No need for bells and whistles
While modern assassins have hidden blade modifications like hook blades, concealed crossbows, or fully fledged grappling hooks, Altair became the one true Master Assassin without any of those fancy additions. Add to that the fact that Altair had but one hidden blade compared to the now-custom two bits of gear, and he’s nothing short of a prey-stalking badass.
Altair may not have been as agile and resourceful as his descendants when we got to meet him first, but damned if he didn’t make due with what he had. Every major Assassin following him was but a padded-up version of this original Master Assassin, and many of Altair’s ideas shaped the future for the Brotherhood as a whole.
Granted, Altair does use his fair share of unique weapons and gadgets. He used a hidden gun prototype, later used by Ezio Auditore and refined by Leonardo DaVinci, for example, which more or less coincides with the first ever documented use of firearms in the 13th century. There’s also the iconic Apple of Eden Altair was forced to wield, despising it for causing Al Mualim’s descend into madness.
