THE ASSASSIN

The Median XL: Ultimative assassin class fights dirty, using poisons and rapid movement to keep themselves from harm. Assassins have powerful physical and elemental melee attacks, throw deadly knives and can use mechanical bombs and automatic weapon systems.




BACKGROUND OF THE MEDIAN XL: ULTIMATIVE ASSASSIN

The Order of the Mageslayers, or Viz-Jaq'Taar, was created in the aftermath of the Mage Clan Wars that ravaged Kehjistan. Intended to police the Mage Clans for the creeping dark influence of magic, the Mageslayers were to seek out those who fell for the whispers of demons and destroy them before they could cause further harm.

The Mage Council, knowing very well that such an organisation would be subverted and used as a weapon by the Mage Clans themselves to settle the endemic power struggle between the Clans, went to great lengths to prevent the Mageslayers from being useful to any of the Clans. To this end, the Order would eschew the magical arts and employ mechanical and enchanted devices and the innate powers of the mind.

For both practical and symbolic reasons, the Order's headquarters were founded in the ruins of Vizjun, once a thriving city under the Annuit Clan, now a blighted zone of death glowing with deadly mana radiation. Mageslayer initiates were taught to ritually disconnect themselves from the ethereal plane, rendering them unable to wield magic but protecting them from the pervasive radiation that cripples and kills trespassers and slowly erodes the enchanted structures of the mage city.

The Warrior Children of Vizjun, or Viz-Jaq'Taar, became a force to be reckoned with. Their unique needs necessitated the development of ever more advanced technology, and their kensais and techsmiths swarmed out over the world to combat evil on a local scale. The Order attracted the best scientists of Xiansai and other lands, and according to some even received the blessing and gifts of the very archangel of the Cosmic Spheres, Rosicruciel.

While most mages are aware of the technological prowess of the Mageslayers, few know how much is really hidden from the outside world at Sector D, the Viz-Jaq'Taari base in the Aranoch desert, camouflaged by a light-bending cloak field. It is whispered that the inner circle of Mageslayers is in possession of ever-burning lanterns powered by trapped lightning, gleaming flying chariots, disintegrating beams of light and metallic arrows with tails of fire that can strike any location in the known world.

But no one knows for sure because the canyon leading to the compound is considered cursed by the locals and protected by hidden traps, holographic illusions and cybernetic death rays.

Today the Order operates 209 secret bases, some manned, others entirely automated, some located in the basement of a friendly villager in the endless jungle, others sprawling underwater complexes in the Sea of Light guarded by trained hammerhead sharks with heat rays mounted on their heads.

All bases are centrally controlled by an artificial sentient system which according to the few spies that made it out alive was lifted by metal angels up beyond the High Heavens...


BASE STATS

Strength : 20
Dexterity : 35
Vitality : 15 (65 life)
Energy : 15 (15 mana)

+20 life, +15 mana per level
Gains +2 life per point into vitality
Gains +4.5 mana per point into energy


PREFERRED WEAPONS

Assassins are trained in all disciplines of the martial arts and master their arts' weapons.

Martial artists who prefer either the protection of a shield or the intimidation factor of two blades train in the Viz-Jaq'Taar's exotic claw fist weapons. Their large metal surfaces conductive to manaflux currents make them ideal for those who seek the aid of the psychic arts as well.

Kensais who wield the fearsome naginata are known as blademasters. The naginata is one of the rarest weapons in the Kingdoms and most existing naginata are centuries old, passed on through generations by the Xiansai warrior-monks. Its combat style emphasis its long range, attacking with sweeping arcs of death that cleave through multiple enemies, enabling one blademaster to fend off an army.

Class-specific 1h weapon: Claw
Class-specific 2h weapon: Naginata (On hit: Area Effect Attack)

See THIS PAGE for more information about Area Effect Attack.


PREFERRED ARMOUR

With most attention of the Viz-Jaq'Taari techsmiths going to weapons, and their lightning-fast martial arts, few notable developments in the field of armourcrafting can be attributed to the Order. One important invention, however, are the crowd control shields employed by the Mageslayer urban strike forces, created from light but strong exotic alloys or specially treated demon bone with similar properties.

Class-specific shield: Assassin Shield


SKILLS

Name Icon Effect

CLAW TREE
BATSTRIKE skill icon The Viz-Jaq'Taar prefer subterfuge over raw strength. This technique uses her blades to channel her psychic powers, allowing her to unleash various supernatural effects.
Effect: melee attack that summons bats or converts enemies
CRUCIFY skill icon The Assassin's specially treated blades splinter when they strike flesh or steel, scattering razor sharp shards every which way; the shards are then magnetically attracted to enemy armor.
Effect: melee attack that unleashes homing spikes
SHADOW DANCER skill icon Well-disciplined training and years of practice improves the artistry with which an Assassin wields her claws, allowing her to strike with deadly precision.
Passive effect: enhances your combat prowess while wielding two claws
BARRIER STRIKE skill icon A kensai is an expert in one-on-one combat, but is not trained in battlefield tactics. This telekinetic fence of spinning blades keeps nearby enemies away, allowing her to destroy her opponent without outside interference.
Effect: melee attack that creates a circle that repels and damages enemies
NOCTULE skill icon Mastery over combat and psychic powers allows the Viz-Jaq'taar to assault the being and mind of her enemies simultaneously, invoking primal fear which manifests itself as a swarm of death, blacking out the skies.
Effect: melee attack that spawns bats depending on enemies hit

THROWING KNIFE TREE
SCORPION BLADE skill icon The tool of choice for a quick kill at a distance, this toxic blade cuts deep and delivers a dose of corrosive oil, causing a lethal festering wound that is fatal to most mortal victims.
Effect: enchants throwing knife to deal poison damage
STORM CROWS skill icon The art of throwing multiple knives is widespread, but the Mageslayers have added something of their own: a miniature target acquisition and tracking system.
Effect: throw multiple homing knives
WYCHWIND skill icon The Order regrets not having found a technological way to reproduce this field of deadly void rifts. Using forbidden magic burns the assassin's spirit and physically weakens her.
Effect: knife that creates a rift field on impact, but weakens the user
MAELSTROM MK.V skill icon Combining the old Maelstrom weapon system with the results of their failed rocketry experiments, the techsmiths turned around this very expensive failure and created a deadly weapon in its own right.
Effect: explosive rocket-propelled knife that emits shrapnel novas in flight
BROADSIDE skill icon This advanced device magnetically launches all of the assassin's stored knives at multiple targets. This does leave the user without ammunition while the system goes through the molecular reconstruction process.
Effect: devastating knife storm that temporarily disables ranged skills

NINJA TREE
BACKSTAB skill icon Moving through the darkness, unseen by her foes, the enshrouded Assassin can steal past opponents or ambush her unsuspecting victims with devastating attacks.
Effect: sneaky melee strike that cloaks you in shadow
SHADOW REFUGE skill icon Retreating into the astral plane after a strike, the assassin avoids incoming counterattacks, moving like a bolt of lightning and delivering a lethal blow from behind.
Effect: powerful attack that temporarily raises speed and damage reduction
TWIN FANG STRIKE skill icon After much analysis of battle outcomes and statistics, the Viz-Jaq'Taari techsmiths created this bubbling concoction of pyrophoric poisons, enabling the assassin to damage enemies with a variety of immunities.
Effect: melee attack that unleashes poison and fire novas
LASERBLADE skill icon Any naginata can crudely disembowel a demon, but when balanced to the nanometer it will vibrate while cutting through bone at the exact frequency of a demon's nervous system.
Passive effect: adds magic damage to a naginata's sweep attack
HADES GATE skill icon The adept kensai melds her mind with the empty shell of a fallen enemy, then shifts her astral image to the physical plane, appearing over the corpse with a deadly shockwave.
Effect: teleport into a corpse heavily damaging nearby enemies

MARTIAL TREE
BLINK skill icon Using basic principles of molecular entanglement, the user of this device is displaced to the desired location with a blinding flash and deafening sonic boom.
Effect: teleport to target spot, stunning nearby enemies
WAY OF THE SPIDER skill icon Even a novice Mageslayer knows how to brew a deadly poison from common plants and coats her weapons with venom to quickly finish off a dangerous foe.
Passive effect: adds poison damage to attacks, improves poison skills
QUEEN OF BLADES skill icon An ancient invention of the Viz-Jaq'Taari techsmiths, this weapon system scans the vicinity for enemies and uses a magnetic field to propel waves of bouncing blades towards them.
Effect: periodically casts bouncing shuriken at enemies
WAY OF THE PHOENIX skill icon Flaming weapons are doubly dangerous, both to the target and to the wielder. Only a master kensai can use the Order's incendiary oils effectively in combat.
Passive effect: adds fire damage to attacks, improves fire skills
PERFECT BEING skill icon The senshi masters the mind and body, dodging attacks in a flash. Blades and bolts of fire seemingly pass right through her as if she was not even there.
Passive effect: grants a chance that incoming attacks miss

PSYCHIC TREE
OBLITERATION skill icon Projecting her hate into the empty shell of a slain enemy the Assassin channels her psionic powers to convert matter into a lethal energy flare.
Effect: consume a corpse to conjure a burst of uncanny energy
SHURIKEN FLURRY skill icon The assassin throws a flurry of blades around her to slay nearby enemies. If the blades miss, a built-in target tracking system is activated and alters their rotational speed to track and chase down targets.
Effect: throw multiple homing shuriken
PSIONIC STORM skill icon The Order's ancient meditation techniques are designed to develop latent psychic powers. Originally used for espionage and subterfuge, zen mistress Kassar de Templari took the discipline in a decidedly more offensive direction.
Effect: manifest a storm whose damage is based on energy
SINGULARITY skill icon This device creates a local gravity well. Although the vortex is too small to suck in enemies, the tidal effects wreak havoc on those who approach the event horizon.
Effect: trap that creates a black hole
DOOM skill icon This feared weapon system employs a field of invisible nanobots which are triggered by a violent weapon impact, exploding and adding their force to the attack.
Curse effect: adds points to physical damage taken and pierces magic resistance

TRAP (BOMB) TREE
CLUSTER MINE skill icon The assassin places a field of high explosive mines in front of an advancing enemy horde. After a short bootup sequence, the mines are armed and ready to ruin a demon's day.
Effect: places a field of mines at target location
LIMPET LASER skill icon The Portable Electro-Wave Phased Energy Ward (PEWPEW) area denial device is attached to a wall and uses an artificial eye to track enemies and freeze them in their tracks with heat draining laser bolts.
Effect: sticks to a wall and fires a freeze beam at nearby enemies
ELECTROFIELD SENTRY skill icon This sentry emits powerful static arcs until it eventually tears itself apart under its own magnetic forces, resulting in a large electrical shockwave. While this destroys the trap, it is a powerful weapon in its own right.
Effect: lightning field sentry that explodes with a nova
FIREBALL SENTRY skill icon When this napalm spitting trap overheats, the oil tank goes up in a massive explosion. This is an unexpected surprise to anyone attempting to avoid the projectiles by circling the trap.
Effect: fireball sentry that explodes with a ring of fire
TIEFLING FORM skill icon Powerful assassins, that have paragon control over their body and mind, can channel their killing intent and use their energy and prowess to assume a special body form that is much more effective at doing deadly tasks.
Effect: morph into a powerful mage, greatly improving your combat skills

UBERSKILLS

You may choose a single uberskill at character level 90 and above.

Name Icon Effect

BEACON skill icon Many mage clans have their own dark secrets hidden in the catacombs under their towers or in an extraplanar library. Few know Sector D harbours the most terrible secret of all, the power to destroy the world.
Effect: periodically targets a nuclear strike at a random nearby location
WAY OF THE GRYPHON skill icon It is difficult to build a small enough galvanic cell to integrate into a weapon, but the advantages of a lightning charged blade are worth the effort.
Passive effect: adds lightning damage to attacks, improves lightning skills
PHASE BOMB skill icon This bomb enemies into the ethereal plane. This weakens them to ethereal magical attacks, but the energy gradient destroys anything that comes into contact with the phase shifted victims.
Effect: lowers enemy resistances, but disintegrates physical attackers

ENNEAD SKILL

After completing the Ennead Challenge and keeping the Class Charm in the inventory while at character level 90 and above, you can invest points in this skill.

See THIS PAGE for more information about the Ennead Challenge.

Name Icon Effect

VAMPIRIC ICON skill icon An assassin knows very well that most mages are male and many spend their life in seclusion without seeing a woman. Some who have trained in these particular arts can also employ this strategy on the battlefield.
Effect: burns an unholy female sign on the ground in life stealing flames

BLACK ROAD SKILL

After completing the Black Road Challenge and keeping the Class Charm in the inventory while at character level 90 and above, you can invest points in this skill.

See THIS PAGE for more information about the Black Road Challenge.

Name Icon Effect

PSYCHIC SCREAM skill icon There are two schools in psychic training. The most common school promotes balance of mind and peace of thoughts. This is a creation of the other school: a primal scream that overwhelms weaker minds with pain and confusion.
Effect: short ranged shockwave that forces enemies to flee

INNATE SKILL

Assassins start with the following skill in their icon list.

Name Icon Effect

BLOODBATH skill icon The secret of eternal youth is at the assassin's command. When the correct chemical catalysts are employed, a demon's blood if properly spilled is actually a rejuvenating agent.
Effect: vampiric dual claw melee attack that returns life on kills