Death Attack, the BIG threat...

[anest1s]

read my last post

A bow seems more appropriate for this kind of thing...

You will have grater invisibility at that level too

Well, you can throw a dagger as a level 1 assassin...you could also cast the spell from a wand or something like that...but still daggers are cheaper

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

The Assassin's Death Attack is one of the most potent class abilities in the game.

When a DM has created a strong Villain-Assassin for his game, there is always the threat of one or more PCs dying out of the blue.

How do you deal with this?

Game mechanics aside, as a player you give the assassin the grudging fear and respect that he deserves given the level of threat he presents to you and your friends. As a DM you think VERY carefully about just how arbitrarily lethal you want your game to be. Offing PC's out of the blue with a save-or-die effect SUCKS for the player. I'll repeat my personal, constant refrain:

As a DM you have the ability at all times and in all ways to kill the PC's whenever you choose to have them dead. The game is NOT about simply proving that to be true. Just because you CAN kill them easily doesn't mean that you MUST, or even SHOULD.

Is there a way to protect your PCs without getting "soft" on them?

Give them due warning that they are, or might be, facing an assassin. It is then THEIR fault if they choose not to take precautions. Any good assassin should know the kind of undesirable attention they draw to themselves when they assassinate someone in open view so they will be mindful of the CONSEQUENCES of doing so. In any case, assassinating in combat requires 3 rounds of observation. This is something that likely can, in turn, be observed - by the target or his friends. If you SEE that you are being studied for assassination you can maneuver to prevent the assassin from being able to reach you.

On the other hand, assassinations is what an assassin does. Therefore, if one of his targets is a party member, he can easily achieve his goal, without even showing himself. The party will never know what hit them.
There is not much challenge into this for the players...

How do you deal with your NPC assassins?

Assassins in my games generally do what they do FOR MONEY. That is, not just for the change in your pockets but because SOMEONE IS PAYING THEM GOOD SUMS TO KILL YOU. Without that motivation most of my NPC assassins would have to be EXTREMELY upset with a PC before they'd start considering a premeditated assassination by stealth.

 

[Dandu]

Thought: A minor cloak of displacement foils attempts at sneak attack unless the attacker has True Seeing. Add that to the list of options.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Would any Immediate action abilities be able to be triggered in the middle of a Death Attack?

I'm assuming No, but tossing this out there.

 

[Jacob Marley]

How do you deal with your NPC assassins?

I think it is important to separate "assassins" from "Assassins." There are lots of low-level thugs who are perfectly willing to assassinate someone for a few bits of platinum (or gold); the vast majority of NPC assassins are exactly this. They will be classed out as "Warrior 2" or "Rogue 1" or even "Sorcerer 3," whatever.

Assassins -- as in the prestige class -- are exceedingly rare. They are highly-skilled at their craft, patient, and command a great deal of money for their work. Most importantly, they do not fight fair. I'll repeat, THEY DO NOT FIGHT FAIR. They may study their target for weeks, learning their tactics, strengths, and weaknesses. They will wait for an opportune moment to strike (i.e. when the party is split up, or has expended the bulk of their resources). They will strike when they are fully buffed and have no qualms about fleeing should their target survive the initial assault.

The challenge comes not from the combat itself but from the skill checks leading up to the combat as well as player intuition. In many respects it will work similar to a 4th Edition skill challenge; success results in the PCs thwarting the Assassin while failure leads to an attack and the possible death of a PC.

 

[Dandu]

Would any Immediate action abilities be able to be triggered in the middle of a Death Attack?

I'm assuming No, but tossing this out there.

You are unable to take actions while flatfooted. If combat has already started and then the Assassin uses Death Attack, you can interrupt it.

 

[Vegepygmy]

As for the melee... unfortunately:

Sniper's eye (4th level spell) = death attack with any ranged weapon up to 60 feet... which means he doesn't even have to reveal himself to the party... not to mention that by 13th level he's got HIPS as well...

"Unfortunately?" Aren't you the DM? Is there some reason that you have to allow this non-core spell in the game? Is there some reason you have to use it?

 

[javgoro]

Death attack has always been a non-issue in my games, simply because of the craptacular DC, which most characters tend to fail on a 1 only.

 

[Belzbet]

Death attack has always been a non-issue in my games, simply because of the craptacular DC, which most characters tend to fail on a 1 only.

I have to say that death attack DOES NOT have a craptacular DC.
Lets say you are a Rogue5/Assassin5. With a natural 18 Int. (not to hard to come by) and a headband of Int. +4 (+2 if that is to expensive, but by level 10 you shuld be able to afford at least one 16,000gp item). Your DC for death attack is 21 (20 with +2 headband). With an assassins dagger that goes up to 22. Now, a fighter10 (Base fort . is +7) with Con. 22 and a cloak of resistance +2 has +15 Fort save, they fail there save 25% of the time! and not on a natural 1 ONLY. A Wizard with the same gear and Great Fortitude feat has a +13 Fort. (even though what wizard has 22 Con.); that is a 35% chance of failure (and these victims are by no means below in their fort. saves).
Also, a GOOD assassin would be one that is HIGHER levels then your players (at least one or two levels) this would increase the % chance of failure by 5-10%.

Also, if your PC's are only failing a save of an assassin of the same level or above on an natural 1 then your PC's have good items and good abilities (hence good saves) and that you should give your NPC's better items and better abilities. I run high powered games and if I took the monster out of the book my PC's would never be challenged. I use the "Super Elite array" for all humanoid NPC's: 18, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9 (30% use 18, 17, 16, 14, 12, 10). This increase the NPC's dramatically.

 

[Hunter99]

There are plenty of ways to raise saving throws if you know how to optimize.