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View Full Version : In need of assassin ideas (3.5)



Rising Phoenix
2010-03-28, 02:26 AM
Greetings all,

For my next session I wish for my PCs to have a brush with a group of assassins.

My party consists of 6 players:

Lv 4 Changeling Beguiler
lv 4 Human Bard
Lv 3 Rogue
Lv 2 Cloistered Cleric/ Lv 1 Warlock (wants to take a lv of sorcerer next...)
Lv 3 Gunslinger
Lv 3 Psion

By the time they will encounter the Assassin's guild they should all be level four.

My ideas thus far involve swarms of lesser imps (strip down your average imp to one HD and get rid of all the special attacks and qualities save for at will invisibility and reduce all ability scores except dex to 10) and four Assassins which are after the head of the high priestess.

The first two I've already stated as a Lesser Imp Enchanter who has brainwashed a couple of the city guards into defending it and a Tiefling assassin that spams darkness whilst under the effect of ebon eyes to spam poisoned sneak attacks.

Any ideas on what the other two should do? A CR of sixish is what I am looking for as they will be encountered alone. Undead and LE outsiders are okay (Think four mini bosses plus weak minions).

Edit: Sources. Pretty much anything except Magic of Incarnum and Tome of Magic. Psionics and Tome of Battle are okay, but given the fluff reasons I am aiming for will probably not mix well.

Cheers and thanks

R.P.

Vaecae
2010-03-31, 06:10 PM
From the example you seem to be leaning on fiendish things, but you might take a glance a certian fey and undead. The Joy Stealer makes an interesting killer for Cha based players. It's from the MM4 as I recall and it's touch drains Cha, it's an incorporal fey, so you have all the flex of a ghost without turning risks. There are dozens of low level undead that are great for ambushing a group. There's one known as the Vasuthant (MM3) that is a weak undead, but their main purpoe is they eat light. A party fighting blind is a dead party. Even if you don't want them dead being able to leave them in total darkness in a great way to start an assassination encounter. As for fiends a bound Lust or other seduction based mob is great for picking off one or two people if they aren't careful.

You seem to have alot of magic so also thing about ways to counter that which your attackers would have prepared, as presumably they've got info on the party. So things that can make spells less effective or down right difficult to cast would be helpful to the attackers. Look at interesting alchemical items that can be used by anyone. A rogue with a sling and a bag of the right alch stuff can really mess a group up. If you really wanted to get evil you might look at pets for the assassins, things like snakes with Con poison, or large spiders that can use webbing, ect...

The Rabbler
2010-03-31, 06:28 PM
how challenging do you want this encounter to be and how skilled are your players? there's the "swordsage level 6" level of challenge, and then there's the "ninja 6 with 50 poisoned kukris who abuses concealed weapon and has shadow hand maneuvers" level of challenge.

EDIT: quotes.

Ravingdork
2010-03-31, 07:03 PM
This assassin ought to give them a run for their money (downloadable PDF). (http://www.mediafire.com/?0iadd0qxymv)

Critical
2010-03-31, 07:13 PM
Make a Warforged pretend to be a statue.

The Rabbler
2010-03-31, 07:24 PM
This assassin ought to give them a run for their money (downloadable PDF). (http://www.mediafire.com/?0iadd0qxymv)

they will be level 4.

Rising Phoenix
2010-03-31, 07:48 PM
how challenging do you want this encounter to be and how skilled are your players? there's the "swordsage level 6" level of challenge, and then there's the "ninja 6 with 50 poisoned kukris who abuses concealed weapon and has shadow hand maneuvers" level of challenge.

EDIT: quotes.

Thanks for all your ideas thus far. =)

Something that's sufficiently scary, but can, with the right use of tactics, be brought down/ forced to flee. No 'cheating' ;).

I've been thinking of making one of the two, a ghost 'assassin' (rogue lv 4 with the ghost template. But the PC's don't need to know this). He won't attack them out right, but will offer to leave them and his hostages alone if the PCs promise to kill his mark that he failed to do so (which is the reason he's still bound to the mortal realm). Should make for some interesting moral decisions and they can always opt to fight him off. I've given him only the corrupting touch ability so his not that hard a hitter.

Cheers,

R.P.

Edit: Critical: I am using warforged... There's a whole army of them... :smallamused:

The Rabbler
2010-03-31, 08:03 PM
you want scary? paladin of tyrany 4, fighter 1, blackguard 1 with spiked chain and mage slayer.

more reasonably: you could have one of the assassins be a swordsage 6 and another be a scout 2, cleric 1, ranger 3 (grab travel domain on the cleric and pick up swift hunter) as an archer.

if you don't want them to be too cheesy, avoid awesome magic items and give them some stupid (from a forum perspective) weapon enhancements (seeking for example).

if you want them to really kick ass, give the archer shadow hand maneuvers via martial study and the stance that gives +2d6 sneak attack, and use some of the forum disciplines for the swordsage. they're all powerful and balanced against other disciplines. you can find them all in the disciplines section here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7623906). I'd suggest dancing leaf, but that's just me.

NEO|Phyte
2010-03-31, 08:12 PM
Make a Warforged pretend to be a statue.

Came here to suggest this. Have there be a nice ornate suit of armor on a stand somewhere, that is in fact a warforged. Have it wait for the squishiest to be close before striking, if such suits your fancy.

Rising Phoenix
2010-04-01, 03:44 AM
you want scary? paladin of tyrany 4, fighter 1, blackguard 1 with spiked chain and mage slayer.

more reasonably: you could have one of the assassins be a swordsage 6 and another be a scout 2, cleric 1, ranger 3 (grab travel domain on the cleric and pick up swift hunter) as an archer.

if you don't want them to be too cheesy, avoid awesome magic items and give them some stupid (from a forum perspective) weapon enhancements (seeking for example).

if you want them to really kick ass, give the archer shadow hand maneuvers via martial study and the stance that gives +2d6 sneak attack, and use some of the forum disciplines for the swordsage. they're all powerful and balanced against other disciplines. you can find them all in the disciplines section here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7623906). I'd suggest dancing leaf, but that's just me.

I've stolen most of the styles there :smallwink::smallamused: (I thank kindly their creators) and am using them.

A fallen Paladin, suits the situation superbly and I have already statted one. However, I will have to give him a spiked chain now.:smallamused:

Thank you all for your contributions, I am certain that I will have ample of opportunities to use the warforged idea in the future.

Cheers!

R.P.