Assassins

[Veknironth]

Well, I never noticed this before, but the Assassin OCC starts slowly and then quickly eclipses all other Men-at-arms. They start with a piddling 1 ATM (2 with the ubiquitous Boxing), which is below even the lowly H2H: Basic. But at second level, they gain 3 more attacks! They double or triple their attacks, and then continue to accrue attacks faster than anyone else. Plus they get a bonus to Initiative and can take any Physical skills or WPs.

-Vek
"Just saying."

[Soldier of Od]

That's all true. Assassins are hard. They have to wait until level 6 to get a parry/dodge bonus, though, which other hand to hands get at level two. It's a long wait.

It has always annoyed me that the bonus attacks per melee from the Assassin O.C.C. are gained at the same levels that they get extra attacks from hand to hand assassin anyway. I would have liked it if they were a little more spread out so you get attacks at different levels instead of all clumped together.

[Levi]

It is a weird progression. Thematically, I think assassins should really have better bonuses to strike and damage and less attacks. The idea of an assassin is to get in a deadly attack that ends the fight or eliminates the target. It would fit more for other fighters to have more attacks and better defense but lower ability to land attacks and less damage per attack. But, I have always just rolled with it. In the end, assassins still dish out damage faster than most other classes, which fits the thematic well enough.

[Hotrod]

I generally prefer higher damage and/or decisively crippling effects per strike over piling on more attacks, so in this case, an assassin's ability to make/use poison, conduct paired weapon attacks, KO/critical strikes from behind, and damage bonuses from increased strength, exceptional weapon craftsmanship, special materials, et cetera are more interesting to me than more attacks.