Assassin Idea

[Yeliu]

I had a really neat idea, at least in my opinion, after finishing Book I yet again. This time I put a lot more emphasis on stealth: putting many more skill points on moving silently and hiding in shadows.

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could assassinate your enemies? Basically, if you have a Move Silently skill level of 5, a Hide Shadows of 5, and Short Bladed weapons of 5... then you could sneak up behind your enemy (you would need to be facing their back); assuming you were hidden, silent, and using your dagger; and stab them straight through the neck, killing them in one turn. Thus, essentially, if you were in some dungeon, you could kill most of your enemies by stealth. I personally would love this.

Another idea, to complement this, would be to have "Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder". For those of you that haven't read Harry Potter, it would be a weapon, kind of like Demon Oil, but that would cast a large area into complete darkness, only allowing you to see. It would be pretty expensive, or you would need quite a high level of Alchemy to make it, but with it, you could kill many enemies (by stealth) while they cannot see.

[Unclever title]

Or why not a flashbomb that temporarily blinds your enemies so that they can't see making you effectively hidden in shadows? Obviously both would be effective and useful in game, though one would be localized to an area where the other would probably not last as long.

[Samurai Drakon]

Oh my god, I like! I like!

Assassinations we're truly left out of E1. Attacking in the dark while using something too see (and not miss all the time) was nice all, but was rendered near useless considering an enemy could counter (though hopefully miss) and squash my miserable rogue. Thus I used a bow on the minotaurs of course, instead of my flimsy body and dagger.

It would be cool if you could have the possibility of insta-kills, with a percentage of probability. Success decided by darkness, the enemy not knowing your presence and attacking from behind. This however wouldn't be possible on bosses and heavily armored foes would of course be hardest to eleminate this way.

I also like the idea for rogue equipement. Though he is most well suited to fight at night, it would be nice if he could stand a chance in a lit situation as well. The smoke bomb would help.
I recall a scene from the Lord of The Rings where Frodo and Sam encounter patroling evil humans (they looked like arabs lol), and they hide under a sheet that makes them look like a rock. And so they avoid detection by camouflaging. It would be cool if you could use a similar method to avoid detection in daylight (or torchlight) and possibly to avoid those enemies that can see in the dark (the Beholder thing, for example)... kinda like Solid Snake and his box... then there's the invisibility cloak/ring/whatever, but that would be unfair...

I've been recently playing Splinter Cell, though my favorite is the Thief series!

[Janusz11]

Hey, I had the same idea! One night when I finished playing Eschalon Book I and went to bed, I thought about how great it would be to have an Assassin-character in Eschalon. A character that isn't good with long bladed weapons or axes but is a master of short bladed weapons. A character that can silently and swiftly move in the darkness and makes best use of shadows. A master of lockpicks and deception. That would be so fantastic!

I'd love to have such a character in Eschalon. A character with which I could sneak through the darkness, can hide in the shadows or behind cover. A character that can kill with one strike with his one or even two short bladed knifes (if the first strike with the first knife fails, the second will hit its target) and with which I can sneak away again after the deadly hit has been delivered.

[Unclever title]

Thinking on it I don't think Strength and Speed are the best two defining attributes for short bladed weaponry. Speed is fine and appropriate of course. But due mostly to how light the weapons are in fact weight doesn't really come into play in how you handle a dagger like how you would handle an axe or a mace or even a sword for that matter, so I think strength is a poor attribute in this choice.

Perhaps a better attribute would be dexterity, or more interestingly, intelligence.

You know, knowledge of anatomy. First the basics like where the heart is in the enemy (I imagine it varies with monsters) or how to spot a weak point in general, but then other things more specific and difficult like how to best judge the spacing of the ribs in an opponent to encounter the least resistance to your strike, cause you certainly can't judge by feel (not till after they're dead) and you won't always be able to spot them visually.

Also there are the strategies of cutting tendons, disembowelment, etc, but those could be done with most any bladed weapon. Then again this stuff might fall under skill, but this attribute might be especially useful for use with a smaller weapon.

Not to mention this gives a more decent melee weapon for Magick Users who rely on intelligence anyways.

Also this would add to factors in deciding a weapon type.