My players are going to hate me...

[LostSoul]

I think it's a choice that depends wholly on the style of the game. In a certain type of game, if I had just pissed off an Evil Empire, I'd make sure no one was coming to get me in my sleep (Divination: "Can we rest here safely tonight?"), and even if I felt safe I'd lock myself in the room. So they did have a way of stopping the (inevitable) attack.

That said, it's possible the players don't know that is the type of game they're playing. I bet they do now. (It didn't cost much to get that knowledge, either.)

As far as locating the assassin, how about Speak with Animals? Maybe there are some birds or small animals around who saw the assassin, and which way he was moving. Locate Object might work if you get it off soon enough (looking for muskets, assuming the Ogre Mage doesn't have any).

I can't think of any clues he might leave other than the gunpowder where he fired off his gun. Not that you could track him by that, anyway.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

It's kinda funny to read all the answers here and wonder how this thread would be going if it wasn't an NPC controlled by the DM but a PC action pulled off on some big bad guy. I bet the only thing that'd be discussed in here in that case would be the "brokenness" of Kamikaze Midget's house rule for ranged death attacks and how it empowers certain PCs way beyond game balance, or something.

It's also kinda funny that there's so many people advocating a "if the NPCs can do it, the PCs should be allowed or able to do the same", but when it's the other way around, people start telling the DM that it's bad form.

And please don't try to tell me a situation as described in the first post would never come up with PCs in charge.

 

[quetzyl]

Sounds fair if.....

As I understand the death attack rules, the assassin has to succeed on his attack roll, and then the target gets a fort save. Both those rolls have a chance to fail, so this isn't an unavoidable instant death. Basically I as a player would find this sort of thing fairly reasonable provided everything was rolled in the open, and provided the GM had asked me where I was sitting and what defensive spells I had up. What would annoy me would be the GM going "So, as you sit relaxing, with your back to the window....", without giving me a chance to say "Despite the appearance of safety, my character remains hiding in the shadows in the corner of the bar." Furthermore, unless the assassin has improved invisiblity, the rest of the party will be able to see him if they manage to act before he does and rush to the window, so they may well manage to take him down. I would rule that the assassin got suprise, so after the shot everyone would roll initiative. If the assassin wins he can turn invisible with no one any the wiser, but if a PC wins they should have a chance to see him. Also, as a GM if I am planning something unpleasant and lethal it is worth taking extra care to make sure none of the PC's have any special powers or high skills that could be relevant. Finally, note that the spot check to be aware of an invisible creature within 30' is only DC 20+distance modifier, or 20+hide check if he is hiding as well, which the character may well make since he should get 3 attempts while the assassin lines him up.

Cheers,
quetzyl

 

[DonTadow]

As I understand the death attack rules, the assassin has to succeed on his attack roll, and then the target gets a fort save. Both those rolls have a chance to fail, so this isn't an unavoidable instant death. Basically I as a player would find this sort of thing fairly reasonable provided everything was rolled in the open, and provided the GM had asked me where I was sitting and what defensive spells I had up. What would annoy me would be the GM going "So, as you sit relaxing, with your back to the window....", without giving me a chance to say "Despite the appearance of safety, my character remains hiding in the shadows in the corner of the bar." Furthermore, unless the assassin has improved invisiblity, the rest of the party will be able to see him if they manage to act before he does and rush to the window, so they may well manage to take him down. I would rule that the assassin got suprise, so after the shot everyone would roll initiative. If the assassin wins he can turn invisible with no one any the wiser, but if a PC wins they should have a chance to see him. Also, as a GM if I am planning something unpleasant and lethal it is worth taking extra care to make sure none of the PC's have any special powers or high skills that could be relevant. Finally, note that the spot check to be aware of an invisible creature within 30' is only DC 20+distance modifier, or 20+hide check if he is hiding as well, which the character may well make since he should get 3 attempts while the assassin lines him up.

Cheers,
quetzyl

I think a majority of our answers are generated from the thought that that type of thinking (the description) makes the game sound like DM vs. PCs and its in no way the same thing.

With the exception of the broken ranged sneak attack ruling, this all is fine and RAW. However, the dm seemed to be going out of his way to kill the pc. A poor description of the room has the pcs sitting right by the window when If they were placed on a battlemap the player would not have been close.

Also in the middle of winter the windows are more than likely shut and unless this is a modern campaign high powered rifles that can pierce thick windows havn't been invented yet.

If the pcs are going to do something like this, the DM knows well in advance usually. The DM can make the pcs murder plot as hard or as easy as they'd like he'd like it. Regardless he always has time to prepare.

But if you notice in the description, it doesnt sound like the DM asks them any thing suggesting they were in danger. The minute I ask my players where their sitting or what type of defense spells are cast the player would immediately be sitting on the farside of the room away from table with mage armor firmly on. The gig would be up. But this dm didnt seem to give nor want to give his players any clues whatsoever as it would ruin the big scenerio.

I dont mind surprising pcs with injury or a surprise enemy. That is why I use preprinted battlemaps for every location whether there be an encounter there or not. Because just in case i wanted to put on an assasianation attempt I would't want the pcs at a disadvantage explaining to me how they weren't "that close" to the window.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I generally avoid save-or-die attacks but at low levels any crit is a save or die so really that arguement is rather lame. It wouldn't even have to be a death attack since "massive damage" is in the DMG and a crit on many ranged attacks can result in 50+ damage. (+5 arrows, strength(+4) longbow = average crit of 54hp)

I would be peeved for one reason: the player should have had 100% concealment as well as 100% cover. Why? Ever been in a car in winter with the defroster off? Yeah, the windows are completely fogged up, aren't they? That's because all single-pane glass fogs up. Even double-pane windows will fog up if they aren't sealed incredibly well.

Now the cover aspect is debatable (how much protection does glass provide?) but it should have negated any instant-kill attacks as the glass is struck first and the concealment is pretty much guaranteed.

 

[BlackSilver]

In the campaign I GM for the sorcerer has Extend Spell, and every night before sleep the PC casts her highest slot as an Extended Mage Armor. This is so common that when the Player mentions- "I had a 4th level slot open last night, could I have-?" I say- "oh, ya, no problem," without any hesitation.

As far as the PCs getting away with something like this- they can and have done things like this to the villians in my campaigns. I have no objection, if the Players want a climax free ending then its okay.

To me part of the reason for gaming is to have fun and cool scenes where the GM shows off some tactic or other he thought of in the shower is just not my idea of fun. To me its more interesting to have a vision of that scene- the PC wakes in a sweat. Cool scene shown and warning given.

As was previously implied- I would place very little interest in character development after that because of the GMs open disregard for story (and character development) over cool scene.

(In truth I really like the players to have a firm grasp of their characters, and if they think they can be murdered off by a perfect assassination then they will have little interest in keeping that firm character grasp in mind while they play. Which will result in characters all being the same and uninteresting.)

 

[boolean]

There are over 20 wotc books and no ones revisted the ranged death attack, why? cause it would be severely broken.

Sniper's Eye, Complete Adventurer, p. 156.
Level 4 Assassin spell that, among other things, allows the caster to make a death attack with a ranged weapon, within 60 feet.

 

[The_Magician]

I also get the impression the DM wasn't being fair. If you want to kill the PCs in your game, you can do it in many different ways and even make it sound logical. That's not the goal of the game, though. As a DM you should know what kind of players you have. If they are hack'n slashers or not. If they like solving puzzles, or not. If they pay attentions to details, or not. If your players dont like to use diplomacy too much, trying to force them to do so, or to teach them a lesson that diplomacy should be used, goes against trying to have fun AND provide fun.

Also, there are different ways to show your players they shouldn't mess with the evil empire without straight-up killing a PC. I mean, you have a whole evil empire in your hands. There are many cool and different challenges you could give the PCs that would make them realise they got themselves into trouble. Take Baldur's Gate (the CRPG) or many other MMORPGs, for example. If you start killing a bunch of innocent people, you get a bad reputation. You can't enter cities without lots of guards attacking you.

Now, I see no problem with sending an assassin to kill the party. The party are the main characters of the story, though. They are the one fighting the "big bosses". Another reason I think that was unfair is that I doubt many DMs in here would allow a PC to sneak up behind a big boss and kill it with a single shot, without making that PC succeed a few obstacles(roll a few checks). I think it would be a lot more fun if the DM rolled the dice for the assassin to see how well he would do in his attempt of murder, and then roleplay the results. Just saying he could have done it because he is a professional assasin doesnt seem right to me. Nobody is perfect and people make mistakes. Everybody is professional in professional sports. That doesnt mean a professional athlete never commits a mistake.

If the DM really wished to give the PCs a chance, he could come up with at least a few obstacles for the assassin, like the fogged window. Only chance given here is to roll a save against death. That doesn't sound fair. It's like telling a PC out of the blue to make a fortitute save to survive a heartattack. "You shouldn't get into that much trouble if you have a bad health (low constitution). Now all the stress you've been through could end up killing ya."

 

[ResurectedLlama]

Killing a PC when he had no oppurtunity to avoid having to attempt a save is pretty much railroading in my book but if the players are used to "cool" scripted events thats okay. In my opinion however its much more fun to set up circumstances where the players can get themselves in way over their heads before they realize they are in trouble.

 

[Thaniel]

I'll just throw my 2cp in and say..

Good play, man. Go for it. But make sure you roll the attack roll. Otherwise, it is a bit railroad-y.