Star Wars Universe Roleplaying Game

The Next Generation of Star Wars Tabletop Adventure

    Scoundrel Assassin

    The Scoundrel Assassin is the quiet knife in a loud galaxy. While other scoundrels bluff, bargain, or spray blaster fire in a crowded cantina, you operate in the shadows: studying routes, tracing routines, and waiting for the exact moment when one well-placed shot or stab will end the encounter. In SWURPG, the Assassin subclass turns the Scoundrel chassis into a precision instrument of single-target removal and surgical infiltration.

    You begin your career like any other Scoundrel — learning point-blank gunplay, fast talk, and uncanny luck that lets you escape scrapes you had no business surviving. At level 3, however, you commit to a different path: instead of becoming a swaggering pirate captain, smooth-talking smuggler, or broad-spectrum bounty hunter, you hone yourself into a specialist who thrives on planning, positioning, and perfectly timed violence. Your armor remains light and your hit points modest, but when your plan comes together, enemies don’t get a second round.

    The Assassin fantasy fits many corners of Star Wars. You might be a hired gun working for a Hutt kajidic on Nar Shaddaa, a Black Sun enforcer who makes problems disappear, a Rebel operative tasked with “removing” particularly cruel Imperial officers, or a free agent who sells their skills to the highest bidder. In more heroic campaigns, an Assassin might play the role of a necessary shadow: doing what the rest of the crew won’t talk about, but quietly ensuring that tyrants don’t live long enough to hurt more people.

    At the table, Scoundrel Assassins reward players who like to set up the encounter before the fight begins. You’re at your best when you can control the first volley: scouting ahead, choosing angles, maintaining advantage, and withdrawing before you’re pinned down. If you charge into the open and trade fire toe-to-toe with a heavy trooper, you will fold quickly. If you pick your shots from concealment or attack from unexpected vectors, you’ll delete priority targets while the rest of the party exploits the chaos you create.

    Examples from Star Wars lore: Fennec Shand stalking bounties across harsh worlds, Zam Wesell changing faces to slip through security cordons, Aurra Sing perched above a kill zone with a rifle, or unnamed Black Sun professionals who execute contracts with clinical efficiency — all embody the Scoundrel Assassin’s blend of stealth, precision, and ruthless follow-through.

    Playing a Scoundrel Assassin

    Playing a Scoundrel Assassin in SWURPG is all about control, information, and timing. Before you engage, you want to know where your target is, where their support is positioned, and how you can strike without getting trapped. In many encounters, you’ll act as the party’s scout — slipping ahead in the ventilation ducts, moving across rooftops, or blending into crowds while your crew hangs back and waits for your signal.

    Once combat is imminent, your job is to identify and neutralize the enemy who matters most: the officer calling shots, the heavy gunner about to shred your allies, the Force user who can turn the tide if allowed to act. You hit hard when you have advantage, surprise, or a setup created by allies. After that opening, you reposition: using cover, verticality, and line-of-sight to avoid becoming the focus of retaliation. You’re not a tank; you’re the scalpel that removes a single organ and walks away before the body realizes what happened.

    Outside combat, you are a natural fit for any scene that involves breaking and entering, manipulation, or quiet sabotage. With the right build, you can slice basic security panels, bypass locks, plant distracting explosives, or impersonate minor functionaries to get close to a mark. Your connection to the underworld and criminal networks can also give the GM a convenient way to feed the party rumors, contracts, or complications that tie into the wider galaxy.

    When building a Scoundrel Assassin, prioritize Dexterity for attack rolls, Stealth, and defense, then decide whether Intelligence, Charisma, or Wisdom best fits your concept. Intelligence supports planning-heavy, tech-savvy killers; Charisma suits social chameleons and close-up manipulators; Wisdom benefits trackers and hunters who stalk targets across dangerous terrain. Skills like Stealth, Acrobatics, Mechanics, Perception, and Deception all reinforce your role as the crew’s quiet problem solver.

    Talk with your GM and group about how lethal your Assassin is meant to be. In some campaigns, you might lean into stun shots, non-lethal takedowns, or “accidents” that remove villains without spraying civilian casualties across the map. In grittier games, your reputation as someone who always finishes the job can become both a hook and a liability, drawing attention from rivals, clients, and authorities alike.

    Scoundrel Traits (Levels 1–2)

    Before specializing as an Assassin at level 3, your character advances through the same Scoundrel stages as any other rogue of the Outer Rim. The traits below are shared with all Scoundrel subclasses. They represent the core foundations of point-blank blaster work, street instincts, quick reaction time, and improbable survivals that define Scoundrels across the galaxy.

    Level 1 – Point Blank Shot

    When you make a ranged weapon attack against a target within 20 feet, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and +1 to damage rolls.

    Level 1 – Street Savvy

    When you make a Deception check, you can choose to gain Advantage on the roll. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest.

    Level 2 – Quickdraw

    You gain Advantage on your first ranged attack roll made during the first round of combat.

    Level 2 – Lucky Break

    Once per Long Rest, when you fail an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll it and must take the new result.

    Assassin Path Traits (Level 3+)

    At level 3, your Scoundrel commits fully to the Assassin path. From this point on, the traits below are unique to the Assassin subclass and build on the shared Scoundrel foundation. They expand your ability to strike from hiding, exploit advantage, escape retaliation, and turn careful planning into decisive, high-damage attacks.

    Level 3 – Stealth Attack

    When you attack a creature while hidden or before it acts in combat, you deal an extra 1d6 damage.
    This bonus increases to 2d6 at level 5, 3d6 at level 10, and 4d6 at level 15.

    Level 5 – Deceptive Arts

    Once per Long Rest, make a Deception vs. Insight contest to mislead an enemy. On success, the target has disadvantage on its next attack against you or an ally within 10 ft.
    • At Level 11 — Once per Short Rest, impose disadvantage on an enemy’s attack roll, saving throw, or Insight check against you by feinting or misdirecting their focus.
    • At Level 17 — Once per Short Rest, when you hit a creature, you may force a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + DEX + PB). On a fail, the creature is stunned until the end of your next turn as illusion and fear distort their senses.

    Level 6 – Rapid Attack

    When using a melee or ranged weapon with which you are proficient, you may make a single attack roll with a –2 penalty. If the attack hits, you deal +1 die of damage of the weapon’s normal type.

    Level 7 – Evasive Reflex

    You gain a +2 AC bonus against any creature you have hit with a Stealth Attack since the start of your last turn.

    Level 9 – Ambush Savant

    You gain advantage on Initiative rolls when you begin combat hidden or undetected. In addition, once per Short Rest, when you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can impose disadvantage on its next attack roll.

    Level 10 – Instinctive Dodge

    When you take damage from an attack that you can see, you may use your Reaction to halve the damage.
    You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest.

    • At level 15, this ability improves to Master Instinctive Dodge — the first time you use this feature each Long Rest, you may negate all damage instead of halving it.

    Level 11 – Shadow Execution

    When you reduce a creature to 0 HP with a melee or ranged weapon attack, you may immediately attempt to Hide as part of the same action. If the target was unaware of your presence, make this Stealth check with advantage. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest.

    Level 13 – Deadly Focus

    Once per Short Rest, when you miss with an attack, you may immediately reroll that attack.

    Level 14 – Strike and Fade

    Once per Short Rest, when you make a melee attack while hidden, you do not reveal your position if the attack hits.

    Level 15 – Slit Throat

    Once per Long Rest, when you hit a creature that is unaware of your presence, the attack automatically deals maximum weapon damage.

    Level 17 – Shadow Resilience

    Once per Short Rest, when you take damage that would reduce you below half your HP, you can use your Reaction to move up to half your speed to an unoccupied space you can see and become heavily obscured until the start of your next turn (attacks against you have disadvantage).

    Level 18 – Lethal Efficiency

    Your critical range with Stealth Attacks becomes 19–20.

    Level 19 – Ghost Veil

    Once per Long Rest, as a bonus action, you can become nearly invisible for three rounds.
    While in this state:
    • You are heavily obscured (enemies have disadvantage to hit you).
    • You have advantage on all Stealth checks.
    • Your first attack from this state deals +2d6 bonus damage and does not reveal your position.
    The effect ends early if you are hit or fail a saving throw.

    Level 20 – Death’s Horizon

    Once per Long Rest, as an Action, you perform a flawless assassination strike. Choose one target within range and make an attack roll with advantage.
    If it hits:
    • The attack automatically crits.
    • Add your full Stealth Attack and Rapid Strike damage once.
    • The target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + DEX + PB) or be stunned until the start of your next turn.
    If the attack kills the target, you may immediately Hide as part of the same action.

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