<font color=plum>Returning to an earlier topic of discussion, I saw a perfect example of "good assassins" yesterday in a movie I watched. It was the movie "Hero" (starring Jet Li) and it showed how individuals with good motivations could still be considered assassins.</font>

Uggh, I hated that film :D

<font color=plum>Well, I think my assassin has definitely decided to dual to a mage when the time comes. I am currently trying to kill that damn otyugh in the Sewer Room and it is just eating me alive. I seriously regret sending Imoen on ahead. She could kill this thing with just a couple of simple spells. Meanwhile, I'm having to run in, Backstab (which I shouldn't even be able to do, but I'll take what help I can get) and then run out and HOPE I make my save vs the Poison from the Dolorous Decay. I can handle the other effects fairly well, but the poison eats up about 3/4 of my hit points each time - which in turn eats up my precious healing potions.

I'm thinking that Improved Illyich and company are gonna be a breeze compared to this monstrosity.</font>

<font color=plum>YEAH BABY!!!! I FINALLY took that ugly beast down. After countless tries, I finally managed to get a max hit on my backstab.

I had hit the otyugh once already and managed to save against most of the effects from the Dolorous Decay. I quickly ran into the corridor leading to the library, waited for the effects I didn't save against to wear off and went back into stealth mode. I snuck up behind the beast and did hit it for <font color=yellow>80 points of damage</font> from my backstab!!! WooooHoooo!

I took it from "Barely Injured" down to dead in one shot. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] I honostly wasn't expecting that. I was hoping to do enough damage to get him down to "Injured" or "Badly Injured" and make my save vs poison again so I could sneak back in for a 3rd try before he regenerated too much. But the next thing I knew, he fell and a huge swarm of flying maggots surrounded me (yuuuucck).

After defeating the otyugh, I searched further into the Chateau. Looked through Johnny's bedroom and avoided the encounter in the portal room (for now). Met the dryads and then found the Mistress' Bedroom. After setting off the alarm, I grabbed the loot and ran back to the Sewer Room to give myself as many escape routes as possible. Good decision. Two clay golems came lumbering into the room.

I was already in Stealth Mode, so I hit the first one with a backstab, killing it with one shot. I then had to run for my ever-loving life to get away from the second one. I ran down the corridor that led to the cages, then continued running into the room with the Mineral Deposits in it. I ran around the big crystal in the middle of the room and back into the room with the big machine in the middle of it. This had been my favorite "ambush spot" against the duergar. I would run into that room, go around the corner and Hide in Shadows. It worked just as well on the Clay Golem and another Backstab eliminated his threat.

After that, it was back to Irenicus' bedroom and into that darkened room to the side. YIKES! A duergar mage, two fighters and 5 war dogs. I used arrows to pick the dogs off one by one. Then attacked the mage. I dispelled his first <font color=silver>Stoneskin</font> and managed to resist most of the spells he cast at me. Then I started pinging him with arrows again to dispel his second <font color=silver>Stoneskin</font>. It worked, but I paid the price. I got pounded with two <font color=lime>Acid Arrows</font> and two <font color=red>Magic Missile</font> spells. YOUUUCH!!!

But once his second <font color=silver>Stoneskin</font> went down, he was mine. I hid in shadows, snuck in behind him, and chunkified him with one shot. His two fighter buddies came after me, but a long game of Hide and Seek/Backstab left them dead in their armor.

I snuck into the library and saw this Illyich dwarf, along with some of his colleagues. This fight might not be as easy as I expected it to be after all.

BTW, two MORE duergar spawned in Johnny's room while I was attacking the mage in the portal room. I finally decided that was just TOO ridiculous and used CNTRL-Y on them. It's bad enough these jokers spawn after every rest, but when they start popping up in the middle of an ongoing battle, that's the time to stop even TRYING to roleplay. That crap just ain't right.</font>

i've always fancied this as an idea and started one last night as an alternative to the assasin->fighter i'd been mulling over - i see what you mean about 'restrictive' the one attack per round would limit you just wading in and smacking people around i'd have thought which probably isn't a bad thing

a little bit of speculative testing suggested that dualling after UAI not only allows you to carry on using edged weapons but also retains your proficiency points for when you re-activate the assassin - very nice . . . very nice indeed [img]smile.gif[/img]

UAI stays active while the assasin class is inactive too, i notice, which would be very helpful to a low level cleric i'd have thought in a 'wand of cloudkill' kind of way ;)

the swashbuckler gains a +1 to hit and damage every 5 levels. If we were to dual him to a fighter at level 10, would he keep his +2 hit and damage by adding it onto the fighter's stats either immediately or when i re-activate my old class? Or would the fighter class stats override this bonus and give me the normal stats that a thief/fighter would have dualed at level 10?

<font color=plum>Yeah, I realized last night that, if I play my assassin high enough to get UAI, then I could most likely wear the elven chain mail from the Astral Prison while casting spells as a mage. Very Nice. Don't know if that would be a better advantage than Robe of Vecna or not.</font>