Why did they make such a weak assassin kit?

I was reading a book by Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice, and it got me interested in the checking out the assassin kit. Is it just me or do they just suck? All they have is the poison ability and then they only get 15% to distribute toward thief skills. Seems like the negative way outweighs the positive.

Has anyone played the assassin and have any good things to say about them? I'm just really disappointed in this kit. Where are the bonuses to stealth and hide-in-shadows you would think they should get? Oh, I forgot, they get a +1 to hit and +1 to damage, WOOHOO!! Gimme a break. Anyway, just my take.

[Hellfire]

other than a poison dagger how many other thief kits can coat their weapons with poison
i love thief's so be kind about them

I'm one for the tactics of a thief character myself, but I agree with Kalgrog about the assassin being a bad class. I think that an apropriate compromise would be to allow the assassin to become more than proficient with small arms like daggers and shortswords, darts, assassin-like weapons. At least that way, the assassin would hits his or her target. Other than that, the 15 skill point limitation would be worth it.

Agreed, Megilindar. I'm not trying to put the thief class down. I'm just trying to understand why the makers of the game did put down the class (this kit anyway) and grossly neglected even trying to flesh out this kit properly. I wanted to try out this kit because of my excitement and enjoyment of reading about an assassin-in-training (a real assassin btw). This kit in BG2 is not an assassin. He is more accurately a hamstrung thief with the ability to dose his weapon with poison. What a disappointment. Might as well just play a normal thief.

[Rikard_OHF]

Ehm have you really read the manuel?
the best thing is the 7*backstab you get at XP cap
and and going up

I have read the manual thank you. My only complaint is about the Assassin kit, not thieves in general. I like them very much and think they are essential to any well-rounded group. I just think the assassin kit they gave us was a mistake and didn't correctly characterize an assassin, as far as abilities and advantages. Obviously, an assassin would excel greatly in dagger and short sword type weapons, far more than normal thieves since they specialize in KILLING PEOPLE. All the makers gave this poor sot is a +1 to hit and a +1 to damage as far as melee. Plus, an assassin is a master of the night, much more so than a normal thief. He has no bonuses to stealth or hide-in-shadows currently. That is my point. They didn't even try to do something with the assassin kit, or were scared to.

Maybe this is another sublte hint by the makers to steer the gamers to goodness or some other such foolhardy plan. I play good characters more often than not, but you do not promote a system of belief or way of living by sublty misrepresenting a profession that has been around since the beginning of time.

They made the assassin suck so you wouldn't want to play it. That is the only reason I can come up for. And as far as I know the assassin gains no extra backstab over that of a normal thief.

Ive played with an assasin and i agree that the makers of the game forgot that the poison stuff aint good enough to lift up the assasin kid from being one of the worst classes in the game.

I agree completely that the assasin kit could have been better. In effect the designers have reduced the ability of an assasin to hide in shadows by reducing the amount of skill points awarded per level. As it stands any normal thief has more points to assign to stealth and hide in shadows, given a poison dagger they are essentially better than an assasin. Maybe if they had some way of controlling specific abilities... a limit to trap detecting or pick pocketing profficiencies would have provided a suitable balance for the improved sneak and kill ability. As it stands an assasin loses more than he/she gains through selecting the kit.

[Rikard_OHF]

normal thieves stop at 5* backstab
assassins stop at 9* backstab if i'm right

The x7 backstab (and upward as it appears) is not listed anywhere in the manual or on the thief kit description in game, but has been pretty well publicized in discussions about the thief kits. As for not having enough points to distribute, just put most of your points in stealth (up to 85 so boots of stealth cover the rest) and then put points in lockpick and trap setting. It still won't take that long to max out your skills.

They are still considered the best thief kit by most, you just have to learn to use them. The poison is basically unresistable (it appears that even undead will take the damage) and the constant damage interrupts all casters. You can make short work of spell casters if you get a hit on before they trigger their contingencies. Either backstab or use a bow with bracers of archery and then drink an invis potion to backstab.