Oblivion:Roleplaying/Assassin

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1 Possible Activities
2 Variations

Assassins make their living by murdering NPCs, for hire or otherwise.

Race: Dunmer and Khajiit are stealthy, and their cultures have permissive attitudes towards assassination. However, almost any race is possible.
Birthsigns: The Shadow, The Thief
Default classes that are obvious choices: Agent, Assassin
Specialization: stealth
Skills: Acrobatics, Blade, Illusion, Marksman, Sneak
Most assassins will want to be members of the Dark Brotherhood.
Equipment:
- Clothes include dark clothing, leather armor, the Shrouded Armor or (if you have installed the Vile Lair), the Raiment of the Crimson Scar.
- Enchant items with Chameleon effects.
- The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal is particularly useful if you are an undercover assassin.
- Have a deadly powerful enchanted weapon (e.g., dagger or shortsword) that is your signature assassination tool. Enchant it and give it an appropriate name (e.g., "[Your name]'s Ceremonial Dagger").

[edit] Possible Activities

Complete miscellaneous quests that involve assassination (e.g., Paranoia)
Create your own assassinations:
- Pick a target who wanders around and stalk him/her until alone.
  - Learn the target's schedule and find the best location and method for the murder.
- Pick a target who is likely to be an assassination target (counts and countesses, unpopular people, etc.)
- Talk with a citizen who "hires" you for an assassination. Receive your payment when the job is done by stealing or by using the Console.
  - Decide on terms for the contract: should it look like an accident or not? Are other casualties acceptable?
- Shady Sam could be your contact who tells you about assassination targets and provides information about them.

Create your own style of assassination. Either have one consistent style, or choose a style appropriate for the target
- Make it look like an overdose or some other accident.
  - Kill the person in their house then "plant" several bottles of Skooma around the body.
  - Kill the person then "push" the corpse down the stairs.
- Hide in hard to reach places (e.g., near the ceiling), wait for the target to appear, then kill them with your bow.

Mark the assassinated corpse to show that the target was assassinated. Have a calling card, leaving an item on the corpse or in the corpse's inventory.
- Examples: Nightshade flower, a silver arrow, a pearl
- Quills look like feathers and are good to use as a mark.
Hide all corpses if you are strong enough. Drag the corpse out of sight or into a darker area.
- An easier way to drag a body around is to hold their head while moving backwards and sweep the corpse from side to side. When this fails to work because of obstacles, pull their legs over their head, then their head over their legs, bringing you to the same position you began with.

Pay yourself by looting the house of the person who you killed.
Have a large supply of powerful self-made poisons, Poisoned Apples, and Chokeberries.

If you are a Dark Brotherhood member you can:
- Practice in the Sanctuary's training room.
- Pray to Sithis.

[edit] Variations

[edit] Listener

Complete the Dark Brotherhood quest line to become Listener, then continue to roleplay.

Make sure to collect new assassinations every week and bring them to Arquen to receive your reward.
- Make the task be more complicated than simply clicking the statue and running back to Cheydinhal.
- Order one of the Murderers to follow you to Bravil and help you. Have a Murderer stand guard by the Night Mother statue. On the PC, use the Console to rename the Murderer (for example, "Guardian of the Tomb").

Make regular offerings to the Night Mother:
- Use jewels, flowers, or food.
- Use items taken from your victims.
- Create potions/poisons and give the vials names such as "Adamus Phillida's Blood". Place all of the vials of blood at the base of the statue.

Conduct periodic sacrifices to Sithis
- Create an assassination ritual. For example, the target must be awake; you must use the Blade of Woe to kill the target; leave items with special significance on the corpse

Run the Cheydinhal Sanctuary
- Set up an office, for example, take over Vicente Valtieri's room.
- Introduce the new members (e.g., the Murderers or any other followers) to the Sanctuary by giving them a tour, then assigning them a specific bed and drawers.
- Make sure the sanctuary is well supplied with weapons, poisons, stealth enchanted equipment, and other items needed by assassins.
- Take care of Schemer: Put a plate with food on the ground daily.
- Use the console to respawn the previous members of the Brotherhood and repopulate the sanctuary.

Appoint your own Silencer and three Speakers (using the Murderers).
- Make your Silencer wait at an Inn. Add Dark Brotherhood paraphernalia to the room (The Five Tenets, Black Hand Robe and Hood, appropriate weapons)
- Use the Console to add a Black Hand Robe and Hood to your appointees; change their names and faction membership.

Set up additional Sanctuaries elsewhere:
- The Oak and Crosier basement with its rumors about shady dealings.
- The Imperial City sewers
- The Anvil Abandoned House
- Deepscorn Hollow (if you have installed the Vile Lair official mod)
- Dunbarrow Cove (if you have installed the Thieves Den official mod) and pretend the pirates are assassins

[edit] Mythic Dawn Agent

Become a member of the Mythic Dawn.

Start the Dagon Shrine quest, go to Lake Arrius Caverns, drop your items, and talk to Harrow. Agree to become an initiate (and give Harrow all of your possessions).
- Do not go any further into the shrine, because you cannot get back out without giving up your Mythic Dawn membership.
- You are now officially an Acolyte of the Mythic Dawn.
- Retrieve all of the items that you dropped on the ground.
Imagine that at the start of the game you were already a Mythic Dawn agent who was arrested on purpose so that you could murder the Emperor.

Talk to other Mythic Dawn agents (e.g., the sleeper agents in towns) to find out everything you can about the group.

Use Mythic Dawn equipment:
- Wear the Mythic Dawn Robe and Hood, possibly enchanting a set of robes
- Use Daedric weapons; never use the Blades' Akaviri Katanas.
- Use the Console commands player.addspell 00022B37 (if you want to use a Bound Mace) or player.addspell 00097C1F (if you want to use a Bound Sword). These are the spells used by Mythic Dawn sleeper agents to conjure a complete set of armor and a weapon.
  - The effect lasts for 1000 seconds
  - There are no hands shown in first person view (the weapon you are holding appears to be floating in front of you) since this spell was only intended for use by NPCs. It works fine in third person view.

[edit] Ninja

The main difference between a Ninja and a traditional Assassin is that you aren't necessarily evil or looking for kills; you are a clever hero who is dedicated to the martial arts. A Ninja needs a purpose—something that drives him, whether it be bringing peace to the world, furthering his skills, or vengeance.

Suggested character statistics:
- Birthsigns: The Thief, The Shadow, or The Warrior
- Attributes: Agility, Speed, or Strength.
- Skills: Acrobatics, Blade, Block, Hand to Hand, Light Armor, Marksman, Sneak
- Alternate skills:
  - If you want your ninja to be fluent in the ancient arts of magic, use Illusion (Ninjitsu is the Art of Invisibility) or possibly Alteration (one rumored ability of Ninjas was Water Walking)
  - Alchemy: A Ninja that knows how to brew for survival.
  - Athletics: Fleetness of foot is a traditional attribute of ninjas.
  - Destruction: The Ninja uses the powers of the earth to destroy enemies.
Use a cutlass or an Akaviri Katana/Dai-Katana.
- The Ebony Blade and Goldbrand are both ideal for your Ninja because of their unadorned look.
- If you have the Shivering Isles expansion pack, the Dark Shortsword will work as a Wakizashi or a Ninjaken and the Grummite Dagger resembles a kunai. Both can be enchanted (and renamed).
- The Dark Bow works well as your bow.
Have a personal ornament (e.g., a specially-enchanted ring or amulet) that is very important to your character.
Spend time training at the local Fighters Guild.
- Trainers who help you could be your masters.

[edit] Shadowscale

Shadowscales are stealthy Argonian assassins from the Black Marsh, who have been born under the sign of the Shadow. They are trained in stealth and combat from childhood. See The Renegade Shadowscale quest for background.

You must be an Argonian with the Shadow birthsign
Investigate Countess Alessia Caro to find out whether she is torturing Argonians, then take your revenge.
You could be a renegade being pursued by agents from the Black Marsh. Move from camp to camp, never staying in one place for more than a few days; hide in a cave or in the mountains.

[edit] Undercover Agent

Undercover Agents focus on secrecy, making sure that nobody knows their profession.

Live as a normal person, until you have a job.
- Own a house, have normal clothes, carry items consistent with your cover story.
- Keep no evidence of your past assassinations
- Never be caught wearing your assassination equipment.

Wear different clothes when doing undercover work
- Disguise yourself to infiltrate areas. For example, in a conjurer's lair wear conjurer's robes.

Infiltrate guilds, acting as a spy within the guild.
- For example, join the Thieves Guild and work to get close to the Gray Fox and discover his true identity.
- Don't reveal your actual skills when undercover
- Don't do any more for your target guild than possible (e.g., don't steal any more than you are required to).

You could "become" the person you kill: after assassinating them you take their clothes and go about their daily schedule, sleeping in their house, and so on. When you think someone is close to figuring out who you are, you could skip town and find a new person to live as.

[edit] Vigilante

Become the unseen protector of a town, killing criminals who you think are being ignored by the town guards.

Lead a normal life during the day, but fight crime at night.
Have one hidden area of your house where you hide all the equipment associated with your second identity. For example, use the hidden area in the basement of Benirus Manor.
Eliminate anyone you judge to be a criminal: Skooma dealers, Thieves Guild members, corrupt guards, corrupt nobles, etc.