Nonlethal Force
First Post
Okay, Here's the deal. I have a player with a character who is a rogue (RL, not on the forums) who just found an Amulet of Health +2 in a treasure. The item was there to help the party, so it isn't a problem or anything. It's not a powerful item, so no big deal. Problem is, the guy is literally swooning at the boost in HP. [I know, I know .. Amulet of Health +2 ... not a big deal. Anyway ...] The player irritated a bunch of the rest of the players by how said character would not get over the treasure and just move along. So, I decided that I would devise an encounter to demonstrate his vulnerability but not outright kill the rogue. So, here's what I came up with:
Rogue has CON score of 10. The rogue is 4th level ... almost 5th level, so the amulet was to be part of the treasure that the party either kept or sold to get them up to the wealth standards for a 5th level group. But, that's neither here nor there. Because of the amulet the CON score is now 12. Also, just to make the math easier, lets assume that the HP are determined by max at first level, then 75% max each level afterward (round down even levels round up odd levels). So, before the amulet was obtained said rogue would have 6+4+5+4 = 19 HP.
Now, here's where the trap is to be laid out. I was thinking about having the rogue unknowingly be poisoned by one of the merchants he has stolen from often. I was thinking arsenic. The rogue has a crappy FORT save to begin with so the poison has a decent chance to succeed. {DC is 13}. Initial damage is 1 CON followed by secondary damage of 1d8 CON.
Now, here's the part I want to be absolutely sure on, which is why I am putting it here on the forums. Its a real easy question, but I don't want to screw it up. Assuming the rogue fails the save, let's say the d8 roll for secondary damage is merely average and comes up a 5 (to make the math easier). This makes 6 damage to CON altogether.
Now, suppose the merchant who poisoned the rogue also sent a sniper "thug" to wound the rogue using merciful longbow. {Merciful because I don't want the character to die, remember?} So - here's the easy question. Assuming all the above is true ... how much nonlethal damage does the thug need to do before he is discovered so that the rogue is knocked unconscious?
In addition to answering this question ... any other cool ideas on how I can take the rogue out? Remember, I don't want to kill the character - just demonstrate his vulnerability. I'm trying to get the player to realize that finding magical treasure is cool and fun, but it doesn't make one invincible, either. And, the player is relatively new ... so this would have a side effect of teaching him about poisons and the value of saving throws. Obviously I chose arsenic as a poison because there is no way the arsenic will kill the rogue outright through CON loss. It might temporarily take him down a bunch ... but won't kill the guy. Remember, I don't want the rogue dead, just knocked down a peg.
Thanks for any insight.
Rogue has CON score of 10. The rogue is 4th level ... almost 5th level, so the amulet was to be part of the treasure that the party either kept or sold to get them up to the wealth standards for a 5th level group. But, that's neither here nor there. Because of the amulet the CON score is now 12. Also, just to make the math easier, lets assume that the HP are determined by max at first level, then 75% max each level afterward (round down even levels round up odd levels). So, before the amulet was obtained said rogue would have 6+4+5+4 = 19 HP.
Now, here's where the trap is to be laid out. I was thinking about having the rogue unknowingly be poisoned by one of the merchants he has stolen from often. I was thinking arsenic. The rogue has a crappy FORT save to begin with so the poison has a decent chance to succeed. {DC is 13}. Initial damage is 1 CON followed by secondary damage of 1d8 CON.
Now, here's the part I want to be absolutely sure on, which is why I am putting it here on the forums. Its a real easy question, but I don't want to screw it up. Assuming the rogue fails the save, let's say the d8 roll for secondary damage is merely average and comes up a 5 (to make the math easier). This makes 6 damage to CON altogether.
Now, suppose the merchant who poisoned the rogue also sent a sniper "thug" to wound the rogue using merciful longbow. {Merciful because I don't want the character to die, remember?} So - here's the easy question. Assuming all the above is true ... how much nonlethal damage does the thug need to do before he is discovered so that the rogue is knocked unconscious?
In addition to answering this question ... any other cool ideas on how I can take the rogue out? Remember, I don't want to kill the character - just demonstrate his vulnerability. I'm trying to get the player to realize that finding magical treasure is cool and fun, but it doesn't make one invincible, either. And, the player is relatively new ... so this would have a side effect of teaching him about poisons and the value of saving throws. Obviously I chose arsenic as a poison because there is no way the arsenic will kill the rogue outright through CON loss. It might temporarily take him down a bunch ... but won't kill the guy. Remember, I don't want the rogue dead, just knocked down a peg.
Thanks for any insight.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
