice thing about Skills at A is that there's room to have ALL of the old ninja skills: edged and thrown weapons, unarmed (I don't have the rules for advanced martial arts), in addition to sniper rifles and a good mix of infiltration and demolition stuff.

So, anyway, that was my "modern SR update" of the old ninja. Hope some of this helps.
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Smiley
post May 29 2005, 07:26 AM
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You could go full mage adept and get gecko crawl, silence, improved invisibility, etc.
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