Balancing an assassination attempt on a player

[PoorHobo]

I would like to try an encounter where a target player is is marked for assassination. Not the party, in fact the assassins will try and avoid/ignore the other party members, the other party members will try and keep their fellow adventurer alive and kill off the assassins. The assassin will ignore non-targets even to the detriment of themselves, ignoring marks, quarries, and special abilities of other classes to pursue and kill their target. I'd like your input on a few things.

What role makes a good target, and by good I mean fun and balanced. What is the easiest class to defend? Or what 3 roles make the best bodyguards (leaving the worst to be protected by his teammates)

What is a good composition of an attack like this? I was thinking 3 level equivalent brutes, maybe 4. Assume the last living assassin retreats.

And any other advice you may have.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

What role makes a good target, and by good I mean fun and balanced. What is the easiest class to defend? Or what 3 roles make the best bodyguards (leaving the worst to be protected by his teammates)

"Easiest class to defend" is a hard question to answer, but I would probably say something like a Defender, since they typically have the most HP/Surges/AC. However, they also would probably make the best bodyguards, seeing as when the Assassins are ignoring their marks it will make them less effective and also allow the Defender to lay on extra damage or effects.

Personally, I would stay away from making a character like a Wizard the target of the assassins, as they're a little too squishy. A leader, or tougher Striker/Spellcaster (Sorcerer, Ranger, Rogue with lots of attack avoidance and getaway powers, etc...) would make a good target, and then the rest of the party can defend them.

If you simply want to "scare" your player, but ultimately have him survive (and presumably try to find out why he/she was targeted), I would make sure that you allow the party Defenders to maximize the usefulness of their marks. A Fighter getting a Combat Challenge attack every round will put out a LOT of damage, for example. It will also end up being a lot of fun for the Defenders, as most DM's don't provoke OA's and go against marks all that often.

 

[Walking Dad]

I hope they will try to assassinate the character and not the player...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Lurker, Skirmisher and Artillery seem to me the best choices. Artillery monsters can strike from range and focus their fire. Lurkers can retreat if it gets to dangerous and come from a surprise angle if they can turn themselves invisible or insubstantial/phasing.
Skirmishers have the mobility to follow a retreating character and possibly evade others trying to stop them.

Brutes can easily be locked down by a PC Defender. Soldiers can survive multiple PCs focusing on them, and they can make it difficult for the targeted PC to escape, but alone they won't be keeping up. Controllers probably work best if they can attack more freely and hinder everyone, and this doesn't seem to be what you are going for - you want to focus your fire.

Maybe a mix of two Skirmishers and a Lurker might work best. The Skirmishers should be able to be good at range and melee, so they can either strike at their target from range or enter the front lines to aid the Lurker (granting combat advantage, drawing the party's attack away from him).
Initially, the Skirmishers can lure the party away, with the Lurker appearing only once the intended target seems isolated. Of course this might require a way to actually hamper one of the characters. Maybe by applying conditions to him with the Skirmisher powers. maybe it's enough to just focus fire on him - he might naturally focus more on cover then. Some party members also tend to stay further away, for example Rangers, Warlocks or Wizards.

Note that when you allow the NPCs to attack "staggered",e.g. not everyone enters the fight immediately, you have a chance for some surprise "sneak attacks", but the action economy is working more in favor of the PCs. It might be a good idea to use higehr level monsters to compensate for that (and this makes the surprise attack even nastier).

 

[holywhitetrash]

i agree with mustrum
i think the best target would be the leader
strikers and defenders make great bodyguards
and controllers are generally to squishy to make good targets unless you just want that player dead

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

i agree with mustrum
i think the best target would be the leader
strikers and defenders make great bodyguards
and controllers are generally to squishy to make good targets unless you just want that player dead

I think there is nothing wrong with targeting the weakest character. I think it will give the right atmosphere of "holy fracking excrements, this time they really mean it." As long as the combat is within the party's level range, it should still be a fair fight that they can win without losing anyone permanently. But it will cause them to sweat.

That said, it mght be best to target the leader to avoid his Inspiring/Healing/Majestic Words undoing all the good work the NPCs have done bringing down their mark. And a party that sees its leader go down will always be a little more worried.

 

[Derren]

So I assume that there are no story reasons for this assassination as otherwise the story would decide which one will get targeted and not the metagame.

That would mean that the PCs don't know that those are assassins (unless they pull a power ranger right before combat, loudly announcing who they are and what they want to do).
If you then target a defender the players will just think "combat as usual" and then be surprised when the assassins bother to finish the downed defender off instead of switching targets like most other monsters do.

And I guess, out of "fairness and balance" the assassins will not attack when the party is separated or just recovering after a fight (before the encounter powers recharge). You know, the smart thing to do.

You probably should use less assassins but hit the party exactly in such a weakened moment (maybe give them a chance to discover them before they attack). That will signal to your players that this combat is different.

 

[sfedi]

It is important to place this encounter in it's narrative context.

What's this encounter for?

What happens if they win?
What happens if they loose?

 

[holywhitetrash]

It is important to place this encounter in it's narrative context.

What's this encounter for?

What happens if they win?
What happens if they loose?

i imagine if they loose an encounter to assassins they will probably be dead

 

[Derren]

It is important to place this encounter in it's narrative context.

What's this encounter for?

What happens if they win?
What happens if they loose?

He rather should place this encounter in a simulationist context. Who hired them, why did he hire them and why this PC. Not much is worse than a "narrative" encounter which doesn't make much sense at all and only serves as a hook without connection to the rest of the world.

What happens when they win/loose is completely the players decision.
But likely it will go like this:

When they win: The PCs start to search for the one sending assassins after them.

When they loose: The PCs pay some small sum of gold for a ressurection and start to search for the one sending assassins after them.