Assassins are handy when it comes to avoiding PK, as they have the ability to hide and sneak (quiet movement provided by sneak prevents others seeing that you are moving to or out of that room, also, you will not step out of shadows when you move if you are sneaking). use WHERE and WHO PK commands on regular basis. It is vital to know who is near you and if someone potentially dangerous is near you, can he harm you?

Assassins see invisible and hidden characters, so people should not be able to surprise you easily (even though they will, but you can see such a PK death as a reminder). As an assassin, it is vital that you hide and sneak all the time. hide is rather unrealiable command, which will not tell you if it fails, the echo is always the same. sneak is similar in that fashion, though you can see sneak in AFFECTS. Skills like detect hidden and heightened awareness are also seen in affects, be sure that you are always affected by detect hidden (ability to see hidden), heightened awareness(ability to see invisible) and endure (which gives you some spell saves and AC).

You hide in shadows at all time, only duergar players and thieves and other assassins can see you when you hide in civilized terrain. In civilized terrain, these are the adversaries you will have to avoid. When you look at who pk, see which characters in it are duergar. Avoid these characters and do not trust them, after all, they are evil.

When you hide in wilderness-terrain, the players that can see you are rangers and other assassins. You cannot see rangers, as they are camouflaged in the wilderness. If you see a ranger in the area, his presence is a cause for concern. At this stage, you can yell a greeting to the ranger, which makes it clear that you are nearby with friendly intent, as you willingly expose your presence to him. If the ranger does not respond to your greeting, it means that he is likely to be hostile and you should leave the area immediately, moving to civilized terrain and hide there, and lo, the ranger cannot see you and you are safe from him.

You can treat duergars in similar fashion as rangers. In this case, you will run to hide in the woods, where the duergar cannot see you. Do not try to yell greetings to the duergar, as the duergar is evil and you do not want to trust him that much. Just leave the area in such fashion that the duergar player is not on the way to the exit you use to leave the area, and even if he is, you can sneak past him (one more good reason to be sneaking all the time).

If you have a potion of recall, quaff it when the dangerous player arrives to the area where you are in(providing that you are not in the area where your recall location is).

Rank with good or neutral people only, as evils tend to be untrustworthy at times. Always know before what race/class the character that tells you something is.

Dealing with Imperials (or other evils). If an Imperial player speaks to you through tell, answer to him politely. If he asks you to group with him, you should refuse, as he is evil, and evil characters are not trustworthy.

Good and convincing refusals are 'I am practicing kicks.' (assassins will have to practice their kicks to 91% to get a next kick, very convincing reason). Others good excuses are: 'I will take my rest soon. Perhaps another time.', which will let him think that you consider him in as a friend. As you will, you just don't trust him enough to group with him, and letting him think that you will group with him in future will make him think that you might be useful in future, which is a reason not to PK you. Also, you should answer to these inquiries immediately, not letting the evil char wait. People don't like to wait for nothing, always answer to tells when you are not in immediate danger, such as standing in road. If you are in town, go to your guild to answer the question. And don't forget to be hidden when you type your answer. It is also good to remember that tell, say, cb and gtell take you out of shadows when you use them.

Know your way around in areas. One good way to learn is to use Dikuclan world map to find your way around better. Searching for Dikuclan with google will find you the web page where the map is.

I played my first character as an arial assassin, heroed and age died him. (He was a Herald called Fungor). Arial assassin is a good choise, as arials have INHERENT FLIGHT, and by flying, you do not need boat to cross waters and you can access regions only flying people can enter. Also choosing a remote hometown for your character, such as Udgaard, Tir-Talath or Eryn Galen will reduce the possibility that people in your PK range are waiting at your pit. Also, it is a good idea not to tell where you live to other people, unless they ask (and only if it necessary for them to know(they would be your groupmates/cabalmates in this case), which means don't tell it to evils).

The high xp penalty of arial assassin is not really an issue, as you are a newb and going to get owned anyway, so you'll be better off avoiding battles until you can find your way around Thera well. This was the attitude that kept Fungor alive (you can check from premium battlefield how well Fungor fared in PK (Fungor didn't PK anyone intentionally) and what classes got him etc.). As newbs can be generally expected to suck in PK, your victory isn't the dead enemy before your feet. Every time you survive from a threatening situation or run away from PK, you are the winner. He didn't get you. The newb lived.