Assassins
Masters of death, assassins have perfected the art of stealth the pursuit of their craft. They strike from the shadows, using knife, poison, and dart as their tools. Assassins each have find their own meaning for their actions - some devoted to the extermination of evil, others nothing more than the fattening of their own purse, but they all find unity in their perfection of the dealing of death.
Assassin Skills Notes From the Legends
Skills
Ordinary Skills Assassin Specific Skills
1 dagger
Daggers are short bladed weapons, most commonly used by the rogueish classes and those of scholarly bent who lack the time to learn more complicated weapons. Dagger attacks usually involve quick thrusting, piercing or stabbing attacks. Daggers offer very little in the way of parrying, but their quick speed makes them hard to dodge.
1 sword
Swords are perhaps the most common of weapons in Avendar, known and used by all professions save those of the scholars and druids. A sword typically consists of a hilt (place to hold the sword), a crossbar, and a blade. Blade lengths can be anywhere from 2' to 8', with the very largest swords usable only by the giant races. Blades on swords can either be one or two-sided, curved, straight, or even barbed to inflict more lasting damage. Usually, a sword will inflict stabbing,
slashing, chopping, cutting, piercing, or cleaving damage. Swords have traditionally been the weapon of choice for enchantments and other such magics.
1 staff
The staff is the most common two-handed weapon, most typically made from wood into a long pole. The staff is typically used to pound, strike, or crush an opponent. Its long shaft allows for easy parrying of blows, for which the staff is not primarily as a defensive weapon. Due to its focus on defending against blows, the staff is often a favorite weapon among scholars.
1 whip
A whip consists of a flexible cord attached to a handle. The cord can be made from any number of materials, but is most commonly leather. Oft times, other sharp materials (such as glass or bits of metal) may be embedded in the cord to inflict more damage. Whips are most commonly used by gladiators (who are known for their exotic lashing and disarming techniques), but also see some usage among some templars andscholars.
1 recall
RECALL prays to the gods for miraculous transportation from where you are back to the appropriate temple of your hometown.
1 dodge
The dodge skill exploits a character's natural agility to the point where many blows will miss the target. The chance of dodging is also affected by the dexterity of the attacker and the target.
1 trip
The trip command attempts to bring an opponent down by knocking their feet from under them. Tripping is most successfully practiced by the quick and nimble, and fails on opponents who are flying or otherwise not tied to the ground. Trip can either be used to start a fight, or in combat.
1 haggle
The haggle skills allows you to bargain with merchants, lowering their prices.
1 hand to hand
The ability to use one's bare hands to inflict more damage than normal is a skill known to adventurers in Avendar. The skill is automatically attempted whenever no weapons are being used, and will cause these blows to inflict more damage than normal.
3 kick
The kick skill is an extra attack performed in combat, used for extra damage. Kick can be attempted each round if desired.
4 hide
The hide command is used by rogues to seclude themselves within the shadows. Hiding can only be attempted in civilized locales, and any attempt to move while hidden will result in stepping out of the shadows unless the person hiding is currently sneaking. The nature of hide is that a rogue attempting the skill will not know whether he or she is successful - they must rely on their ability to gauge the reactions of others to determine whether or not they are succesfully hidden.
5 dual wield
The ability to dual wield is a skill which classes with at least some devotion to fighting may master. As its name it implies, it allows the user to attempt to wield two weapons at once. In order for this two occur, the following must be true: You must be wielding a weapon in your "main hand", and have your other hand free (not carrying a held item. etc.). You then must attempt the second weapon. If the weapons are compatible, the second weapon will automatically go into your off hand. If the weapons or not compatible, the second weapon will replace the first. Compatiblity depends on a number of factors, but a good rule is that to ensure the proper balance, the second weapon must be two-thirds the weight of the first. Certain small weapons, such as daggers, are an exception to this rule. Giant sized races, such as the alatharya, may be
able to dual some two-handed weapons due to their enormous sizes. Your skill at dual wield will determine how often you are successfully able to use your second weapon to hit.
6 lore
The lore skill is not currently implemented. Expect it soon, but don't ask, as we've got bigger things to worry about.
8 second attack
The second attack skill allows one to make two attacks per round. Possessing this skill does not ensure two attacks will be attempted, but it does increase the liklihood of this occuring.
9 night vision
The night vision skill is learned by rogues to allow their eyes to adapt to the night, allowing them to discern things in an almost total absence of illumination.
10 peek
Peek is a skill learned by rogues to discern a person or creature's inventory. An attempt to peek is made automatically whenever you look at a target.
10 sneak
The sneak skill is used to move silently. It has several visible affects. Firstly, when used in conjunction with the hide command, it allows someone to move without stepping out of the
shadows. Secondly, it allows objects to be taken from the room without arosing suspicion. Finally, even for those not hiding, it allows exit from a room to go unnoticed.
10 envenom
Skilled assassins can apply a simple poison to their weapons, which can have a chance of poisoning those they strike. "Evenom" by itself will apply poison to the currently wielded weapon, or a target can bespecified.
10 chi vision
Using the mental training that is unique to his guild, the skilled assassin can stretch out with his senses, detecting invisiblepresences.
12 detect hidden
This skill enables the user to detect hidden creatures or characters.
13 parry
Parry is a skill learned for deflecting attacks, and is succesful more often than dodge. Parry requires a weapon for full success, the hand-to-hand skill may also be used, but results in reduced damage instead of no damage. The best chance of parrying occurs when the defender is skilled in both his and his opponent's weapon type.
14 blindfighting
An automatic ability, this allows assassins to successfully fight while blind or in the dark. If successful, the assassin will suffer no penalty to his abilities.
15 plant
The plant skill allows thieves or assassins to plant an item in the inventory of the victim.
15 enhanced damage
This skill allows you to strike at your enemies with harder blows.
16 choking dust
This skill is used by assassins to blind their foe and distract them with choking fits. Choking dust acts on a single target.
16 fast healing
This skill allows you to regenerate hit points faster.
18 disarm
Disarm is a somewhat showy and unreliable skill, designed to relieve your opponent of his weapon. The best possible chance of disarming occurs when you are skilled both your own and your opponent's weapon.
20 meditation
The ability to meditate is a skill which allows for swifter than normal recovery of mana through various mentaltechniques.
20 nerve
An assassin may use the nerve skill to strike at the pressure points of a victim, weakening their strength and quickness. The main purpose of this is to weaken their opponent in a key fashion, so that they will drop their weapon. The effects of nerve are cumulative.
21 choking cloud
This skill is used by assassins to blind their foes and distract them with choking fits. Choking cloud affects the entire room.
22 prepare
In order to use darts or to taint food or water, a vial of poison is required. Preparing these vials of poison requires the use of a catalyst, which will effect the duration of the taint or the dart (the more catalyst used, the longer the dart lasts, or the food remains tainted). Vials of catalyst are usually available from the trainers of assassins.
Available types of poison include:
Sleep: Put Victim to Sleep
Death: Attempts to Kill Victim
Pain: Causes Pain when motion is attempted
Trembling: Causes victim to shake and drop items
Delusions: Causes victim to be tormented by delusions
23 caltraps
Assassins may attempt to spread a handful of caltraps on the ground. Persons stepping on the caltraps will take some damage, as well as being stunned momentarily. In a fight, if a argument is used, the assassin will drop caltraps, and attempt to flee in the given direction.
25 scrolls
RECITE recites a magical scroll. Potions and scrolls have a single charge.
25 taint
Assassins use the taint ability to poison food that is on the ground, or in the inventory of their foes. The assassin selects the poison type that is most appropratie to his needs. A vial of poison is needed before food can be tainted. See help PREPARE for more details.
26 evade
Trained in evading blows, this automatic assassin ability gives them a superior dodging ability. It also gives them the chance to nimbly dodge attempts to bash them.
26 muffle
The muffle skill allows an assassin a chance to muffle the yells that occur when they attack a victim. If successful, the victim will make no cry as they are attacked.
27 craft dart
This skill allows an assassin to create a poisoned dart, which he can use on victims. A vial of the appropriate poison type must be in the assassin's inventory if he wishes to create the dart.
27 dart
Once a poison dart is prepared, an assassin may attempt to poison the victim with it. The dart may be tossed at a victim in the assassin's current room, or it can be tossed at a victim one room away, by specifying the direction.
28 exploit
This assassin ability allows an assassin to strike punishing blows against opponents who are not wearing key pieces of armor. (Torso, helmet, etc.) Smaller pieces of armor (rings and the like) that are missing do not expose enough for this skill to be used.
30 disguise
An assassin may attempt to diguise himself as another being. The disguise will remain effective for a period of time, or until the assassin becomes embroiled in a fight. The target must be of the same race as the assassin. Typing "Disguise" by itself will remove an existing disguise.
31 garrote
Using their training in the arts of a death, an assassin may attempt to garrote a victim. The victim must not be able to see the assassin, and the assassin must hold the victim for three hours in total to kill the victim. Assassins will be able to do little while garotting a victim without releasing them in the process. Even if a victim is not killed, they will often be unable to speak after a garrote attempt.
32 vital strike
Using a dagger, an assassin may attempt to make a precise strike at the victim's vital organ. Each such wound inflicts little damage on its own, but it does cause blood to be lost. If a given victim is wounded enough times in this fashion, he will perish from internal injuries.
34 cloak
The pinnacle of an assassin's mental abilities, an assassin may use this to make himself completely invisible to a foe. If the assassin attacks the target, for the first round the victim is unable to identify their assailant.
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Notes From the Legends
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