Shhh!

The information on these pages may be considered by some as restricted to members of the guild. It is provided here for the benefit of guild members. I do not believe that the Guild Administration objects to any of the information here.

This page is for Ankh-Morpork Assassins. If you're based elsewhere, some of the information may be irrelevant.

Joining the Guild

Hey, if you got here, you should already be a guild a member! Why do you need to know how to join?

Keys

Ask the porter politely.

Library

The library is currently accessible to non members of the guild. The books are reproduced here for ease of access.

Map of The Guild

I believe Maelin has the most up to date map of the guild.

NPC Contracts

A list of the known inhumable NPCs and their prices for each specialisation is here.

Poisons

Read the books in the library, speak to the appropriate instructors about the various items in the labs, look at the items carefully and experiment. Some guild members may be prepared, on a one to one basis, to share their knowledge with you, but you have no entitlement to such information.

Re-Arranging

Another popular question. I don't intend to discuss this, just explain what my re-arrange is, and some of the reasoning behind it. The reasoning relates to how I play my character.

Constitution: 9. This is important for HP. However, they have to see you and hit you to hurt you. I may move one point to Wisdom at a later date to improve perception.

Intelligence: 16. This is used in magic skills, and some covert skills, including those used in inhumation. It also helps with perception.

Wisdom: 8. This is most useful for perception.

Dexterity: 17. The most important stat for most covert skills. I believe that 17 is plenty high enough for a stat value unles you're re-arranging for a single purpose character, especially as the increase to any skill per extra stat point is reduced at higher stat values.

Strength: 15. This has an impact on burden, which affects dexterity.

The Run

To find out who your examiner is, ask the secretary.

Your examiner will be on the roof, even if he or she is also in a classroom.

My thoughts (and not everyone else agrees with them) on the run are as follows:

1. Max *every* skill. Even all the crafts ones. And the faith ones. And the magic ones. Yes, this uses xp. Yes, you will tm fighting skills as you earn that xp. This is a problem how?
2. Get 1700 hp. Look at the skills list on Flatline's website (see the links page) for teachers. Yes, this uses xp. Yes, you will tm fighting skills as you earn that xp. This is a problem how?
3. Get a 200 bonus in other.perception. Yes, this uses xp. Yes, you will tm fighting skills as you earn that xp. This is a problem how?
4. Get a 200 bonus in fighting.combat.special.tactics. Yes, this uses xp. Yes, you will tm fighting skills as you earn that xp. This is a problem how?
5. Think very carefully before setting out and take what you will need. Read the first few pages of Pyramids. Again. And again. Consider carefully what a test of your assassination abilities means, and what it's likely to require. Where does the run take place? What does that imply? I really can't say more than this. If you can't get this, then maybe either you're not ready for the run, or maybe you're even in the wrong guild.
6. Look at absolutely everything to the minutest level of detail. Look at the room. "There is some furniture here." Look at the furniture. "There is a table and some chairs." Look at the table. "The table has 4 legs." Look at the legs of the table. "The table legs have been carved into animal figures." Look at the carvings. "The table legs have been carved into animal figures." Then look at the animals. "The table legs have been carved into animal figures." Hmm ... maybe I need to look at something else. But LOOK
7. If you suffer a non-fatal failure, check your hp and stats before trying again. Learn from the failure. Something is wrong, and it's most likely something that you're doing .... work out what.
8. If you suffer a fatal failure, learn from it. You did something wrong at that point, it would be very silly to make the same mistake again. Oh, and don't forget that you may need healing and / or restoring after a resurrect or raise before trying again.

p.s. Read the Cordat!

Shops

With the exception of the poisons, which the guild charter prohibits members from reselling, I believe all the items in the guild shops may be sold to members of other guilds.

There are four shops in the Ankh-Morpork Guild, for Student Clothing, Equipment, Graduate Clothing and Furniture. In addition, you may find some of the instructors may be willing to sell items.

There is a single Clothing and Equipment shop in the Sto Lat Guild.

The guild representative in Sheepridge carries a small stock of essential items.

There is a Clothing and Equipment shop in the Ohulan Cutash Guild, and in addition you may also find Jaymes has some items of interest.

Skills

These are my thoughts on useful skills for assassins.

• You need some melee and combat skills to get gp:
  • fighting.melee.dagger
  • fighting.defensive.dodging
  • fighting special.weapon (stab, pierce, riposte and feint)
  • fighting.special.tactics (combat actions)
  • fighting special.unarmed (trip & shove)
  • fighting.unarmed.grappling (trip & shove)
  • fighting.points (trip, shove, pierce, stab, riposte and feint)
  • covert.stealth.inside (backstab, abscond, ambush)
  • covert.stealth.outside (backstab, abscond, ambush)
  • covert.hiding.person (backstab, ambush)
  • covert.items.weapons (backstab, ambush)
  • covert.points (backstab, abscond, ambush)
• You don't want to die from a couple of scratches:
  • other.health
• Nor do you want to be stolen from:
  • other.perception (spot thieves, steal and filch attempts, casing, peeking and rifling)
  • fighting.unarmed.grappling (block snatches)
  • covert.hiding.person (if they can't see you they can't steal from you)
  • covert.hiding.object (they can't steal what they can't see)
• Inhuming requires a set of skills, most important are probably:
  • covert.stealth.inside
  • covert.stealth.outside
  • covert.hiding.person
  • covert.items.weapon
  • covert.points
  • fighting.range.thrown (or fighting.range.fired)
• Other covert skills can be useful for manipulating things while hidden, and that also helps with inhumes:
  • covert.manipulation.passing
  • covert.manipulation.palming
  • covert.manipulation.sleight-of-hand
• Some general skills can help with fencing to obtain best value for your loot:
  • other.trading.valueing.armour (for clothes)
  • other.trading.valueing.jewellery
• Faith skills are useful for healing (cure light wounds) and stopping fights (calm), fixing clothing at Gapp's altar, and possibly as a defense against targetted rituals and scrying:
  • faith.points
  • faith.rituals.curing.self
  • faith.rituals.curing.target
  • faith.rituals.defensive.target
  • faith.rituals.special (align improvement from prayer)
  • faith.rituals.defensive.self (defend against rituals and scrying)
• Craft skills are used for fixing weapons, armour, clothes, scabbards, containers, blorples etc:
  • craft.points
  • craft.smithing.black.weapon
  • craft.smithing.black.armour (including blorples)
  • craft.materials.tanning
  • craft.materials.needlework
  • craft.materials.leatherwork
• Some magic skills are useful for portalling and scrying:
  • magic.points
  • magic.spells.special
  • magic.spells.misc
  • magic.items.scroll
  • magic.methods.mental.channeling
  • magic.methods.physical.dancing
  • magic.methods.physical.evoking
  • magic.methods.physical.enchanting
  • magic.methods.physical.binding
  • magic.methods.physical.scrying
  • magic.methods.spiritual.banishing
  • magic.methods.spiritual.divining

Specialisations

Teachers

A common question is which teacher teaches which commands.

These are the teachers in the classrooms, and the commands they teach:

Miss Band

lpick, probe and disable

Monsieur le Balourd

trip

Madame les Deux-Epees

abscond, feint, pierce and stab

Mr Moody

backstab

Mr Nivor

ambush

Mr Schotter

conceal, hide, palm, peek, slip, sneak and unhide

Professor Stone

fix, judge leatherwork and vurdere

Baron Strifenkanen

assess

To learn commands from a teacher, find the teacher.

Some teachers will teach you automatically, others you will need to ask, and for some commands you will need to use "learn". Remember you must have the required skills to learn a command or you will not be offered it. If you request teaching and don't have the neccessary skills to learn the commands a teacher offers, the teacher will drop a subtle hint. Always treat the teachers with respect.

Exagh