Post/Author/DateTime	Post
thalious 11-12-03, 05:15 AM	How far should a DM go to plan and execute one when a PC would be the target?
Bait the Bard 11-12-03, 05:22 AM	Well, if it is a starndard combat encounter, than design it simply with that in mind. However, if it is a secret night attack or poisoning, simply give the PC's their listen cheks or Fort saves and run from there. If the PC's will be investigating the assasination attempt, then doing the assasins skills and full character sheet might help. And if you are feeling that the PC shouldn't die, you'll soon get over it:smirk: Hope this helps - the annoying bard
Faenlan 11-12-03, 08:43 AM	Originally posted by thalious How far should a DM go to plan and execute one when a PC would be the target? Do you really have to do that? I mean, if you carefully plan everything the PC should have no chance to escape from it. As it is so easy to kill a PC, I'll never do that except if the PC has done an action that lets no other choice (and still), like killing members of the assassin guilde or something? It's off-topic, but it's the same reason I never fudge my dice, an accident can occurs so quickly!
Loviatar's Minion 11-12-03, 07:29 PM	Assassination? Hah! Give me the time of day, location of the PC, terrain, and information on the PC. I'll do it for you, and I highly doubt that I will do badly.
Xalxika 11-12-03, 09:26 PM	If the NPC's motives are high, then go all out. The PC's don't stop slaughtering a BBEG just because the DM may care for them, or thay can see him/her being reoccuring. The PC's don't care what you have planned for your BBEG's in the future, so don't care for what they have planned. If the PC deserves it, let him have it. Xal
Arkenian 11-13-03, 01:28 AM	Originally posted by thalious How far should a DM go to plan and execute one when a PC would be the target? Excellet question. The first thing to consider is a very simple question: Do I want this to be a failed assassination attempt, a successful assassination attempt, or a partially sucessful one? Even aside from "punishment" it may be perfectly acceptable to design an encounter with the intent that one PC die in the process. This certainly doesn't mean you should "fudge" your encounter to achieve this, but it is still an important consideration. DMing is always a bit of an act of illusion, making players believe they could be TPKed at any time despite the fact that everyone knows full well the DM doesn't want to end his campaign. The second important thing to realize is that while everyone hates it, everyone metagames conciously or subconciously. Indeed, in some ways, a DM should metagame -- his job is to make the game enjoyable for the players, whether that means not throwing them against dozens of challenges they simply can't beat, even if they are "justified" or, equally true, varying encounters to defeat tactics of players who have grown complacent in their strength. It is very important that you acknowledge this fact, so you can correct for it in your planning. The third important thing to realize is that the DM can always stack the deck as much as he wants. Be careful. So how far do you go? Well, the first rule is: Make sure that your assassins don't know anything they shouldn't. Pretend that your assassination plan is a spell a PC is submitting, and tear it apart, "How do they know this?" "Why are they carrying that?" If your explanations sound even a little weak, you should probably either strengthen them, or ditch the point of your plan. Particularly if you are planning to kill a PC, or expect it to be borderline, you should be prepared to justify what happened -- even if you're the sort of DM who doesn't discuss this sort of thing after the fact it's a good exercise. The SECOND rule (as in, like the laws of robotics, the one that only takes precedence after the first rule) is to look at the assassin/the person hiring the assassin and see if there are any personality traits that should prevail. For example, your world may have assassin guilds who take pride in only killing their intended target, or you might have an assassin guild where the price to hire the assassin promises a death -- either that of the assassin or the target. Do your assassins have any specialties? Assassin guilds may have an organizational history -- maybe they started as a guild who did the dirty work of genies, especially targeting people who can summon genies, and later branched out to mortal hires. This assassin guild would have items and abilities designed specifically for targeting assassin guilds. Another assassin guild might be a group of outcast warriors, who maintain some sort of warrior's ethic. Another assassin might personally be the follower of an evil hunter deity -- and believe that any use of poison offended his deity. The third rule is to consider what you want the nature of the "encounter" to be. If an assassin sneaks in with a knife to stab a PC in the back, this is a combat encounter, perhaps followed by an interrogation of his corpse to determine who/what/why hired him. If you're just poisoning the food, this can be a long investigatory process to determine who did the intial poisoning, and then go on to figuring out the whys and wherefores. How far should you plan them? If it's more than just an "enemies hunting you down to kill you" sort of thing, assassinations are high-risk high-expense things that your NPCs would put effort into, you should put equal effort -- design it, like any encounter, to be the level of challenge you feel it should be, without falling into any of the traps of the rules above. This post is (like most of my posts, I'm sure) way too long, but I hope it helps :) -Arkenian the Golden