Precision murder in service to the Imperium. Stealth, infiltration, poisons, sniper shots, blades, sabotage, disguise, and eliminating the one person in the room who cannot be allowed to keep breathing.
The mission ends when the target does.
The Assassin is a living weapon aimed at a single problem.
An Assassin does not win by holding ground, giving speeches, or outlasting the battlefield. They win by choosing the correct target, reaching the correct angle, wearing the correct face, applying the correct toxin, pulling the correct trigger, and leaving before the room understands that history has changed.
Some Assassins kill from a rooftop. Some kill from inside another person's identity. Some kill as a screaming chemical event. Some kill by making witches forget how to breathe. Some kill with ritual blades in the shadow of a shrine.
The class fantasy is simple:
An Assassin survives through Agility, Intellect, stealth, preparation, precision, misdirection, forbidden conditioning, and the absolute clarity of the kill.
The Assassin should not play like a generic sneaky damage class. The class should create moments like:
The Assassin should be extremely dangerous against chosen targets, but fragile when exposed, surrounded, or forced into fair fights.
Execution Protocols are the Assassin's signature class mechanic.
An Execution Protocol is a prepared kill method, targeting sequence, infiltration trigger, combat drug surge, null-field pressure, ritual strike, or escape plan. Protocols let the Assassin turn preparation and positioning into decisive violence.
Where Guardsmen issue Orders and Inquisitors declare Mandates, Assassins execute Protocols.
Execution DC = 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Agility modifier
If a Protocol is primarily about disguise, infiltration, planning, or poison, the GM may allow Intellect instead of Agility. If a Protocol is primarily about fear, null-presence, or resisting psychic intrusion, the GM may allow Willpower instead.
Execution Protocols are special. Assassins do not gain a new Protocol every level.
Some Assassin Protocols refer to a Deathmarked target.
A Deathmarked target is the Assassin's chosen kill priority: the officer, witch, cult leader, monster, witness, bodyguard, rival killer, or single problem that must stop breathing before the mission can end.
Deathmarked is not a broad battlefield leadership tool. It is murder narrowed into doctrine.
A name becomes a wound before the blade arrives.
| Assassin Level | Execution Protocols Known |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 |
| 9 | 5 |
| 13 | 6 |
| 17 | 7 |
This progression is a working draft. Protocols should remain meaningful and powerful, not become a bloated list of minor tricks.
Target: One visible creature, known identity, confirmed objective, or tracked target.
Mark the target as Deathmarked. Until the end of the scene, the first attack, Stealth check, Guile check, Awareness check, or Inquiry check made by you against the Deathmarked target gains +2. You may only have one active Deathmarked target unless a feature says otherwise.
The kill begins before the weapon moves.
Target: Self.
If you have cover, concealment, elevation, darkness, surprise, or a clean firing lane, your next ranged attack against your Deathmarked target before the end of your turn gains +2 to hit. If you used Aim this turn, add your Proficiency Bonus to the damage if the attack hits.
A battlefield is just geometry with witnesses.
Target: Self.
After you hit a target, miss a target, or become the target of an attack, you may immediately move 5 feet toward cover, concealment, darkness, smoke, a crowd, or an escape route. This movement does not trigger Reactive Fire from your Deathmarked target.
The shot is loud. Your absence is louder.
Target: One Deathmarked target within weapon range.
Your next successful attack against the Deathmarked target before the end of your turn deals additional damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. If the target is Exposed, Pinned, Frightened, unaware of you, disguised against you, or engaged with one of your allies, add +2 damage as well.
The final inch is where training lives.
Target: Self.
Gain Advantage on one Guile check to pass as someone else, avoid recognition, bluff through security, mimic procedure, or delay suspicion. If this brings you within reach, line of sight, or private access to your Deathmarked target, you may immediately ask the GM one question:
Identity is armor. Some armor fits poorly after the throat is cut.
Target: One weapon, dose, drink, injector, wound, or prepared opportunity.
Before the end of the scene, the next time you hit your Deathmarked target with a weapon attack or successfully deliver poison, toxin, combat drug, or sabotage, the target must make a Toughness Save against your Execution DC. On failure, choose one:
Not every blade is metal.
Target: Self.
After your Deathmarked target drops to 0 Vitality, surrenders, flees, or is confirmed neutralized, you may immediately move up to half your Movement toward cover, concealment, an exit, a crowd, a vehicle, or a prepared route. This movement does not trigger Reactive Fire from enemies who did not directly witness your attack.
Survival is part of the contract.
Assassin progression uses Doctrine Trees.
Doctrine Trees replace the idea of a locked subclass plus scattered feature choices. An Assassin does not choose one permanent subclass and then receive a random pile of features. Instead, they earn Doctrine Points and spend them across Assassin Doctrine Trees.
A player may specialize deeply in one tree or spread points across several to become a broader sniper, infiltrator, berserker, null-killer, or ritual blade.
Doctrine Trees represent the method by which the Assassin was trained to end lives.
Each rank costs 1 Doctrine Point and requires the previous rank in that tree unless future rules say otherwise.
Assassins gain 1 Doctrine Point at every even level.
| Assassin Level | Doctrine Points Gained |
|---|---|
| 2 | +1 |
| 4 | +1 |
| 6 | +1 |
| 8 | +1 |
| 10 | +1 |
| 12 | +1 |
| 14 | +1 |
| 16 | +1 |
| 18 | +1 |
| 20 | +1 |
This progression is a working draft. Final class balance may change after the other classes are designed.
Longshot assassins believe the perfect kill happens before the target knows they were in danger.
If you use Aim and do not move this turn, your next ranged attack against your Deathmarked target deals extra damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
When attacking from elevation, cover, concealment, darkness, smoke, or an unexpected firing lane, ignore Light Cover against your Deathmarked target. If you used Aim, you may also ignore Heavy Cover at the GM's discretion if the shot is plausible.
When you hit your Deathmarked target with a ranged attack, you may ask the GM one:
Once per safe rest, when you use Perfect Angle, you may treat your ranged weapon as scoring a Critical Hit on a natural 19–20 for that attack. If the weapon already scores Critical Hits on 19–20, add your Proficiency Bonus to the damage instead.
Once per safe rest, when you hit your Deathmarked target with a ranged attack after using Aim, add your Assassin level to the damage. If this drops the target to 0 Vitality, you may immediately use Exit Plan without spending a Protocol Use.
Distance is not safety. It is a measurement.
Design note: Longshot Temple should be terrifying at range, but vulnerable when rushed, exposed, or denied firing lanes.