Further to the brief newbie advice discussion over the newbie channel which was cut short earlier to avoid spamming too many players, here are some survival tips against assassins:

* Try the assassin class: This is possibly the best way to learn assassin strengths and weaknesses and really goes for any class that you find to be destroying you in PK. It will also help with some of the additional suggestions below.

* Make full use of no hide terrain: Underwater, water and various other types of terrain are impossible to hide in. Utilize these terrain types for ranking on NPCs and try to think outside the box. Be sure to try to keep the 'detect invisibility' spell up as some assassins may use invisibility potions too and check the 'where' command a lot.

* Stock basic preparations: Flight potions are a must and will be useful if an assassin is coming close, or if you are running on major roads and cities. Furthermore, potions of teleport and recall are extremely useful for escaping from dangerous battles quickly. You can flee/quaff much more easily than running away disoriented on foot.

* Avoid heavily traveled civilized areas: Major cities, major roads and the like are very good ways to attract enemy attention. Avoid when possible. Find alternative routes to roads, trainers, guilds etc. They can be found by asking in character, or by exploration.

* Make friends with allies who can see them: Rangers in wilderness, or thieves, assassins and duergars in civilized terrain. Having competent allies who can detect hidden will be invaluable to survival.

* Make use of revealing spells: Spells such as Faerie Fire, Bioluminescence, Illuminate etc. can really ruin an assassin (or any other stealth class') day as it negates one of their most powerful advantages. Be sure you can survive the initial casting. If you are being outmatched then fleeing is probably still your best option.

Assassins are fairly powerful in the low and middle ranks but are overtaken at hero by other classes. There is no shame in picking your fights and biding your time until a more favorable outcome is likely.