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 in the original Baldur's Gate II, but the Enhanced Editions allow the same choices as the base thief class.
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 thieving ability points when they level up, Assassins get 15 points per level. 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 |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | 2x |
| 5-8 | 3x |
| 9-12 | 4x |
| 13-16 | 5x |
| 17-20 | 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.
Mod content[]
This section is about unofficial content that is only available via fan-made mods.
Installation of the Rogue Rebalancing mod makes a number of gameplay revisions and changes to all Rogues, including their kits. It is a comprehensive modification to nearly all aspects of the Rogues (Bards and Thieves) abilities and strives to bring them closer to their Pen and Paper AD&D counterparts. New and revised abilities are included, as well as new equipment and rogue specific items. Separate user installed components are available to customize selection of content and changes. Go to the link for further information.
The Mod addresses Assassin in many different aspects, including:
Assassin
Through this revision, Assassins can no longer be good aligned, their bonus to hit and damage has been replaced with Poison Expertise, the Poison Weapon ability has been altered in order to properly scale with levels and a new Death Attack ability has been added at higher levels. The updated kit description reads as follows:
ASSASSIN: This is a killer specialized in discreet and efficient murder, relying on anonymity and surprise to perform his task. Training in anatomy, stealth and poison use allows an Assassin to carry out missions of death with terrifying precision. A clever Assassin might never be seen by his victim.
Advantages: - May use Poison Weapon once per day at 1st level and every 4 levels thereafter - Acquires Poison Expertise at 8th level. This ability improves further every 8 levels thereafter - May use Death Attack once per day at 16th level and every 8 levels thereafter - Backstab reaches x7 instead of x5
Disadvantages: - Only 15% per level to distribute on abilities - Must be of evil or neutral alignment
Poison Weapon: Due to the requirements of his profession, an Assassin becomes adapt at coating his weapons in poison early during his career. Any weapon prepared in this manner will deal an extra 1d3 points of poison damage upon contact. Furthermore, unless a saving throw vs. poison is made, the poison will be injected into the bloodstream of the victim dealing one additional point of damage per each level of the Assassin (up to a maximum of 20). The poison coating evaporates after 5 rounds. Constructs, Elementals, Slimes and Undead creatures cannot be poisoned.
Poison Expertise: Through training and experience, an Assassin gradually learns to utilize poison more effectively. Furthermore, due to the constant exposure to poison an Assassin slowly becomes desensitized towards it. Each time this ability is acquired, the Assassin gains a permanent +1 bonus to his saving throws vs. poison. At the same time, the saving throw difficulty class of his Poison Weapon ability improves by 1.
Death Attack: By thoroughly studying the weak spots of his victim, an Assassin can focus all of his cunning and prowess into a single, deadly strike. The next attack he makes automatically becomes a critical hit and his victim must make a saving throw vs. death or die instantly. As the Assassin gains more experience, the lethality of the Death Attack increases. The victim saves with a -1 penalty at level 24, a -2 penalty at level 32 and a -3 penalty at level 40. Constructs, Elementals, Slimes and Undead creatures cannot be slain by a Death Attack.
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 | 660,000 | 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. |