Did a search came up blank, my question is the Assassin's Assassinate ability say's

"You may assassinate when attack a character or creature. You cannot assassinate when you are attacked by another character."

It says you may cannot assassinate when you are attacked by another character, it does not mention creature, so on encounters my fellow gamers say they can assassinate the monsters, dragons, or whatever "creature"

I don't agree, and I usually use the old rule of 1-3 yes or 4-6 no rule when there are game discrepancies, but they argue the ability only states a restriction against character attacks, not creatures, so there is no discrepancy.

Now do you play it?

As written, and clarified by the official FAQ, and many threads on this board, there is no restriction on Creatures (which include enemy cards, board foes, like the Sentinel, and so on). You draw a card? You can assassinate. You pass the sentinel? You can assassinate. You land on the Lord of Darkness from the Dungeon? You can assassinate. Period. The end.

Now, that's also one of the most "home-ruled" rules where many in the community says "You can assassinate only face up cards" (some add creatures, some don't), but then, home rules are as home rules does. Pick this if you want to modify it.

But, overall, the assassin in safe from most ST enemy cards. Sure, you have bad luck and pick a pair of dragons ST 7, or get the basilisk card (you die automatically if it rolls doubles, no Fate), but, the Assassin is a one trick pony. Please note he can't assassinate in Craft.

Tons-Home-rules said:

He is one viciously powerful one-trick pony, though.

True. Though, as personal preference, I prefer to be backstabbed by the assassin and hope my Armor / Spell / Follower / etc... soaks up the Life loss, then that "nibbled to death by ducks" feeling when the thief lands on you and you lose item, then, soon, when he lands on you again, and you lose another...

And another...

And Another.

AND ANOTHER.

I've been known to alchemise everything I own, just because there's a thief on the board, just Cuz.

Tons-Home-rules said:

So did he come after you to take the gold?

Nope. As soon as I alchemized everything, I was "no longer worth his time". Unless the Academy or some such comes out, Gold is usually pretty ubiquitous. Alchemizing with the thief on the board makes him go bother someone else, someone that prefers to "risk it" when he comes to poach on you.

I also tend to avoid player hunting, but I WILL try and kill the thief... every time... no exceptions. Almost every other character, I leave alone.

Yeah, I agree with you there. Kill the thief or at the very least Toadify him. And throw every Random spell at him, always.

Tons-Home-rules said:

Curious thought, isn't the Assassin immune to basilisk? I mean, no dice rolls for it, so no doubles?

Dam said:

Very good point. The thing is, there are contradictions (big surprise), in the rules. I’ll get to the assassin vs basilisk thing eventually (honest), but this is how our thought process worked.

Hypothesis 1 = There are only “real” rolls.

Meaning, for example, you don’t roll for movement in the Inner Region. And, as per FAQs and board posts, since you don’t roll, many movement spells, abilities, objects etc… can’t be triggered in the Inner Region. This is official.

Apply the same logic to attack rolls, and the assassin is immune to the Basilisk.

Hypothesis 2 = There are things such as “potential” rolls. (My words re: potential)

When you get the Poltergeist, you move 1. No roll. The end. However, it has been said (FAQ and Board again) that, at the temple, if captured, you aren’t screwed forever. You do a “potential” roll for movement, and if you get 4, 5 or 6, then you “potentially rolled” (say) 5, so you’re not captured anymore, but that Poltergeist beings you down to a 1, and you move 1 away from the Temple. This is also official.

Apply the same logic to attack rolls, and the assassin is killed if the Basilisk rolls doubles, but otherwise, ignore the result when it comes to combat. Basilisk adds neither roll to its ST.

Hypothesis 3 = There is a mix and match.

Very VERY likely this is how it works officially. No “potential” rolls for the inner region. Yes “potential” roles for poltergeist + temple. And those aren’t the only 2 situations. Remember the exceptions and what falls where. Sounds the most intuitive NOW, but, as the expansions get more and more numerous, we’re going to have to have a laundry list of what is a “real” roll only, and what gets a “potential” roll. This hasn’t been verbatim said, but is logical.

Apply the same logic to attack rolls, and well, it hasn’t been explicitly said, one way or another in any FAQ if you do 1- (don’t roll), or 2- (“potential roll” as per Temple). Ergo, welcome 30 min discussion, each time, more if add beer, till it’s answered here.

Personally, we apply Hypothesis 2 for everything, to save on sanity, which does contradict some rules. When you’re in the inner region, you roll your movement dice, and can use spell effects to teleport (unless the spell explicitly says “Not in Inner Region”), you move death on a “1” etc… Ditto with attack rolls that have a special.

Meaning, explicitly, we’d roll for the Basilisk. If doubles, you die even if the enemy never adds its result to the attack roll. If you have a poisoned dagger and roll a “1”, you add 1 to your total, but not the result of the second roll.

Or, said more simply, we ALWAYS roll, even when you miss your turn, just to simplify. That way, death can move on your missed turn, the troll can regenerate (missing another turn on top of that, and so in). Ditto that for attack rolls, or some such. We think it’s easier to apply “Always roll, but ignore the result if needed.”. Last 3 paragraphs are home rules, obviously, but the following isn't.

However, to my knowledge at least, the assassin + basilisk combo was never, by the strictest definition, stated in any FAQ (though there are lots of pages of board, so I might have missed it). Someone could use the Temple + Poltergeist combo as precedent to ask for an official ruling on the basilisk vs the assassin (which, likely, will be an “assassin is immune”) but the player would be allowed to ask for a “ref call” here on the boards. And we’re in limbo / home rule territory till then.

Sorry to be wordy, but it’s a “punch drunk tired before bed” kind of thing. Night.

The Assassin may assassinate the Basilisk. The Basilisk does not roll any dice for its attack roll. The Assassin rolls the die as normal. Therefore the Basilisk may never kill the Assassin, unless he is a Toad!

Ell.

Long time Talisman player 2nd and 3rd edition before getting revised 4th, New to this Forum.

Can someone direct me to this Offical FAQ, so I can print it out.

Also I'm not sure how this search works, because I just tried again to do a search on "Assassin" in the the Talisman forum and the only result on got back was my topic.

Thanks.

Board Games -> Talisman -> Support:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Talisman/support/talisman-faq1-0.pdf

My search for "assassin" gave out 24 pages of results and just in the Talisman forums .

thanks for the link,

Got the search working right now thanks again

talismanamsilat said:

Thank you. I appreciate the prompt reply. I did expect it to go that way.

Might I suggest that we eliminate “potential” rolls altogether then i.e. get rid of those exceptions like Poltergeist + temple. I like things simple, uniform, little to no exceptions.

The odds of you getting a Poltergeist ON the temple is almost NIL, since it’s not a draw card space, and it’ll only be there if someone dies on the temple due to loss of life AND has the Poltergeist. And, if you have the Poltergeist, choosing to go to the temple is unwise, and few things can send you to the temple against your will.

Sure, it means Poltergeist + Temple + Enslaved + Fail Fate means = sucks to be you for the rest of the game… but, speaking personally, opening the can of worms of “Roll for movement in the temple, even when you don’t roll for movement” caused many MANY arguments about situations that arose for “See? There, you roll even you’re not supposed to. So why can’t I roll here?”

Sadly, I suspect it will go the rules + exceptions route, and, I am lucky that most people in my group have turned around and decided these boards are “official” rather than have an argument over every unclear rule in the game. But I’d suggest a player losing to Poltergeist + Enslaved is a small price to pay over 100 more “Assassin + Basilisk” type questions that will arise in the future.

Anyhow, thanks again for the official reply.