Using an assassins death-attack fairly

[Xor]

I'm always a bit concerned as a DM when putting my players in Save-or-die situations. It all stems back to a bad DM we had for a number of years that did it session after session after session. We all developed an aversion to it and I even considered refusing to use it in my game for a while. It's part of the game though and I think used fairly and sparingly, it does add to the excitement.

With that said, I think one of the toughest save-or-die situations for a player to face is the surprise strike ones such as an assassins death-attack. If the assassin is half-competent then the player pretty much gets no warning and suddenly their favourite character faces death on a single die roll with nothing they can do to influence the outcome.

For those DM's out there that have used an assassins death-strike against your players, how did you try and ensure it was done fairly? What was the out-come? How did the player react to the situation? Did anyone complain?

I know that spot-checks, listen-checks and action points can help to give the players a bit of assistance, but lets for now assume that they didnt help.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The best advice I can give is to have resurrection magic be easily available.

If it's not, stearing away from save-or-die is a VERY good idea, and you shouldn't use the Death Attack at all.

If it is, save-or-die, and the Death Attack, are just temporary setbacks rather than character-ending problems.

Before you use Death Attack, just make sure they have a way to beat Death. Otherwise, it may be seen as unfair (because a competent assassin will indeed be nearly undetectable) when the surprise comes.

 

[Rev. Jesse]

Or, you can make the rogues and barabarians of the group the assasin's contract. They get uncanny dodge and are thusly more or less immune to the death attack. The assisan could always feel or attempt a death attack against another party member later, but have the 1st one go against a character mechanically immune to it. That way, the rest of the party can prep for the return of the assasin.

 

[wuyanei]

A good house rule, if you want to introduce it, is to change all death attacks and effects to 'Save or be reduced to -1d10 hp'. People rarely die in 6 seconds from a knife wound anyways. It still dramatic, as the struck character is immeadeately felled, but your friends now have a fighting chance to save you.

 

[Mark Hope]

It might not do the characters much good, but you can use foreshadowing to highlight the possibility of a death attack to your players. The last time I had an assassin (actually a DS bard) strike at a character (who was sleeping at the time), I described a few scenes beforehand from the assassin's perspective. The players knew that there was nothing at all that their characters could do about it, but it heightened the drama and tension and led to a real feeling of fear when the moment for that all-important roll actually came.

So, for example, you could show the assassin viewing the group from afar, identifying which is his specific target. Then move to a closer vantage point as he maybe watches the group pass below his rooftop vantage point. Or maybe show him tracking them or questioning NPCs as to their whereabouts. Then move in for the kill, so to speak, showing it all from the assassin's perspective right up until the last moment when the character feels the surprise attack take place. Like I say, not much good to the character in question but it should prevent your players from feeling overly abused.

 

[Corsair]

My first thought seeing the thread title:

"Why on earth would an assassin fight fair?"

 

[Chaldfont]

I think the best thing to do is to telegraph the fact that the enemy is likely to send assassins to kill the PCs. Players love making plans for events like this. Then you can have fun figuring out ways to have the assassin sneak past their plans. Or let their well-planned defenses catch the assassin just in time.

 

[the Jester]

Well, imho, the opposed Spot and Listen checks are the "fair bits" that give pcs a chance. They failed them? Time to make a save.

Then again, nobody ever accused me of running a low-fatality game. By the same token, it's been years since I haven't had a waiting list to get into my game.

 

[LostSoul]

I think the first thing is to fight fair. How does the assassin sneak up on the PCs? How does he know where they are, and pick just the right moment to strike? He had better have a lot of ranks in Gather Information, as well as Hide and Move Silently, in order to do this. Either that or some kind of Divination magic that guides him to his targets. (And if it's Locate Person or Object, he could stumble upon the PCs at exactly the wrong moment.)

A lot of the unfairness that goes in to playing NPCs happens by always giving them the benefit of the doubt. The DM is thinking, "I'll have this assassin attack them! Yeah!" and so the assassin shows up at their campsite while everyone is sleeping, or just one person is on guard. If he runs the assassin through the same gauntlet that the PCs would have to go through, then it's all good.

And share this info with the PCs as well, and let them know that you are trying to play fair.


As an aside, I was thinking about the Paralyzation attack that Assassins have. I think beefing up this aspect of Death Attack would be nice, since assassins hardly ever use it. Even if you want to capture someone, you can always Speak with Dead on him. And in realms where Raise Dead is common, you can hold a corpse hostage.

 

[Xor]

The best advice I can give is to have resurrection magic be easily available.

The campaign world is Eberron, so raise dead is possible, but not quite as freely available as it might be in the realms.

Or, you can make the rogues and barabarians of the group the assasin's contract. They get uncanny dodge and are thusly more or less immune to the death attack. The assisan could always feel or attempt a death attack against another party member later, but have the 1st one go against a character mechanically immune to it. That way, the rest of the party can prep for the return of the assasin.

Targetting a rogue/barb is one possibility, but that does make the assassin look slightly less competent that he probably is and may cause the players not to take the threat as seriously as they maybe should.

A good house rule, if you want to introduce it, is to change all death attacks and effects to 'Save or be reduced to -1d10 hp'. People rarely die in 6 seconds from a knife wound anyways. It still dramatic, as the struck character is immeadeately felled, but your friends now have a fighting chance to save you.

Now thats a house rule that I like. If you also include a bleeding equivalent effect (fading ?) then save or die attacks can still be almost as fatal, but it does add a chance for companions to come to the rescue.

It might not do the characters much good, but you can use foreshadowing to highlight the possibility of a death attack to your players.

The foreshadowing idea is nice, but when using it I'd be paranoid that the players would poke holes in my telling of it. E.g. "You only gave us one listen check, why didnt we get one when he opened the door as well as when he broke the window?". I'll see how well it fits when the moment comes.

My first thought seeing the thread title:

"Why on earth would an assassin fight fair?"

An assassin certainly wouldnt fight fair. Thats partly the reason that I ask for advice, because as the DM running the assassin I don't want the players to feel that i've been anything other than fair to them.

I think the best thing to do is to telegraph the fact that the enemy is likely to send assassins to kill the PCs. Players love making plans for events like this. Then you can have fun figuring out ways to have the assassin sneak past their plans. Or let their well-planned defenses catch the assassin just in time.

Telegraphing the players or warning them is a possibility, but it does remove some of the sudden horror of the situation. Besides, the first assassination attempt is the warning....they can do all their plotting once they've seen whats stalking them

Has anyone actually used the assassins death-attack as a DM or had it used against them as a player? How did it go?