Boci
2010-05-29, 12:13 PM
The Hassassins
Brief History: In the desert nation of Nakir, the river beds may run dry, but gold and silver pour through the kingdom like a flash flood. With so much wealth trading hands as people buy and sell, pay tribute and bribe, the rulers have many ways in which they can use coin to better their situation.
120 years ago, the king of Nakir set up an elite force of trained killer who later became known as the Hassassins. After his death, these occultic warriors became an independent body within the kingdom’s infrastructure, available to any noble who could afford their services.
Reputation: To the common people of the realm, Hassassins are beings of a nightmare: brutally efficient killers shrouded in dark clothing who stalk their pray in the dead of night. However, the speed and precision of their blade is not the main reason they are feared so much. Indeed, there are many creatures that in one-on-one combat would be far deadlier than any of the Hassassin. The reason these killers are so feared is the rumour, not completely unfounded, that they can find their target, no matter where it hide, be it a secret cave only it knows about or even the end of the world.
To nobles, the Hassassins are a reliable, if expensive, way to remove people in their path. They know the Hassassins would never target someone of royal blood, and that whichever member of the Hassassins they hire will kill themselves before giving up any details on the contract. Never-the-less, even the boldest of nobles will have a drink to bolster their courage before entering the lair of the Hassassins.
How to hire: The Hassassin’s lair consists of a series of catacombs directly beneath the Royal Palace of Nakir. Since obtaining their services requires a face to face meeting with them in their lair, only nobles may recruit their services, although some will act as a go between for rich merchants, but this will drive the price even higher. Hassassin’s will accept anything of value for payment, be it coins, gems, magical items or even alchemic and other non-magical substances, as long as they are rare and valuable. Their rates are 25% higher than the standard price for contract killings. Half the payment is made before hand and half after the target is killed. Hassassins consider a request a binding contract and will send another of their kind to complete a job if the one hired first is killed.
Types of services: Assassinations are by far the most common types of assignments requested from the Hassassins, but they can also be hired as body guard for short periods of time and will listen to other requests.
Methods: Once a Hassassin has been assigned a target, they will enter a trance before commencing the hunt. To be in a trance they are required to be fatigued, either physically or mentally. Since the trance represents a different state of mind to their usual life, they will not fatigue themselves by training. Some will dance whilst others will read for hours on end. They will then inhale the steam of water laced with a hallucinogenic plant. Similar to Mordayn (From Book of Vile Darkness), this drug has the same initial and secondary affects, but the side effects are instead brief images of the target and their locations. The Hassassin will then set out to find and kill their target, carrying with them one more dose of the plant in case they need it.
Hierarchy: The Hassassins have a single leader and four “lieutenants”. These are the only members of rank in the organization. To encourage their members to stay on edge, the deeds of the others are kept track of, but 10 is the highest grade available (representing a quick and efficient mission), and there can be any number of members between 5 and 27 with that grade at any given time.
If the leader dies, the four lieutenants select a new one, and the leader will replace any lieutenants that die. In the so far unheard of scenario that both the leader and any number of lieutenants die at the same time, the Hassassin’s edict dictates that a new leader will be voted in based on the wishes of every member. Anyone with a grade of 10 can nominate themselves to be leader, but doing so bars you from running for the position of lieutenant for 6 months.
Resources: As an organization, the Hassassins have about 150,000gp in cash. Their total assets are worth around 1 million gp. Their leader is typically CR: 15-16, and the four lieutenants are 12-13. Unranked members of the organization will vary from 5-11. They have around 100 members and a small number of contacts and informants.
Anyone have anything else to add? If not I will move on to stating the members from the movie. Couple opf questions:
1. Does any source book give typical prices for assassinations?
2. How many distinct Hassassins can you remember? I can remember the leader, the grenade thrower, the dual kusari-gama wielder, the master thrower and the one wielding the strange axe/spear who was killed off quickly.
Brief History: In the desert nation of Nakir, the river beds may run dry, but gold and silver pour through the kingdom like a flash flood. With so much wealth trading hands as people buy and sell, pay tribute and bribe, the rulers have many ways in which they can use coin to better their situation.
120 years ago, the king of Nakir set up an elite force of trained killer who later became known as the Hassassins. After his death, these occultic warriors became an independent body within the kingdom’s infrastructure, available to any noble who could afford their services.
Reputation: To the common people of the realm, Hassassins are beings of a nightmare: brutally efficient killers shrouded in dark clothing who stalk their pray in the dead of night. However, the speed and precision of their blade is not the main reason they are feared so much. Indeed, there are many creatures that in one-on-one combat would be far deadlier than any of the Hassassin. The reason these killers are so feared is the rumour, not completely unfounded, that they can find their target, no matter where it hide, be it a secret cave only it knows about or even the end of the world.
To nobles, the Hassassins are a reliable, if expensive, way to remove people in their path. They know the Hassassins would never target someone of royal blood, and that whichever member of the Hassassins they hire will kill themselves before giving up any details on the contract. Never-the-less, even the boldest of nobles will have a drink to bolster their courage before entering the lair of the Hassassins.
How to hire: The Hassassin’s lair consists of a series of catacombs directly beneath the Royal Palace of Nakir. Since obtaining their services requires a face to face meeting with them in their lair, only nobles may recruit their services, although some will act as a go between for rich merchants, but this will drive the price even higher. Hassassin’s will accept anything of value for payment, be it coins, gems, magical items or even alchemic and other non-magical substances, as long as they are rare and valuable. Their rates are 25% higher than the standard price for contract killings. Half the payment is made before hand and half after the target is killed. Hassassins consider a request a binding contract and will send another of their kind to complete a job if the one hired first is killed.
Types of services: Assassinations are by far the most common types of assignments requested from the Hassassins, but they can also be hired as body guard for short periods of time and will listen to other requests.
Methods: Once a Hassassin has been assigned a target, they will enter a trance before commencing the hunt. To be in a trance they are required to be fatigued, either physically or mentally. Since the trance represents a different state of mind to their usual life, they will not fatigue themselves by training. Some will dance whilst others will read for hours on end. They will then inhale the steam of water laced with a hallucinogenic plant. Similar to Mordayn (From Book of Vile Darkness), this drug has the same initial and secondary affects, but the side effects are instead brief images of the target and their locations. The Hassassin will then set out to find and kill their target, carrying with them one more dose of the plant in case they need it.
Hierarchy: The Hassassins have a single leader and four “lieutenants”. These are the only members of rank in the organization. To encourage their members to stay on edge, the deeds of the others are kept track of, but 10 is the highest grade available (representing a quick and efficient mission), and there can be any number of members between 5 and 27 with that grade at any given time.
If the leader dies, the four lieutenants select a new one, and the leader will replace any lieutenants that die. In the so far unheard of scenario that both the leader and any number of lieutenants die at the same time, the Hassassin’s edict dictates that a new leader will be voted in based on the wishes of every member. Anyone with a grade of 10 can nominate themselves to be leader, but doing so bars you from running for the position of lieutenant for 6 months.
Resources: As an organization, the Hassassins have about 150,000gp in cash. Their total assets are worth around 1 million gp. Their leader is typically CR: 15-16, and the four lieutenants are 12-13. Unranked members of the organization will vary from 5-11. They have around 100 members and a small number of contacts and informants.
Anyone have anything else to add? If not I will move on to stating the members from the movie. Couple opf questions:
1. Does any source book give typical prices for assassinations?
2. How many distinct Hassassins can you remember? I can remember the leader, the grenade thrower, the dual kusari-gama wielder, the master thrower and the one wielding the strange axe/spear who was killed off quickly.