Pretender assassin - balance?

[Gandalf Parker]

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.

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.

[Anglachel]

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

[Vicious Love]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
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.

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!"

[Saxon]

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.

[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?

[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.