The Guardsman stood watch outside the king's chamber door. Low in the sky, a gibbous moon cast pregnant shadows in the veiled night. It was the third hour, the Assassin's Hour, the time when the mind is dulled from lack of sleep and the wits are blunt. Still, the Guardsman stood his post, alert, watchful.
Something was bothering him though; an intuition, a tingling down his spine. Rumors of possible attempts on the king's life swirled through his head. By all reports, the castle was secure, but that was often the story before a swift blade in the dark swept power from one hand to another. At his back, the king's door was secure. A glance down the short hall showed the corridor empty, the door closed and still locked. In the other direction, the corridor ended in a blank wall, broken only by a small window. The outer wall here was a sheer drop of 100 feet to a rocky death.
Suddenly, something caught his eye. A flicker of movement, a slithering shadow at the window. It was ephemeral, almost imaginary. Had he really seen anything? The Guardsman held himself still, tensed, all senses alert. There! In the darkness of the corner by the window - a deeper shadow. Slowly he reached out to grasp his heavy flail, eyes intent.
"Show yourself", he said.
A low chuckle issued from the darkness, almost caressing.
"You have keen eyes. A shame it will be the last sight they shall behold." The Guardsman could just make out the slender blades in the assassin's hands. Short swords, blackened with soot, the left-most blade coated with poison. He could detect a faintly acrid aroma. Pit fiend ichor. He'd have to be extremely wary of the left hand blade.
A grim smile crossed the Guardsman's face. "Know this", he said. "To get to the king, there is but one way: this door behind my back. You must pass through me, and that will not happen while I live - and I plan to be alive for the dawn." He cast a quick glance to the locked door down the corridor, but didn't call for help. He knew the guards there would already be dead. This was an Assassin of the Nightshadows, and they didn't make errors, nor did they show mercy.
In the years since the rise of the Assassin King, the practice of eliminating the enemy through stealth and guile had grown to an art form. Numerous assassin guilds had come and gone, but none had met with the success - or garnered the fearful reputation - of the Nightshadows. For hire to anyone with the appropriate funds, they had never failed to accomplish a job. Fifty years of assassinations and not a single failure. It was a formidable reputation.
"Fool! You'll be dead before moonset!" the assassin hissed. Abruptly, he moved.
By the gods, the speed! was the Guardsman's shocked thought as he was enveloped in a shroud of stygian black. Years of training took over. The Guardsman moved fast, but he was too late. He felt the blades and a shock went through his system. Poisoned!
He staggered, then steadied himself. The poison burned, but he gritted his teeth and began to swing his flail in a defensive arc around him. Eventually, the worst of the burning passed and he seemed to be suffering no more ill effects than a slight nausea, although he could feel the flesh of his arm suppurating. The assassin moved again, but this time he was blocked by the swinging flail. Taking advantage of the moment's respite, the Guardsman went on the offensive. He couldn't see his assailant, but he could sense him there at the edge of the darkness. A feint and a flick of the flail, and he could hear the ring of metal as the short swords flew to the floor. Another swing and the thud of hard metal on flesh. A grunt and the sound of a body hitting the floor.
Quickly, the Guardsman pressed his advantage and moved, suddenly breaking out of the darkness at the end of the corridor. The assassin was getting to his feet, scrambling for his swords. The Guardsman beat him to them. He dropped his flail, snatching up the assassin's own weapons. The assassin, on his feat now, suddenly faded from sight, as if melting into the very air. Frantically, the Guardsman searched. To the left, among the shadows, a more solid shadow was creeping. A dagger caught a shaft of moonlight and glinted keenly. The Guardsman waited, watching.
With the speed of a diving eagle, the assassin attacked. The Guardsman repelled the onslaught and countered. It seemed the battle raged for hours. It was like fighting a phantom. In the end, the Guardsman stood panting over the assassin's lifeless corpse. He'd been killed with his own swords. A bitter irony, the Guardsman thought.
He spat on the corpse. "Cenelak will have her king for at least another day", he said.
Outside, the gibbous moon slowly eased under the horizon, plunging Cenelak into darkness. But it was a darkness of peace.
NOTE This build is a result of thinking about Grizzled_Dwarflord's Assassin King build and wondering what type of character might have a chance to stop him, so this is an attempt to create a melee character that might have a chance against him. I came up with this, the Guardsman, thinking he'd be just the type of guard you'd want at the king's door. Enjoy.
+2 vs traps (Deneir's Eye) +2 vs mind-affecting (Lliira's Heart) +2 boost on all saves for 5 turns 1x/day (Tymora's Smile) _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Edited By griphook on 09/15/05 12:27
Bah! Max HPs should be 500. ...It is now ..griphook _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Edited By griphook on 09/13/05 20:27
Bravo! Love the prose, man! (but, truth be told, I was rooting for the Assassin ) Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Anyways, it's a pretty solid build. I think he would have some measure of success against casters and spellswords as well as melee-sneaks.
Well, done.
And by the way, that 40 Fort save protects not just against Death Attacks, but Dev Crits and Implosions as well. He has a bit of PvPishness to him. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
well, looks like you have outdone me (as if there was ever any doubt). you have amazing stats and skills, none of which need buffing to be their natural amazing ranks (just as a note though, i think you would have a functional spot one less due to the wisdom score of 8 ) . on top of it, your save are so good that i doubt any assassin could land a workable death attack on you. with such a good discipline as well, IKD isn't a problem. looks good. the only time when this char would have problems is when faced with more than one rogue/assassin/blackguard, so that while fighting one another can sneak attack.
just one question. why take TWF as well as focus (but not weap spec) in a large weapon as well? is it just to make good use of the abundant feats? (in which case, why not get WS and EWS in the large weapon...sorry, it just bugs me to see +6 damage go to waste with so many feats...just a personal thing really).
very cool, Cin.
-c _________________ "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement."
just one question. why take TWF as well as focus (but not weap spec) in a large weapon as well? is it just to make good use of the abundant feats? (in which case, why not get WS and EWS in the large weapon...sorry, it just bugs me to see +6 damage go to waste with so many feats...just a personal thing really).
-c
If I may, I 'll field this one. The point in not taking WS/EWS in the heavy weapon is that he's already picking up 1.5 strength bonus modifier. While EWS would be nice, it's probably more effective on the dualwielding aspects of the build, and since he only gets to choose one.... _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
well, looks like you have outdone me (as if there was ever any doubt). you have amazing stats, none of which need buffing to be their natural amazing ranks. on top of it, your save are so good that i doubt any assassin could land a workable death attack on you. with such a good discipline as well, IKD isn't a problem. looks good. the only time when this char would have problems is when faced with more than one rogue/assassin/blackguard, so that while fighting one another can sneak attack.
Yeah, I remember you looking for an anti-assassin build and I couldn't think of anything at the time. Once Grizz posted his Assassin King build, it got the wheels rolling (probably because, IMHO, that's the best Assassin build I've seen).
Quote: just one question. why take TWF as well as focus (but not weap spec) in a large weapon as well? is it just to make good use of the abundant feats? (in which case, why not get WS and EWS in the large weapon...sorry, it just bugs me to see +6 damage go to waste with so many feats...just a personal thing really).
Heh, I knew that would be asked! The thing is, I wanted a fighter capable of dual-wielding, but I also wanted him to be able to Disarm (and also be focussed in a weapon that would make effective use of his STR). Dual-wield generally means small weapons, which are a bad choice to use with the Disarm feat.
He also has the option of pulling out a shield if necessary, and wielding one weapon, which will still provide him the benefits of WS and EWS, and his AB will actually go up by 2 over dual-wielding the same weapons.
The WF and EWF in 2 weapons speaks for itself: AB. He has 2 choices of weapon to use which will net him good AB.
I didn't opt for the WS and EWS in the heavy flail because he's a STR build and gets 1.5x his STR modifier on damage anyway, so wasn't vrying for that extra +6 damage. Nice to have, but not essential. The other consideration was I didn't have enough feats to get those 2 into the build: I wanted every single feat I took. WS and EWS in Heavy Flail was on the list, but they were the lowest priority for me, so they were dropped.
The weapon set-up he has gives him options against creatures with damage resistance, while still maintaining his good AB.
Quote: very cool, Cin.
-c
Thank you!
*edit* Thanks grizz. You nailed it in far fewer words than it took me! _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Edited By Cinnabar Din on 09/13/05 22:41
I think dual-wielding also helps with getting more attacks per round to negate some of the effects of Epic Dodge and SC
Indeed it does, Jennalee. Very good point. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Quote: Posted 09/13/05 23:52:17 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din
Indeed it does, Jennalee. Very good point.
Indeed, a very good point. Many times when I make a build, especially a sneak build, I often find the people he's most vulnerable to are those that are like him except dexier, and sporting that Epic Dodge/SC V crap. Really, the more attacks you have against that, the better. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Quote: Posted 09/13/05 17:16:21 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din
The Guardsman
FTR 13/HS 5/CoT 22
Cinn,
Harper Week lives on! Great story and excellent build. While I, too, was rooting for the assassin, I must admit a grudging respect for this King o' the Harpers
No true criticisms of course, but I noticed in the title and the quoted text above the class & levels don't match the build - title says F 13/HS 5/CoT 22, but your build is F 12/HS 5/CoT 23.
Edit - One question: Is it even necessary to take 12 levels of fighter? Could you go F 10/HS 5/CoT 25 for the extra save bonus?
Quote: Posted 09/13/05 17:16:21 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din
The Guardsman
FTR 13/HS 5/CoT 22
Cinn,
Harper Week lives on! Great story and excellent build. While I, too, was rooting for the assassin, I must admit a grudging respect for this King o' the Harpers
Heh, yeah, I actually rewrote te section a bit because I felt bad for the Assassin (and the first draft had the Guardsman winning too easily).
Quote: No true criticisms of course, but I noticed in the title and the quoted text above the class & levels don't match the build - title says F 13/HS 5/CoT 22, but your build is F 12/HS 5/CoT 23.
Good catch. Completely a result of waffling, as I couldn't decide between a 13th FTR level and a 23rd CoT, as there was no difference to the build mechanics either way. Looks like I got the best of both worlds!
Quote: Edit - One question: Is it even necessary to take 12 levels of fighter? Could you go F 10/HS 5/CoT 25 for the extra save bonus?
Kaliban
I'm not sure. I suppose it would work (and by going FTR 10/CoT 10 pre-epic, you'd have slightly better Reflex and Fort saves). However, because the CoT bonus feats come every 4 levels after level 10, you'd push all your bonus feat choices back a bit further in the build. Other than that, I think it would work just fine, and may be a good tweak for this. You'd end up with +2 on your Fort and Refl saves and +1 on your Will save. Not a bad deal. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
On the dual-wielding benefits note: if you worked in Exotic Weapon Prof somewhere, you could use a Dire Mace instead of a Heavy Flail and Kukris
Quote: Posted 09/14/05 13:47:45 (GMT) -- Jennalee
On the dual-wielding benefits note: if you worked in Exotic Weapon Prof somewhere, you could use a Dire Mace instead of a Heavy Flail and Kukris
Aye, you could, but there isn't a feat there that I'd want to give up, given the build concept. Also, the dire mace wouldn't make full use of the high STR and I wanted one weapon in the build that would do that. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Neat build. I wonder if taking ESF in listen instead of spot isnt better. I know when I am using a rogue/assasin and need skill points, I continue pumping hide and leave listen behind. Most folks dont pay attention to the listen skill but prefer spot. Curious if anyone believes this makes sense.
Neat build. I wonder if taking ESF in listen instead of spot isnt better. I know when I am using a rogue/assasin and need skill points, I continue pumping hide and leave listen behind. Most folks dont pay attention to the listen skill but prefer spot. Curious if anyone believes this makes sense.
You could, but bear in mind Listen is only a class skill for the HS in this build. Spot is a class skill for CoT, which allows me to max it at 43. Listen would only be able to be maxed to 40. I wanted the highest possible in the skill.
I believe there's no need for Listen if you have Spot anyway (or Spot if you have Listen), so I chose Spot.
I think the only advantage Listen has over Spot is it allows you to 'see' creatures behind doors or around corners.
Listen's certainly an option though, and you could drop Blooded if you take it (possibly replacing it with Skill Focus:Listen)
Speaking of Skill Focus, it just occurs to me that the original build could replace Blooded with Skill Focus:Spot and end up with an extra +1 on the Spot check (Blooded gives a +2 bonus, but Skill Focus gives a +3) _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Sneaky little halflings get Skill Affinity: Move Silently only so it's easier to beat halfling sneaks with a Spot check than Listen (this is an all-round anti-rogue build right?).
