Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Vampire Queen, and that Ghost King I believe(even worse I think), can easily become an assassin with the Black Heart. Any sneaking unit can.

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

Just wanted to make a triple confirmation. The Mictlan pretender, Lord of Night, CAN assassinate commanders.

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I know, I know, I'm just saying it's thematically appropriate for her to have it "out of the box". If nerfing is in order, you could always take away one of her misc slots, as in "My heart's so black I can't wear a ring, ma!"

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

An assassin pretender does not, in my opinion, need balancing. Assassins are useful, but not unbalancing. An assassin pretender can annoy, but is unlikely to hamstring a decently prepared opponent.

As for the Vampire Queen, you can gear her up to eat entire armies, so why bother with just the commanders? That said, I agree, it does fit thematically. As such, I would argue for giving her assassination and toning down some of her other powers.

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

Would an assassinating pretender that flies, such as the Vampire Queen with the heart, be viable strategy at eating away at gem hoarding early? Or does being in a fortress protect them from such?

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Assassinating can strike inside of a fort, yes, as long as the fort is not being sieged. Being inside of a fort is not a protection against assassination unless your fort is being besieged.

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">But if they're hoarding stuff in their capitol, you're not going to have many hps there and the proper bodyguards (something flying maybe) might be able to rip you up.

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Does seem more reasonable. Not that Dominions2 takes inspiration from movies or literature, but vampires generally are fantastic at slaying individuals, but not army-destroyers. (Oriental Vampires in martial arts movies being an exception.)

[Edit : Then again - most vampires in books and movies aren't aspiring to Doghood.]

[ April 18, 2004, 00:05: Message edited by: Cainehill ]

Re: Pretender assassin - balance?
 

I'm still tinkering with the idea of a Pretender assassin for the Malazan Empire mod I'm (slowly) working on. I can't see that an assassin pretender would be over-powerful, but a huge-sized assassin is a bit silly, IMO. If a Titan wants you dead, he kicks over your house and lights it on fire with lightning, he doesn't find 2 really tall buildings to hide between and then drop a chimney on you when you walk past.

Besides, it comes down to utility. A huge combat beast doesn't need to be an assassin, likewise a killer mage. But a sneaky assassin pretender would be a pain to get rid of, and surgical strikes would be easy, plus even a well-defended mage or commander would have some serious problems when a pretender swings in the window. So, stealthy preacher, almost uncatchable pretender and assassin? I don't know about anybody else, but I could find some use for that.