Pretender assassin - balance?

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Anglachel:
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?

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.

[Yossar]

Originally posted by Anglachel:
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?

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.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Vicious Love:
Soooo...does this mean the Vampire Queen should be an assassin?
Obscenely powerful or otherwise, it just seems thematically appropriate.

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 ]

[Murph]

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.