Here comes a TPK by assassination (SCAP spoiler)

[xnosipjpqmhd]

Spoiler ahead… don't read if you haven't played (or run) Shackled City.

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In Secret of the Soul Pillars, a trio of assassins attacks the party in a tavern, which is an insanely silly plan. I think enemies should be smarter than that.

For instance (assuming the PCs are all staying at an inn) why wouldn't the assassins simply go to the first PC's room in the middle of the night, cast silence on a coin or whatnot, walk in, coup de grace the poor sap, then rinse and repeat until all PC's are dead?

I doubt that my players are paranoid enough to take any magical (or even mundane) precautions at night in an inn. They almost certainly would be out of their armour.
The assassins' silence would last for several minutes (probably long enough for a TPK). Even if the PC under attack woke up, they couldn't cast dispel magic since it requires a verbal component (they would need Silent Spell or a wand of dispel magic or something).

Any complications to this plan that I'm missing? Sounds too easy.

I suppose if I want to give the PCs a sporting chance, I could have a random fellow patron stumble upon the assassination in progress and yell out. Even then the other (sleeping) PCs have a -10 penalty to their Listen checks to hear it. Any other ideas?

 

[DM_Jeff]

I say go for it. I used the "attacks them in the taproom" thing, and the PC's practically wiped the floor with them. I say as long as you lay out the floorplan of rooms and who is where and make judicious uses of move silent/listen checks the the like, it's sure to be more exciting than an over-powered bar brawl!

-DM Jeff

 

[Random Axe]

But, given how unheroic a death by assassin is (and how BORING a TPK by assassinatino would be), I would give the PC's some heavy bonus to their Death Save (assuming they survive the coup de grace damage). After all, the purpose of this encounter is to provide an exciting or interesting story moment for the players, not to spoil their evening with a quick game-ender. So make up some circumstantial bonus to their Fort save to keep the PC from DYING OUTRIGHT, and survive long enough to actually have a chance to fight back.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I would have the assassins start off the way you describe. I'd even narrate it to the party as a sort of 'cut scene'.

However, I'd then roll some dice and furrow my brow. I'd pick the toughest fighter in the party and tell him that he gets up in the middle of the night to use his chamberpot, the door to his room swings open and he sees a dark-robed figure wielding a knife standing in the doorway.

Adventure on.

Hey, Conan, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser, and all their ilk got lucky breaks like that all the time.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

A bonus to the Fort save sounds good, though perhaps not enough to save them from TPKland.

Would it remove some of the fun of the encounter if, the day before, someone warned the PCs that a hit has been placed on them? That would at least give them a chance to take some precautions. (Most likely they'd start sleeping in the same room and in shifts... even that might not be enough to save them...) And if they take no precautions, then the TPK would at least feel a little more justified.

 

[Midknightsun]

Or, drop down the levels of the assassins and use the whole "kill them in their sleep" method. By effectively hitting them when their out, you're upping the CR anyway. Maybe even take away their assassin levels so you don't have to worry about the death attack thing. Sneak attack damage should be bad enough, and likely provoke a massive damage save on at least one or two of the PCs before they get their buts in gear. If they're not doing so already, an encounter like that will have them putting someone on constant watch, even at an inn . . . and they'll all be sharing a room for now on, that's for sure. And then you've accomplished making them a bit paranoid . . . which is usually pretty fun. I'd say make the assassins about 3 levels lower than the PCs. You could even still have them be equipped with some type of item that casts silence (UMD), and do what you were planning. It should still be pretty intense, but not as bad as if the assassins, as listed, pulled the silence trick and snuck into their rooms, or as plainly stupid as if they attacked them in the tavern. Yeah, asassins that dumb never would have been inducted into the guild, IMHO.

 

[Schmoe]

This has been brought up before on the Paizo boards, as well. One thing to keep in mind is that the group aren't all assassins in the D&D sense of the term, but assassins in the "hired killer" sense of the term. There are a few things in favor of having the encounter play out as described in the adventure:

1. The assassins' abilities will likely be flashy and draw attention whether they attack in the dead of night or not.

2. If anything, the PCs are more likely to have their guard down while enjoying a meal at the inn than when sleeping for the night. They would expect the party to have some defenses around their residence that they would rather not deal with. The PCs are easier to get to in the common room than in their private room.

3. The assassins can be viewed very much like an old-fashioned mob hit. Enter door. Blast target. Leave. The fact that they operate as a group, rather than singly, as well as their chosen tactics, reinforces this style of hit.

4. As a metagame consideration, a full-on assault is less likely to TPK the party.

Remember that just because you, the DM, know how to inflict maximum damage on the party, does not mean that the NPCs do or that they will act in such a maximizing way. The NPCs have personalities, beliefs, and prejudices, just as people in real life. It's very easy to rationalize the assassins as a group of hit-men who prefer an open hit to sneaking around.

Edit: Also, based on accounts from people who've run the encounter on the Paizo boards, the encounter will most likely still be extremely difficult even when run as a frontal assault. It's already widely regarded as one of the most challenging encounters in the SCAP, so you might not want to make it much more deadly.

 

[Doug McCrae]

why wouldn't the assassins simply go to the first PC's room in the middle of the night, cast silence on a coin or whatnot, walk in, coup de grace the poor sap, then rinse and repeat until all PC's are dead?

Cause it's no fun for the players. Sometimes realism has to take a back seat for the good of the game.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Schmoe, specific responses:
1. Under cover of silence and in a closed private room, the attack would be pretty much undetectable, I would think.
2. The PCs almost certainly won't be sleeping in armour, making them a lot more vulnerable. Granted, if the PCs have some sort of fortified 'home base,' then we're back to the taproom attack probably.
3. Point taken, but the risk of someone identifying the assassins increases with mob hit tactics. By attacking the PCs rooms, the bad guys are less likely to be identified (or captured by the town guard).
4. I'm trying to keep metagame thinking out of the NPC decisions.

I'm not looking to up the EL just to be mean or try to get a TPK. I simply feel smart NPCs shouldn't do dumb things. And I want a way to rationalize smart tactics while still giving PCs a (relatively) balanced encounter.

Also I like the idea of replacing a straight-up fight with something else; the AP already has so many straight-up fights, it gets boring after a while. I think a midnight hit would be more exciting.

Right now I'm leaning toward tipping off the party beforehand, but not giving them any specifics on when, where, or who. Maybe I'll even throw them a red herring by hinting that the attack is planned to go down in the taproom during the day. When it doesn't happen, then they'll **really** start to get jumpy. Also I might reduce the NPCs down to just the invisible spellcaster.

 

[Black_Swan]

I'd give them a Listen check..

The reason?

They go to sleep hearing the din of the common room and anyone outside. As the assassin approaches them all sound will suddenly be cut off.

Listen check to notice the change in conditions.

In fact..if we're talking about realism the spell has a 20' radius. I'd give a percentage of a chance that someone in another room notices the change in conditions and comes out to investigate. If suddenly everything went silent i would be curious.

Silence also has a verbal component which means the spell must be spoken in a strong voice. That'd give a Listen check right there to notice it before everything went silent. Otherwise the assissins have to try and walk through the in or sneak in with a 20' ring of silence around them which is sketchy.

So at the least I'd give 2 Listen checks.

1 for hearing the spell being cast and 1 for noticing the sudden silence.
Then I'd give a random percentage roll..20% chance that a patron notices the silence or assassin casting the spell and does something.

That something can be as simple as running downstairs to alert the inn keeper.

At least that gives the pc's more of a chance. This way you also don't have to try and figure out how you're going to tip them off.

Cause if someone came to one of my groups and gave them info that their may be an attempt on their lives then you can be sure they would grill that person without mercy which means more work for you.