Non-edgy assassins

It's pretty difficult to make 'I kill people for money' not edgy.

It'd be easier as a merc. Sometimes people are desperate, or it's the only feasible way to sate the wanderlust, but being an assassin specifically requires either a warped set of personal standards or dark set of circumstances to make sense.

I guess you make it a no-nonesense type of commando or spec ops. character. Like an actual soldier who's just about killing the target, but they'd still have to be kind of messed up to be in that line of work. Either they'd be a little twisted from the training that broke them down and built them into something else, or they'd be a natural sociopath.

Was he not just describing John Wick? I thought that was the joke

Nah ignore the last bit. It was me realizing he was essentially john wick.

I figure he has a family he wants to look out for. Only reason to start working more might be to pay for his wife's treatment, or perhaps to cover the cost of meds to control lycanthropy picked up on a job, or various other terrible, possibly karmic, but controllable things.

Shit, I'd play this character with lycanthropy, that is, on the full moon he locks himself up and drinks a wolf bane tea as the full moon approaches. Started adventuring to avoid harming his wife and maybe see if anyone can cure him.

Just a guy who's really good at killing folks who got caught up in some mystical mumbo jumbo and wants out.

That said 's idea is better.

Yeah probably... but i wanted some orijinale and fun concepts

...

I have a Trandoshan bounty hunter lined up for a Star Wars game who does his job because he's good at it, he enjoys the thrill of the hunt, and he doesn't have to feel bad about his targets because they're inevitably scum to the man.
He doesn't usually kill them, either, mostly because the guys he brings them to generally want them in one piece.
Yeah, sure, he's a sarcastic asshole who keeps an arms removed count, but his Vibro-Axe is named Chop II: Chop Harder, for fuck's sake.

Underrated

youtube.com/watch?v=LhqbaC8HbA4
this

Assasins would usually require a few things:

-An information network.
-Social and acting skills to blend in.
-A wide range of proficiencies in crafts that can serve as a cover.
-Skill with medicine and poison.
-And an excessively trained body for dangerous missons.

So you end up with a Charismatic Monk.

>Nobody expects the Spanish Assassination

Make the assassin very religious. He's devoted to some cause greater than himself.

Getting stoned off his ass before a mission is optional.

Bob Ross sniper with a Crossbow

/thread

This guy.

Billy Mays sniper with a crossbow. He's a crossbow salesman who wants to rack up all the monster kills to prove his crossbow is the best crossbow ever designed, guaranteed.

This

Make the assassin be a bubbly japanese highschool girl who's dark secret is that she's in the assassination club, which is in the danger of being closed for lack of members other than herself, but can't really look for new members since it's supposed to be a secret club, and also has a penis.

How bout just an a really obvious amateur, no ninja skills no high speed low drag operators just a man with pipe. You pay Moni, and he pipes'em

I kek'd

Alternatively, the assassin could be an adventurer cursed by a lich to maintain mandatory kill count every day/week/month/year otherwise he'll die a painful and slow death by having all his lifeforce drain from him. He fears discovery and prosecution, so he naturally turns to the life of an assassin.

Steering into the autism for ending it

Natalie portman at the height of her career.

I like it

>Be assassin of assassin god
>Treat every contract as a holy writ
>Every assassination is carried out with all the somber respectfulness of a religious ceremony
>If you met him in the street you might mistake him for a monk.

>leez break d mold n trruuup
>but obly n using dis D&D reddit edition
>if u hasnt noticed i haz tiny brai i love de D&Ds!
Everytime!

Stop playing class systems

>Is wrongfun because I can't autistically sperg all over the system for weeks before the game starts to create some kind of demigod while my mates just want to kick back with a few beers and play a game.

>no edgyness allowed
>A dude who kills people for money

I'm thinking that is inherently pretty edgy no matter how you cut it.

>>A dude who kills people for money
Could also be used to describe a mercenary, and they don't have to be edgy

This is the objectively best answer.

I'd argue that a mercenary 'fights' people for money, and sometimes people do die in the process (tone dependent on setting). Its less edgy than explicitly setting out to fuck a guy up.

The character worships a god of chaos, and believes killing high ranking figures destabilizes governments and thus subverts law. Every kill is a holy task of his. He acknowledges that he is ending lives and that is wrong, but he feels he is doing it for the greater good.

An assassin is a different thing then a merc. A merc is hired to fight wars and maybe be a leg breaker. An assassin is hired to kill people flat out and likely people who aren't expecting it.

There really isn't a way to make someone whose job is stabbing or poisoning people not edgy. One could make them affable or copy the cheap hitman with a heart schlock but that doesn't really null what he does to get his money.

A mercenary is a soldier for money. Yes that often means killing, but it also means killing, but it also means all the other shit that comes along with running a military unit. Clerical workers, engineers, mechanics, logistics operators and experts, drivers, electricians and more.

An assassin is only ever going to kill people. A soldier's job can be a lot more varied in scope.

>killing, but it also means killing,
Woops.

I played a half-orc fighter once. His name was Jack.
Jack had a low intelligence and slightly above average wisdom.
Jack spoke in the third person and wrote out contracts for the people he was hired to kill.
He wrote them in crayon with backwards E's and shit.
He insisted that he only kill people who deserved it in some manner: bandits, corrupt officials, an asshole farmer who beat his kids ans sexually abused his daughter, etc.
He carried no less than 4 melee weapons at all times and swapped them out between each kill to keep the law off his trail.
"Jack believe in diversifying murder."
Jack called his profession "murderology."
He had a petition for people to sign to make murderology a part of the curriculum.
His hobbies include murder and murder accessories.

His mom was a smoking hot orc lady that fell for a gentleman fighter who treated her nice.
They raised him together and taught him about respect and honor.
Jack loves his mom and dad and once straight decapitated a dude in a bar who called his mom a whore.
One time he wore a dress for a contract. 6' 8'' hulking half-orc in a dress infiltrating a brothel to kill one of their clients. Jack was upset the man didn't think he was pretty.
His official title that he introduces himself as is "Jack 'Jack of All Trades' Tradesman" and he punched a merchant who thought it was dumb.

>looks like a jolly merchant
>hires you to guard his cart and caravan
>turns out he's a beastmaster and the cart is his huge mimic, eats you when you sleep
>if not, he invites you for tea. Paralyzing tea.
>still jolly and chipper and friendly throughout the whole deal

tl;dr pick the right serial killers to base them off of.

Maybe an actual rounded character.

I always thought this notion off lol just go to the assasins guild is quite stupid.

Build a problem solver that creates his own Job opportunities.

A volatile political situation? Your Char knows just the right people to support one side. Maybe the enemy politican can be blackmailed... maybe you have to Kill him. Killing is one of many options to solve a problem.

An "I only Kill dudes" Assasin is stupid. Someone who sees killing as a legitimate Method is not.

Most often the social aspect of the assasin is totally underrated. You need connections and the knowledge and skills to even gain an employment.

If you've watched The Sopranos, Bobby's father is a renowned hitman and he's just a sweet normal old man. He just kills people for money/the needs of his boss.

Or Brother Mouzone from the Wire. Just a calm educated dude who's also really good at killing people should he need to.

It's not that all assassins are NPKs, but just being an NPK naturally leads you into the role of assassin

>son of an assassin-by-trade family
>killing people is just the job for him
>hasn't philosophized it or thought of a reason why it's right
>he just does it because his parents and grandparents did it and so did their own parents and grandparents
>an otherwise jovial and affable fellow that enjoys sweet pies and wood carving
>when confronted on his job being "wrong" he just gets confused like you told him that the sky is green with magenta polka dots

Oinkbane plz

How many edgy fighters did you see, compared to edgy assassins?

Specifically in 5e, you don't have to kill anyone to be a fighter. It could all be non-lethal knockout shit.

smokes hash, nihilistic but comes off as aloof, he's not edgy he just doesn't care. it's all about the money, if he has demons they aren't work related. bitch ex wife or something. quiet but usually has something funny to say when no one else does.
really, he's a professional. Nothing personal, kid.

If the Oblivion Dark Brotherhood taught me anything it's that you don't need to be a stealthy cloak n dagger kind of guy to be an "assassin"

All you really need to do is love your job and fulfil the contract.

Pic related.

As far as I know, the Sling is the only bludgeoning weapon that qualifies for Sneak Attack. I can now imagine a Halfling Assassin who disguises himself as that kid in the crowd who shouts "Boo!" and throws rocks.

>edgy
I'm getting really tired of this word, people want a service done he does the service. We all die sometime he just accelerates the process.
Inb4 that's what I call edgy

If a mercenary's contract has him explicitly killing someone for money, then he is acting as an assassin. He's not a mercenary anymore.
A mercenary who kills in battle is not the same as an assassin who gets hired to kill someone and then does.

>Serial killers and assassins are the same thing!

You know you can base something off the other, right?

>housewife
>downright terrible housewife
>sincerely believes she's cooking good meals
>poisons everything
>she's also terrible with a backscratcher and comb
>offers to scratch peoples' backs or comb their hair
>effectively backstabs the hell out of them
>in-universe is thoroughly confused and traumatised why people die around her
>in crunch it's represented by sheer assassin levels

make them actual historical assassins. deadly assassins who are hashish junkies, and so likely prone to giggling, falling over and staring at interesting light patters like hypnotized

Primary weapon: Piss

I like the enthusiasm but euphoria fades pretty quickly when you pick up any kind of habit.
But a bumbling, paranoid hash eating assassin is a solid idea and if you go full comic relief there's look no further than pic related.

"life was just passing me by. I dragged my feet all through my teens, thinking being clever was going to be enough to guarantee success in whatever I eventually decided I wanted to do. Then one day I woke up; 25, no job, no house, no savings, nothing. Decided I needed to do something with my life. Figured I'd take on a trade. Figured I'd probably end up a smith or something, but I found someone a little less conventional looking for an apprentice, and since that job at the bakery wasn't working out I gave it a shot. I was a little unsure at first, but like my master says: if some noble is offering a prince's ransom to see someone dead, then that person is going to end up dead one way or another, might as well make sure I'm the one who gets the money."

A sickly effeminate boy, not quite trap level, but definitely not a man among men. Has to use poisons to kill. Can't stand the sight of blood, so they try everything they cam to make the party eat or drink poisoned foodstuffs. If the party isn't too bright, offer perception rolls to see if it tastes off or make the assassin act very nervously to hint at their deceit and mediocrity. If the party has a tendency to protect weak things, maybe make them a plot hook by plaguing the assassin with horrible medical bills for their incurable disease - they kill because they have no alternative.

Trained and conditioned to kill, but still feeling empathy towards his targets.

>human or half elf rogue
>specializes in high-end espionage and assassinations
>dresses as an extravagant noble and all-around dandy boy
>gotta play him as a dandy fop with extremely over the top voice and disarming attitude (think Hedonism Bot from Futurama for the voice and general mannerisms)
>high rolls on deception, performance, and sleight of hand
>good rolls for perception and insight also a plus
>exclusively uses high-powered poisons for assassinations
>is genuinely a blast to hang out with and can get other characters into parties by pure force of his charms and status

This is the sort of assassin I'd play in a game.

A non-edgy contract killer is even edgier on the meta level than one who's obviously fucked up.
A brooding psychopath assassin says that sometimes people are broken.
A happy, well-adjusted family guy who kills people for money and is utterly unaffected by it says that in this setting, killing people for money is no big deal.

It's the difference between a crazy cult trying to summon their demon lord to conquer the world and said demon lord being the recognized head of state.

A brooding douche-canoe is still a brooding douche-canoe, it's up to you to make that character more interesting by virtue of his other characteristics.

I've personally always wanted to make a character based loosely on Dennis Reynolds from Always Sunny. Like, an absolute sociopath and a bit of a psychopath, but not in a charming fun way, genuinely a bit uncomfortable to be around sort of character.

>A job where you practically have to be edgy to do
>Naw man fuck man their good people who go help charity and all that
I know edgy is a meme now but assassins generally are edgy. When you think of assassin you think of a deceptive person who kills people for money, that's an edgy profession.

That sounds more like a rogue than an assassin.

Nobody plays the Blades like I do Babe!

Deele do alli boop!

An assassin who kills for a purpose. Be it their country, religion, whatever, as long as they're doing it for some greater cause.

I like the carefree Krombopulos Michael type assassins or the Leon the professional style assassins or simple non edgy just gets shit done like the amputee assassin in "the international" type of dudes.

The worst are the cocky assassins with edgy BS. Anime is horrible in this regard. The killers in anime are almost always edgy "nothing personal kid" types.

Well, the opposite of "nothing personal, kid" would be an assassin for whom the conflict i's in fact deeply personal and probably his primary source of motivation.

A Star Wars bounty hunter taking jobs to hunt Imperials following the destruction of his homeworld of Alderaan is the best example I cab think of at the moment that I'd actually want to play in a game

"Huh, why are the guard running around this morning?"
"Oh I killed the mayor in his sleep."
"What the fuck? Carl we said we'd confront him tomorrow!"
"Yeah but I didn't trust him, he can't double cross us if he's dead."
"We locked you in your room, how did you even get out."
"Speaking of my room we should leave before the owner of this fine establishment sees it."
"What did you do?"
"Don't worry about it, but seriously we need to leave."
"Why is everyone already panicking? What's with the small splashes of blood everywhere? Carl what did you do?"
"I wanted to see how many bits of the mayor I could spread across town without being noticed. The answer is a lot if you were wondering."
"Nobody was wondering!"

I think the issue is we approach this from only two major perspectives: Someone with a human(oid) mindset (Sane or otherwise) and who does it for monetary compensation or for a cult, esclusively. We need to think about other reasons why someone would be an asassin and other, more alien mindsets.

>A happy, well-adjusted family guy who kills people for money and is utterly unaffected by it says that in this setting, killing people for money is no big deal.
So like the real world, then?

CAAAAAAARL!

Tommy Monaghan. Grew up in a bad place, remained in a bad place, but never lost hope. Yeah, if he has to shoot a freak or two to get on, sure, but it'd be worse if nobody shot them. There was a vacancy in the 'metahuman murder' market, so he filled in after that friggin incident that got him low-grade telepathy and X-Ray vision.

Warlock in my campaign has that Raven Queen UA patron that hates necromancy and ensures that people die when they are fated.
Is a contract killer who only accepts contracts that her patron whispers to her and such.

"will you hold still?"
>AAAACK
"oh, quit being such a baby!"
>GLAAK
>twang
>GASP
"now look what you've done! That garott was a gift from my mother! Now I have to use my knife."
>chunk
>URK
"Quit getting blood everywhere! The janitors here are under stress as it is, they don't need to mop up your blood too. It's inconsiderate."
>Ughhhh...
"There we go. Shhhhh..."
>fuckk you...
"Rude."

I played a rogue in 3.5 that did several killings for money.

To add amusement, I set each killing up with an overly elaborate plan.
> Getting the driver of a wagon drunk, then drugging him with lotus pcp ( basically), and tricking his girlfriend to egg him on that he was a shit driver, and slow. As he raced through town, I released bees into the victims room, when he ran out, SPLAT. Death by drunken wagon driver...

> I tricked a crime boss into believing a box of gems was hidden in the upper balcony of a keep. When they went sneaking up there, I released a cage of pigeons, spooking the thugs into falling to their deaths.

Bullseye from MAX Punisher was good.

A secret service agent who is doing it out of nationalism.

I played an assassin who was your stereotypical high elven flowerlover, but he was a very good assassin. He was the party's face, even. After he took out a target/ finished an encounter he would actually break down and cry in his sleep. Luckily the other PCs weren't little shits about character development and they tried their best to comfort him. It was kinda corny looking back on it, but he always wanted to do the right thing without violence.

I always liked the sort of "9 to 5, slightly bored professional" assassins. Sniper and the Discworld guild spring to mind, but I know I've seen the theme in several other places.

I snicker at the thought of some ameture psychiatrist character asking all these questions about their motivations, and just getting typical office-worker answers.

"The money's a lot better than my last job"

"I get a lot of time off for my hobbies"

"It's interesting work"

"The healthcare and 401k are amazing"

"I've got three kids in college and two mortgages, couldn't afford to retire if I wanted to!"

I kinda feel the opposite is cliche too, but it's what I usually play if its Hired Killer.

The kind who went the other way, someone who is just so positive and cheerful it makes him a good fit for the job because the nature of his work doesn't bring him down.

Ahem.

Currently playing a shadow monk in 5e, it's just the life he grew up in at the monestary and it's all he knows how to do. Only takes jobs if it feels like they'll actually help people overall instead of "pay me and they die no questions."

>Whats your favourite colour?

A regular adventurer who took to assassination/stealth/sabotage as a means to fight monsters due to an overdeveloped sense of pragmatism (insecurity). Wouldn't actually murder people for money in the same way a regular LG fighter wouldn't

You know, I liked the movie overall but I felt he was one of the weaker parts. Or to be more precise, I felt the ending where he just sort of walks out was a bit lame. I'd have liked him to stick to his guns and maintain that Union integrity had to be preserved, or at least suffered a bit more of an existential breakdown after the reveal.

The whole punch-a-guy-so-he-slowly-falls-on-my-sword shtick was a bit silly for me as well.

Like I said though, it was a nice movie, I just felt it could've been better.

I've legitimately played a Krombopulous Michael-inspired character.

Party face, nice to everyone he met, and secretly chaotic evil in an ostensibly good party.

Nah. People can justify killing if it falls within their beliefs. i.e. defending my god, country, or family. Not a sociopath but also may not necessarily feel guilty for taking a life for a "righteous" means to an end.

Light Hammer

Seems legit. Pic related.

Wat abot a sucubis assassin that uses charm 2 fuck ppl 2 death lol

This. Even if you try to make it non-edgy you're just edging up the other side of the blade. An assassin is an edgy concept. It's edgy when it's a complete professional, it's edgy when it's a cheerful guy who just happens to kill people.

All an assassin really needs is the ability to walk up to a guy, make him not alive anymore, and survive to collect his payment. Anything else is flavor.

I remember the three dudes from Assassin Classroom who, when hired to poison a room full of kids, just made it look like they did because if they actually did something like that it would destroy them professionally and the crazy fuck who hired them would probably just go and find someone who would do it for real if they refused.

I liked those guys.

...