Slicing throats?

[Neuroglyph]

Two possibilities:

1) the bored sentinel is a minion and a quick kill

2) the bored sentinel is a normal bad guy and is nearly the equivalent of any member of the adventuring party in threat - and is not a quick kill

I could see giving the sneaky character an auto-hit and normal damage - in the minion's case it's dead.

Or if you're feeling ludicrously generous, consider the marshmallow-toasting sentry "helpless" and allow the administration of the Coup rules.

But I would ask the PCs, especially if they were filled with righteous indignation: "So you want NPCs to be able to do this throat slitting thingee to you someday?"

I know the Characters are the heroes of the story - the stars of the adventure - but that's not a free ticket to be able to kill even level foes with a couple stealth skill rolls. It would devalue the entire encounter.

 

[Morrus]

Do you want balanced gameplay mechanics, or realism. In any RPG the entire game is built around the balance between these two things. You can't have both for every situation. At least nobody has done so thus far, and many have tried.

Exactly. There are more deadly games out there, where enemies and PCs die quickly and easily (I hear WFRP is pretty gritty and deadly these days). D&D isn't one of them. D&D's the high-fantasy, cinematic, heroic game. One either chooses to buy into the genre or not.

I guess it's a flavour choice. To some folks, the gritty style is attractive, so they need to tweak D&D to make it more "real". I'm not one of those folks (although I used to be about 20 years ago!), but I can understand the desire.

 

[Rothe_]

If the sentry is a regular monster, I'd allow a silent kill with the condition that the monster never gets to act. This means that with a surprise round, a rogue could (on his own) attack the monster twice with sneak attack if he wins initiative. Add in an action point for a third attack.

A character designed for silent killing could pull if off, he'd have high initiative and sneak attack or similar ability.

I also think there maybe should be a condition called "silence" that can be applied on attacks that prevents the target from calling out for allies in these situations. Perhaps it could be applied with (save ends) on a sneak attack with a special feat or something. That would be perfect for this kind of thing.

 

[Blackbrrd]

If it's a minion you could just a normal sneak and attack routine.

If it's a normal mob of the same or equal level, I would run it as a skill challenge requiring 2 successes before one failure. If it's a higher level you get the mob to bloodied with your sneak attack and the target is silenced and grants CA (save ends both).

 

[WalterKovacs]

In the event of allowing him to be "effectively" helpless ... the person has to not only remain hidden, but get up adjacent to the guard. If at any point of getting "up to" the guard the rogue (or assassin, etc) the guard becomes aware or suspicious (hears a noice, etc). It's possible even in that situation that he'll survive being coup de grace'd. (Also, perhaps it's a coup de grace without the additional benefits of an opponent being helpless, meaning you only have combat advantage, not an additional -5 defenses, bu still crit on any hit, and kill if you deal half bloodied value in damage.)

 

[Klaus]

Theatrically appropriate use of minions.

Agreed.

Is it appropriate for the enemy to drop with one hit? Then it's a minion.

 

[eamon]

I think it's conceivable for an unaware and unsuspecting guard to be helpless. If he hears anything though, even if he can't pinpoint you, you'd merely have CA. With fancy+nasty powers, and with a high init, you may well kill the guard before he get's to act, which I would say is a reasonable approximation of "before he yells out" - even though technically, you can take free actions before your turn in the first non-surprise round.

That's as far as I'd be willing to go in the best of circumstances as DM. If things go a little less your way, you might get a yell right after the surprise round, before his turn, and he might not be helpless.

 

[Nebten]

Always remember, if something can be done to them, the same thing can be done to you =v) So watch what you ask for.

 

[Neuroglyph]

If it's a minion you could just a normal sneak and attack routine.

If it's a normal mob of the same or equal level, I would run it as a skill challenge requiring 2 successes before one failure. If it's a higher level you get the mob to bloodied with your sneak attack and the target is silenced and grants CA (save ends both).

I just posted a blog on this topic - essentially substituting a Skill Challenge to replace Combat with a single, nearly equal level enemy - I think it would work well for most DMs.

D&D 4e Skill Challenge: Assassination

 

[Turtlejay]

My current crush is a character quite capable of this. My old 3.5 Kobold Rogue/Fighter/Invisible Blade is being reborn as a 4e Kobold Assasin(rogue MC). With the feat that makes enemies unaware of the shrouds on them if you are hidden, a racial bonus to Stealth (plus training, plus focus) he would be pretty able to sneak in, apply his 4 shrouds, and then pounce. The shrouds+SA should deal 6d6, short sword on a daily is around another 3d6+mods. That should be enough to kill a low level enemy in one hit. Since this is totally doable with 2 feats, a 2nd level assasin could one shot a 2nd level mob in my opinion.

Jay