Question about Death Attack

[Horrigoth]

Hi everyone.
I am trying an assassin build for the first time in my life. I have been wondering about death attack on the server. It does not seem to work at all even against normal mobs. While getting to lvl 20, I have done a successful paralysis to a mob maybe twice, which is the point of DA. They do not seem have any immunity to sneaks in the stats. My understanding is that it is a fortitude save? Are the mobs on the server so high with their fortitude saves that DA is useless?

Please see the image. The death attack hits, but the mobs do not get paralysed.
Is there something I am missing here?
Is it completely useless at BSK?

[The Flying Rodent]

Assuming that Death Attack is the same here as Vanilla:

Death Attack Paralysis only works if there’s currently no combat going on. This makes Stealth skill and Hide In Plain Sight extra important for Assassins, as it allows them to make such an attack before combat starts and thus trigger the save. Once it has triggered the duration is reaaaaally long for a Paralysis, which means you can potentially leave an enemy paralysed and return to them minutes later.

If you quickly can fire off a flurry of hits and then hide again, you can often paralyse large groups of enemies one by one without combat even beginning. If you’re already IN combat and you want to finish so that you can fire off a Death Attack, hide, them wait 9 seconds.

Another trick you can use is to look at your Rest indicator (looks like an eye) . If the symbol is highlighted, then that indicates that combat is still going on. Once it returns to normal and ‘resting becomes allowed’ , this indicates that combat has ceased, and gives your character the green light to try another Death Attack.

Playing an Assassin in a party can additionally be tricky , as combat is almost always happening with your party around fighting stuff. In the past, I’ve found the best way to make use of Death Attack in a party, is to have your Assassin AHEAD of the main group.

If you’re a couple of screens away, then you can often set up Paralysis chains on large mobs of enemies for your party to finish off later. Long duration on the Paralysis helps a lot here!

[Horrigoth]

Thanks a lot for the great tips. Looks like I had missed what the mechanics of DA are about!
Excited to try it again.

Death Attack Paralysis only works if there’s currently no combat going on. This makes Stealth skill and Hide In Plain Sight extra important for Assassins, as it allows them to make such an attack before combat starts and thus trigger the save. Once it has triggered the duration is reaaaaally long for a Paralysis, which means you can potentially leave an enemy paralysed and return to them minutes later.

If you quickly can fire off a flurry of hits and then hide again, you can often paralyse large groups of enemies one by one without combat even beginning. If you’re already IN combat and you want to finish so that you can fire off a Death Attack, hide, them wait 9 seconds.

Another trick you can use is to look at your Rest indicator (looks like an eye) . If the symbol is highlighted, then that indicates that combat is still going on. Once it returns to normal and ‘resting becomes allowed’ , this indicates that combat has ceased, and gives your character the green light to try another Death Attack.

Playing an Assassin in a party can additionally be tricky , as combat is almost always happening with your party around fighting stuff. In the past, I’ve found the best way to make use of Death Attack in a party, is to have your Assassin AHEAD of the main group.

If you’re a couple of screens away, then you can often set up Paralysis chains on large mobs of enemies for your party to finish off later. Long duration on the Paralysis helps a lot here!

[Horrigoth]

Ok, I have been trying it again 100% from not in combat and alone, and it still does not work.
I think it may have been nerfed or I am doing something horribly wrong.

Maybe driller can confirm if it has been altered, or could it be that the mobs just have too high saving throws for it to be viable?

[driller]

I am pretty sure Death Attack is hard coded, you can't change it.

This explains how it works.

http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Death_attack

Ok, I have been trying it again 100% from not in combat and alone, and it still does not work.
I think it may have been nerfed or I am doing something horribly wrong.

Maybe driller can confirm if it has been altered, or could it be that the mobs just have too high saving throws for it to be viable?

[Horrigoth]

Thanks for the reply.
It is probably just lack of level and need to buff up intelligence so that the modifier is better.

I am pretty sure Death Attack is hard coded, you can't change it.

This explains how it works.

http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Death_attack

Ok, I have been trying it again 100% from not in combat and alone, and it still does not work.
I think it may have been nerfed or I am doing something horribly wrong.

Maybe driller can confirm if it has been altered, or could it be that the mobs just have too high saving throws for it to be viable?

[Omegon]

Death attack challenges fortitude, Quite a few mobs here have reasonable fortitude saves.

In my opinion, you got to really pump levels and/or INT modifier to initiate the paralyze.

Edit: Mages and Rogues typically have lower fortitude saves in comparisons to Frontline classes/types so if there is those two types in the area your in, you'd be more successful paralyzing them.

[SoothingDarkness]

In your screenshot, combat was initiated by the troglodyte's poison. So you never got your death attack roll. Something that you can do is enter the poison cloud, wait until combat ends, and then try your attack.
Hide in plain sight is extremely helpful, but not altogether necessary for an assassin. I have played for years with just the regular stealth of various assassin builds that lack shadow dancer. You get very good with positioning yourself near objects to block enemies view of you. Some locations are difficult to do that on, so it definitely has it's value. Playing an assassin without hide in plain sight does require a skilled player to reliably get death attacks. It can be very satisfying once you get the hang of it, and you will become intimately familiar with how far away you can get a ranged death attack.
The comment about the eye for the rest button is an excellent idea. Although keep in mind, that it is a indicator of if you are in combat. Your target may not always be in sync with you. For example they where in combat with something other than you. Or they're going after you, and havn't hit you yet. Get good at remembering how long it takes for it to change colors. That's the same as your target has to be out of combat. It can be critical to time it right, if there are a lot of things going on. Once you get good at the timing, you can use death attack without even going into sneak, (in a defensive way) by using corners of buildings or other objects that block line of sight.

[Horrigoth]

Thanks for the additional insight guys.
Yeah, I just figured out that every mob that has some AoE will of course mess up qualifying for the attack. This is true especially for all the unique mobs as they all have an aura, and the moment you step into it, combat is initiated.

[SoothingDarkness]

I have a lot I could say about assassin. Would it be useful for me to make a guide? And if so, where would I write it?

[Cornflower]

I have a lot I could say about assassin. Would it be useful for me to make a guide? And if so, where would I write it?

Yes, it would be useful. Post it in "General discussion", so we can have a general discussion about it. I'm sure it can be pinned/posted somewhere appropriate later. The first order of business is writing!