D&D 5E (2024) Assassination on a PC yay or nay?

[Paul Farquhar]

RAW the actual assassin is CR8. A bunch of them is way to high.

You don’t have to use actual assassin stat block! So long as they use hand crossbows and wear black they will do the job. Since the role of the assassins is narrrative, they shouldn’t actually pose a significant threat.

Only send in dangerous assassins if the players have been warned but neglect to take any precautions.

 

[AnotherGuy]

NPC revenge is great and makes sense in the fiction...but care must be taken.
The dice made it work for the narrative you were hoping to craft but if luck was the sole basis (as I feel it was), then the set-up of this was wrong. @Umbran and @Paul Farquhar have also added some decent points.

Narrative consequences (even through just colour) as opposed to lucky hit point loss often pack more of a memorable punch.
This scene although in a DMs mind may be cool, might seem sour to a player, as all it did was remind the player that the DM is all-powerful and can mess with their players at any time which I'm sure is not your intended goal.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

NPC revenge is great and makes sense in the fiction...but care must be taken.
The dice made it work for the narrative you were hoping to craft but if luck was the sole basis (as I feel it was), then the set-up of this was wrong. @Umbran and @Paul Farquhar have also added some decent points.

Narrative consequences (even through just colour) as opposed to lucky hit point loss often pack more of a memorable punch.
This scene although in a DMs mind may be cool, might seem sour to a player, as all it did was remind the player that the DM is all-powerful and can mess with their players at any time which I'm sure is not your intended goal.

yeah i think this really puts into words why this whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. this wasn't an encounter, it was a set piece.

 

[Zardnaar]

yeah i think this really puts into words why this whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. this wasn't an encounter, it was a set piece.

I didnt expect to roll an 18 on initiative or land the crit.

Last campaign they got wrecked by command and hold person.

 

[MarkB]

I didnt expect to roll an 18 on initiative or land the crit.

Both of those things were more likely due to how assassins work, though.

I think a good option would have been to give the assassin some disposable hired goons whose brief was to lock down the party's healer to prevent interference with the kill, but whose CR was too low for them to be effective in that task. That way the party has something to actually interact with during the encounter. Give the goons some very limited information that's not going to lead back to the actual assassin, but will at least confirm why the party is being targeted and where the goons were hired.

That's just hindsight though.