ToME WikiSirMaur: As of now, Assassins are quite pointless. Swordmasters own them in every respect, except for their .7 spirituality mod and stealth. Most of the other skills they get are either worthless or grow at like .1/point.
While I am not suggesting that we 'rebalance' them, I am suggesting that we give people a reason to play as them, rather than just becoming a swordmaster and getting lost sword quests in stealth.
Following up on the critical hit skill, here's what I was thinking:
Add a new 'N' ability, dual-wielding, that would allow you to dual-wield two weapons if both weigh <= 5 pounds. I'm pegging the required points for the skill at around 25 or so - less than mimicry, at any rate. I wouldn't add a damage reduction for the blades either, the relative scarcity of good daggers should be enough, and you should obviously do more damage with the skill than without it.
Not only does this give players a reason to put points in critical hits, it also gives them a reason to use the class in the first place.
Thoughts?
NeilStevens: Don't forget backstabbing, stealing, trapping, and critical-hits. Let's see your swordmaster get those.
TobiasParke: See one of the learning competitions (October i think) for a bunch of successful Hobbit Assassins.
SirMaur: Holy crap.
I was dredgeing up some info on .oook to try to prove that critical hits was worthless. I convinced myself that it's worth trying, actually. >_<
Still, stealing is worthless (dex increases will suffice for everything, unless you want to steal a pdsm or something), and backstab is just one x2 blow at the beginning of a fight (and maybe a couple others after you've already won -_-). I'm not going to comment on trapping as I've never tried it.
I still say assassins should have another extra ability/skill of some sort added, and this one'd be very in-character. Even critical hits that can be surpassed by swordmasters just by worshipping Tulkas. :/
how about a new skill of ambidexterity that allows roges to doubble their attacks but lowers the damage and to hit. As they become more ambidexteros the weapond skills rise back up to normal. The idea is that ther swap hands continuosly throuought the fight.
NeilStevens: Check the development mailing list archives and you'll find my analysis of Critical-hits, that shows that an assassin with a good Shadow Blade really does benefit from the skill.
In any case, with the split between Swords and Knives completed for ToME 3, there will be plenty of room for work to be done on assassins.