Which implies to me that the players should be given some hints—not big smacks with the cluehammer, but enough that they have a chance to figure out that they’re in danger from more covert agencies as well as the overt ones. Things like a chance to spot footprints in the snow outside of camp after they’ve been on watch all night.
My first instinct is to say "If they're clever, they'll half-suspect this option." And if they're clever, I don't have any problem with making it more difficult for the assassin. But I am thinking as the Assassin would. Leaving footprints? Being seen? Sloppy work when you have
Invisibility,
Fly,
Pass Without Trace, and divination spells to burn. His whole schtick is using his clerical magic to completely mask his trail. Pass Without Trace lasts all day. He can follow their trail in the snow several hours behind them, and
fly up ahead or behind to check it out (while invisible) before sleeping for the night.
So I'm wondering what kind of trace he'd actually leave. Giving them clues isn't a problem if I can figure out what kind of clues this guy would concievably leave, but it's tough thinking of what he would be leaving, especially since he's a well-trained assassin whose job it is to be unseen...
Also, out of co-incidence, how common is resurrection in your game? Is it possible to bring a PC's corpse back to operational without heavy sacrifice?
This is also of key importance for the "My PC's are going to feel powerless!" crowd.
Not only do they have access to Raise Dead, they also have access to a friendly king who has access to even more powerful spells. That PC doesn't have to STAY dead, otherwise even I'd balk at it.
Furthermore, there's no level sacrifice IMC. The only obstacle is "paying for it," (which is going to be cheaper than usual with the friendly ogre mage king). They all happen to be pretty important, story-wise, and slaughtering them in their sleep without recourse isn't something I'm too interested in
At the same time, the only motive I can think of for an assassin *not* being in the above scene would be ego. He might use it to paralyze at first, just to let the prey know he's on the hunt. And while creepy, that just seems like a bad assassin to me -- they are paid to efficiently kill without a trace. One who is too cocky would flunk out of Killin' U.
I wouldn't do this to my players, as there isn't really a point to slaughtering them. But if you're going to do something like this, go all the way, as the cleric/assassins are bound to know the PCs have resurrection.
Well, not nessecarily. See, one of the big themes with the spreading of the evil empire is how rare healers and healing have become. So because the Assassin was born and trianed in a land where resurrection magic was rare (because evil only brings things back to life when they can kill more things...), he's not going to count on resurrection at first. He may after the first few tries, but it'll take a while for him to wrap his brain around the fact that they're not just turned into Undead...
If an assassin studies his victim for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target (assassin's choice).
I let the PC assassin take a feat which enabled him to use his death attack as a ranged attack up to 30 ft. (same range as sneak attack), which requires +3d6 sneak attack and an Int of 15 as a prereq. Guess which feat this guy has?
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Silent Spell, Firearms Proficiency, Winged Death, and Extend Spell. He's level 10. PC's are 9.
Being an RBDM isn't about doing random mean things to the PCs, since that takes neither much talent nor effort. But making the choices of the PCs come back to bite them in the rear,
I make no claim to being an RBDM myself, but this does follow the motif. The PC's could have escaped the Empire without much fanfare or trouble, just as hundreds of others do. Instead, they decided to spread the rumor of the return of the legendary king who will overthrow the empire and return peace to the world, and leave the Empire in *style*. Because of the changes going on in the empire off-screen, they can't really afford to send a military force to crush the PC's, nor would they really want to anyway, the PC's being in a land that they had failed to conquer with military force so far. So the descision of the PC's to let the empire know who and where they were is coming back to bite them. They had many options. They chose to slap the Empire in the face. Methinks that allows a bit of a counter-slap.
So yes, they probably will be caught with their pants down. No, this isn't an ending or a save-or-make-a-new-character scenario (resurrection is readily available), though they will have to pay for their arrogance in challenging the empire, so to speak. And while clever play would be rewarded with clues, the clues that a self-sufficient stealth machine with a death attack would leave would be few and far between, which means that if they're not looking, they won't find clues just laying around waiting for them to see. Simple protective measures of just remaining low-key and watching out for trouble may keep them alive. Thinking as the assassin would, if the target is going to leave itself open, why not do what you were paid to do? (which probably will include trying to assassinate the providers of resurrection magic, eventually)
