What weapon proficiency do you guys use for assassins?

My thought is that there are two approaches here.

Big(ish) damage, but slower weapon - long sword, crossbow, two weapon style

vs

Small damage, but fast weapon - dagger, darts, two weapon style

The first can take advantage of a big juicy backstab multiplier, while the second can take advantage of more APR and therefore more poison hits.

I should also note that I’m planning on playing with the rogue rebalancing mod

they live and die by backstab so you want a staff
put a pip in twohanded and go get the +3 magic staff to see you through most of the game or at least as long as you manage to keep him alive ;)

So the only reason you recomment the Quarterstaff is that you can get a +3 one ?

Quarterstaff is not very stylish for backstab, and its only 1d6 damage.

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I would strongly recomment picking a Halfling Fighter/Thief if you want to see carnage in backstab.

They get:

+1/2 attack per round for fighter level 7
+1/2 attack per round for fighter level 13
+1/2 attack per round for two points into the mainhand weapon used
+1 attack per round, or a free offhand attack, if you put at least 2 points into two-weapon fighting

Right after character creation you could have for example 2 points into Short Sword, 2 points into Two-Weapon Fighting. No penalty for your main hand attack, and 2 1/2 attacks per round total, right away.

So thats up to 3 1/2 attacks per round. With Improved Haste from a friendly mage 7 attacks per round.

So, the math question: what hits harder, a single attack at x7 multiplier, or 7 attacks at 5x multiplier ?

I'm trying to get any backstab damage with Darts, but it doesnt seem to work ?

Darts set the attacks per round to 3, so that would be great.

Darts dont get any bonus from strength though. Unlike Sling and thrown weapons.

I believe that was in reference to the wiki: Staff of Striking, a +3 enchanted staff that has a damage bonus of +9. Do you want style or do you want the best results? How are you getting 7 attacks at a 5x multiplier? An attack will terminate invisibility, and you can only get the backstab damage multiplier if you are invisible. Therefore, excluding use of Mislead, you only ever get 1 backstab attack per round[1], and all your other attacks that round will be non-backstab attacks. Correct. Darts are not a wiki: Backstab Eligible Weapon, in part because they are not a melee weapon. Except that as discussed above, you only ever get one attempt before you turn visible (again, ignoring Mislead), so only your first dart would be a backstab. Correct. Also, according to the Wiki, the strength damage bonus does not get multiplied during a backstab. High strength is still useful when backstabbing for the improved THAC0 and because you still get the normal bonus damage out of it, but it is not as amazing as you seem to expect.

[1]: Aggressive use of Invisibility potions could briefly boost this to 2 backstabs in a round, but then you will be visible again and only get 1 backstab in the next round, if you drink another potion at the start of that round. This is expensive and inefficient.

Nice.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I guess for ultimate carnage one needs Fighter/Thief/Mage then. ;-)

Fighter/Thief/Mage would allow you to cast Mislead, then backstab and enjoy the fighter attack-per-round bonus. However, beware that as a triple class, class progression will be slow, and you will never get level 9 mage spells, since that requires 3 million mage experience, and therefore 9 million character experience - but the Throne of Bhaal cap is 8 million experience. Similarly, as a level 6 spell, casting Mislead from memory would require mage level 12, which is mage experience 750,000, so character experience 2.25 million. This is attainable in Shadows of Amn, but only when you get quite a ways into the story. Additionally, since Mislead's duration is a function of caster level, the reduced mage level from being a triple class will mean shorter duration castings of Mislead.

Why yes.

Thats why my posting ended in ";-)".