Since I posted on this thread, i've had several opportunities to see the Assassin in play as per the Revised 4th Edition rules.
Actually, I think he holds his own against other characters but doesn't overpower them. The ability to assassinate "board space" enemies such as the Guardian and the Pit fiends didn't have a huge impact on the game and the Assassin still can't assassinate Craft creatures.
All in all, not bad. I lay my previous fears about the potential Assassin overpoweredness to rest.
With any game, I'm always reluctant to impliment house-rules because the official rules for a good game should have been playtested thoroughly and amending them usually creates a situation you didn't think of. E.g. the common house-rule of the Free Parking Jackpot in Monopoly creates a hyperinflation situation, since the main purpose of taxes and levies in that game is to stop currency erosion.
The last game I played, though, I was a little worried about the assasin carving through everything. If his strength is equal to or greater than any creature, he doesn't need to roll the die - he just adds the card to his trophy collection. He came close to winning, challenging my thief at the Crown, but a strength difference of 1, along with the thief's Runesword tipped the balance in the end. (In retrospect, we both played the game pretty poorly by any standard, but it was my first game in 20 years and his first game ever.)
One suggestion of a house-rule that may take away the assasins omnipotence in the pre-Crown game might be to let him choose between assasinating his target or taking a trophy. This way, if he uses his ability to have a merry field trip through a raging herd of wild animals he is not going to develop his strength to take on the Crown.
I haven't play tested this idea, but if anyone tries post it up here.
Given that a die roll (d6) has an average value of 3.5, if the assassin's ability can be used on functionally anything, it makes his effective Strength a 6.5 at the game's outset.
He defeats or ties every character but the knight and troll in combat every time without rolling, and has an 83% chance of tying or defeating the knight and a 66% chance of tying or defeating the Troll. That's on turn one.
Additionally, as an evil character, he can replenish his 3 fate for free at the graveyard, meaning that in the 17% or 33% of losses against those 2 characters, he has plenty of fate to spend, effectively reducing his loss percentages to 2.9% and 11%.
If he can assassinate enemy monsters when drawn, he defeats or ties the early game monsters Hydra and Serpent 100% of the time and even the impressive Strength 5 Ogre effectively 97.1% of the time (including fate).
If this is allowed, he will escalate as though his strength is higher than the Troll's. Also, his Craft is higher than the Warrior's (who is supposed to be a master of combat), and he has nearly the fate of the Ghoul and may spend it freely.
Given the fact that the only three comparably Strength-intense characters all have one fate, and none of them are evil (meaning they cannot freely replenish it), the Assassin would clearly be an imbalanced character if played as suggested , capable of defeating a drawn dragon 66% of the time on turn one with the use of one third of his starting fate. Compare that to the Troll's 27% chance for victory (he can't risk spending his only fate on the first turn), and you'll see that Strength contests stop being contests if you play the assassin as suggested.
As for the rulebook, on page 10 it suggests that "a battle occurs when a charracter is attacked by a creature" suggesting that the Assassin's ability can never be used, and on page 11 it says that a Wizard who draws a Giant "decides to attack the Giant" rather than casting Invisibility, suggesting the assassin's ability can always be used. So I don't think the book itself is particularly definitive in any sense. I do believe the old version (4), mentioned being attacked by drawn creatures, but I didn't spot it in a cursory perusal of 4.5.
But also keep in mind that the Assassin's effective strength of 6.5 in battle only occurs when he is the aggressor against another character - approximately only half the time. When the Knight or Troll attacks him at the start of the game he is in trouble.
Also remember that, in most games, the only time PvP combat is really important is on the Crown of Command and the Assassin is the only Character who can't use his special ability at this location. Everyone else can still use their abilities against him. This gives him a critical disadvantage in the final battle. Therefore, he needs to be able to pick up lots of trophies quick and early if he is going to stand a chance at the Crown.
In all the games I've played with the Assassin (the Assassin being controlled by another player - I haven't played him yet) the Assassin wipes the board with his feet in the early game and everyone gasps with astonishment as his scoops up trophies with one hand, but the final battle at the Crown has always been a neck-on-neck finish. In fact the Assassin hasn't actually won a game yet in my group, although he has come very close - down to one or two lifepoints difference. (We haven't had that many games yet, though, so don't base any house rules completely on my experience!)
Augustisimus said:
Also remember that, in most games, the only time PvP combat is really important is on the Crown of Command and the Assassin is the only Character who can't use his special ability at this location. Everyone else can still use their abilities against him. This gives him a critical disadvantage in the final battle. Therefore, he needs to be able to pick up lots of trophies quick and early if he is going to stand a chance at the Crown.
Of course, there are several other characters with no special abilities usable at CoC either (Elf, Knight,Troll...). PvP only important at CoC? Around here, PvP happens every game, at times with lethal results. If I'm playing Assassin, I'll be hanging in the area with the other chars and each time I have a chance to land on them, I'll do so (note that we use the old-Assassin as house-rule, so no insta-killing monsters you draw). If others leave easy pickings of monsters, so much better (happens quite a bit if the other chars are Str 2). That way I can choose to either take a Life from another char or go for the easy trophy.
Augustisimus said:
If he is getting so many trophies, why is he at a disadvantage at CoC? He should power to about Str 9-11in no time, then rush the Crown, before anybody else is even at Str 5 (assuming others are Str 2 starters). In my games, even using old Assassin, it's never about him not having enough Str to be "the man" at the Crown. Mostly he seems unlucky in that Talismans give him a wide berth.
Dam said:
If he is getting so many trophies, why is he at a disadvantage at CoC? He should power to about Str 9-11in no time, then rush the Crown, before anybody else is even at Str 5 (assuming others are Str 2 starters). In my games, even using old Assassin, it's never about him not having enough Str to be "the man" at the Crown. Mostly he seems unlucky in that Talismans give him a wide berth.
Actually, if you're the assassin, you've no real need to rush the crown unless there's a dwarf or gnome afoot. You can kill other players and take anything they have with ease, or because your strength advanced so quickly, take any items from them you like. Several items, including the Runesword and Fate Stealer also give you a pretty nice added bonus whenever you take life, making the assassin even better. Add to that the fact that you get up to 3 fate for free in the graveyard... if you're playing against several players and there are 2 within range of the graveyard, you have a 1:2 chance of landing on a player or the yard... but with fate, your odds increase significantly to hit them.
It's just unplayably good. We played a game last night where the assassin couldn't do the draw/kill iajutsu ninja slash, and she (player) still had a good shot at winning, in large part by assassinating all of the surviving monsters on the board.