An Assassin is a class-kit of a Thief. The Assassin is a killer trained in discreet and efficient murder, relying on anonymity and surprise to perform his task. Assassins must be of Evil or Chaotic Neutral alignment.
An Assassin's poison is very powerful, especially at the start of the game. Assassin poison helps cripple enemy casters as the poison tick will often cause them to lose concentration on their spells. The extra hit, damage, and enormous backstab multiplier allow you to inflict more damage per single hit than just about anything else in the entire game. However, the backstab multiplier bonus takes a long time to achieve and starting assassins will not have many points to distribute into your thieving abilities. Assassins will have to rely on thief-stat boosting equipment and potions (such as Shadow Armor and Potion of Perception) for quite awhile. Because of the added levels it takes to fully utilize the assassin kit, they do not dual-class very well.
Advantages (Enhanced Edition)
- +1 bonus to THAC0 and damage
- Backstab multiplier increases to x6 at level 17
- Backstab multiplier increases to x7 at level 21
- May use the Poison Weapon ability. Gains one use at level 1 and an additional use every 4 levels thereafter. Each successful hit within the next 5 rounds will inject poison into the target. Each target can only be affected once per round. The amount of poison damage depends on the character's level:
1st - Target suffers 1 poison damage per second for 6 seconds (Save vs. Death at +1 negates)
5th - Target suffers 1 poison damage per second for 12 seconds (Save vs. Death negates), and also immediately suffers 2 poison damage (no save)
9th - Target suffers 1 poison damage per second for 18 seconds (Save vs. Death at -1 negates), and also immediately suffers 4 poison damage (no save)
13th - Target suffers 1 poison damage per second for 24 seconds (Save vs. Death at -2 negates), and also immediately suffers 6 poison damage (no save)
Advantages (Original)
- +1 bonus to THAC0 and damage
- Backstab multiplier increases to x6 at level 17
- Backstab multiplier increases to x7 at level 21
- May use the Poison Weapon ability. Gains one use at level 1 and an additional use every 4 levels thereafter. The next hit with that weapon will inject the poison into the target, dealing out 1 damage per second for 24 seconds (3 damage for the first 6 seconds). A saving throw vs. poison limits damage to 12 total.
Disadvantages
- May only distribute 15 skill points per level among thieving skills
Ability Scores
| Ability Score | Min. requirement. | Max. requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 9 | 18 |
| Constitution | 3 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 18 |
Note: For the information of this table the human race was used, because they have no character bonuses/penalties related to race and therefore act like a 'neutral'. For other races this may be slightly different. See Ability Scores and Thieving Abilities for more information.
Abilities of the thief
Every thief gains +25 thieving ability points when they level up. The race of the thief determines how many points are gained as a bonus. Halflings have the best best overall bonus to thieving ability points.
Dexterity determines how many points are added to each skill during the game as well.
Find/disarm traps
A thief can find traps if they activate their find traps mode. Any found traps can then be disarmed if the find/disarm trap percentage is high enough.
Hide in Shadow/stealth
All rangers and thieves can hide in shadows if they wear studded leather armor or lesser armor. A thief who is hidden in shadow can attempt to perform a backstab, which does increased damage. The modifier increases with the level of thief. The chance to hide successfully in the shadow depends on the time, at night this is much easier to than at daylight, whether the thief is standing in a shadow or not and the chance in percentage to hide in shadow from the character self.
Move silently
Pick locks
A thief can lockpick locks from doors and containers to open them. The chance to open a door/container depends on the percentage of the character.
Pick pockets
A thief can steal items from characters. The chance to steal an item depends on the percentage.
Set Traps
Backstabbing
When thieves are invisible, a thief can try to execute a backstab upon an enemy, which inflicts more damage than a normal hit, but it makes the thief visible once again.
| Level | Backstab modifier | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | 2x | |
| 5-8 | 3x | |
| 9-12 | 4x | |
| 13-15 | 5x | |
| 16-20 | 6x | |
| 21 | 7x |
High-level class abilities
- Alchemy
- Assassination
- Avoid Death
- Evasion
- Greater Evasion, requires evasion already selected.
- Scribe Scrolls, use any item is a requirement.
- Set Spike Trap
- Set Exploding Trap
- Set Time Trap
- Use Any Item
Stronghold
In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, thieves can gain a stronghold during Find Proof of Mae'Var's Treachery.
Table for experience, hit dice and weapon proficiency
| Level | Experience needed | Hit Dice (d6) | Weapon proficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 1,250 | 2 | |
| 3 | 2,500 | 3 | |
| 4 | 5,000 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | 10,000 | 5 | |
| 6 | 20,000 | 6 | |
| 7 | 40,000 | 7 | |
| 8 | 70,000 | 8 | 1 |
| 9 | 110,000 | 9 | |
| 10 | 160,000 | 10 | |
| 11 | 220,000 | 9 + 2 | |
| 12 | 440,000 | 9 + 4 | 1 |
| 13 | 666,000 | 9 + 6 | |
| 14 | 880,000 | 9 + 8 | |
| 15 | 1,100,000 | 9 + 10 | |
| 16 | 1,320,000 | 9 + 12 | 1 |
| 17 | 1,540,000 | 9 + 14 | |
| 18 | 1,760,000 | 9 + 16 | |
| 19 | 1,980,000 | 9 + 18 | |
| 20 | 2,200,000 | 9 + 20 | 1 |
| 21 | 2,420,000 | 9 + 22 | |
| 22 | 2,640,000 | 9 + 24 | |
| 23 | 2,860,000 | 9 + 26 | |
| 24 | 3,080,000 | 9 + 28 | 1 |
| 25 | 3,300,000 | 9 + 30 | |
| 26 | 3,520,000 | 9 + 32 | |
| 27 | 3,740,000 | 9 + 34 | |
| 28 | 3,960,000 | 9 + 36 | 1 |
| 29 | 4,180,000 | 9 + 38 | |
| 30 | 4,400,000 | 9 + 40 | |
| 31 | 4,620,000 | 9 + 42 | |
| 32 | 4,840,000 | 9 + 44 | 1 |
| 33 | 5,060,000 | 9 + 46 | |
| 34 | 5,280,000 | 9 + 48 | |
| 35 | 5,500,000 | 9 + 50 | |
| 36 | 5,720,000 | 9 + 52 | 1 |
| 37 | 5,940,000 | 9 + 54 | |
| 38 | 6,160,000 | 9 + 56 | |
| 39 | 6,380,000 | 9 + 58 | |
| 40 | 8,000,000 | 9 + 60 | 1 |
| Total | 12 points. |