Public Assassination?

[thefirecrack3r]

In a recent campaign with some friends we had to assassinate the captain of the guard. We succeeded and even made it look like an accident. However, other assassination contracts exist and it'd be nice to switch it up. How does D&D handle public assassinations, would it be possible to 'Assassins Creed' someone? Walk up put a dagger in their ribs in the middle of the crowd then keep moving....how would that work mechanically? Where could I find information about it? Are there feats to take? How do crowd based spot checks work? If 200 people could potentially witness the murder how do we determine who DID see it? Also, sniping? Is it possible to apply sneak attack damage to ranged attacks at further than 30ft (via feats or prestige class)? Or is that entirely impossible?

[Ettina]

In a recent campaign with some friends we had to assassinate the captain of the guard. We succeeded and even made it look like an accident. However, other assassination contracts exist and it'd be nice to switch it up. How does D&D handle public assassinations, would it be possible to 'Assassins Creed' someone? Walk up put a dagger in their ribs in the middle of the crowd then keep moving....how would that work mechanically? Where could I find information about it? Are there feats to take? How do crowd based spot checks work? If 200 people could potentially witness the murder how do we determine who DID see it? Also, sniping? Is it possible to apply sneak attack damage to ranged attacks at further than 30ft (via feats or prestige class)? Or is that entirely impossible?

I'm guessing a Sleight of Hand check, opposed by Spot checks from all those positioned to be able to see it.

According to literal rules, if 200 people could have seen it, you'd roll 200 Spot checks. However, two things simplify this:

First, most likely not all 200 people in a crowd are in a position to see you. (Unless you're doing something like stabbing a guy on a podium in front of an audience, which should be near-impossible to pull off without getting caught.) If their view of you is completely obscured by other people in the crowd, or they aren't looking in your direction, then they shouldn't get a Spot check.

Second, whenever I have to roll a ridiculous number of identical rolls, I roll a d% to decide how many succeed, and then roll something to decide which ones they were.

No idea about the sniping questions. Hopefully someone else can answer this.

[Umbranar]

Indeed not all 200 people in the crowd can see what your doing. Probably only 2 to 3 ppl radius might be able to see.

As for sniping, there is the Sniper Shot that gives unlimited sneak attack range for one attack. Alse the feat crossbow sniper increases sneak attack range to 60 ft with a crossbow.
There are probably more ways to do it, invisibility spell being one of them.

To remain hidden after a shot however you take -20 on the hide check. There is a feat to reduce this penalty to -16 tho but still.

[Dusk Eclipse]

There is a skill trick (Mosquito Bite) in Complete Scoundrel that allows you to damage someone, but they don't notice until one round later, not exactly what you asked but it is a start; for the crows I guess you could use the mob template (Cityscape) and use them as a single creature, no idea how it works and I've never paid attention to said template.

For sniping, there is a spell aptly named Sniper's Shot (Assassin 1, Ranger 1, Sorcerer 1, Wizard 1, Spellthief 1, Consecrated Harrier 1) that allows you to ignore SA range restriction for the first ranged attack made after casting the spell (it is a swift action), IIRC it also allows for Death Attack.

[Boci]

The actual assassination I would handle as follows:

You make an attack roll, taking "5" and compare that to the target's flatfooted AC. If you hit, you deal damage, but do not add your strength modifier to the roll.

At the same time, you make 2 skill checks:

A slight of hand at -10, opposed by onlooker's spot checks to see if you were noticed. If the victim survives the attack they roll with a +10 bonus.

A heal check to time it just right. The DC is 20, for which you delay the target's death by one round, + one round for every 10 points by which you beat the DC. The target will continue doing semi subconscious actions like standing or walking, but cannot take conscious actions like speaking or drawing a weapon.

As for spotting it, I would probably roll once. And I wouldn't imagine everyone has a chance of seeing it. Even in a crowd at best 10 people would be close enough and looking in the right direction as a general rule. In an even bigger ground this number would be reduced. I may even forgo the spot check if the crowd is dense enough.

[Psyren]

1) There are rules to Hide in a crowd (RC 92) and "sneak up from hiding" on the same page. Combine those two and you can use a crowd to get close to your mark, hit them flatfooted, and then blend back in, preferably while invisible. You can also throw in the Mosquito's Bite skill trick so they don't realize you've hit them until the following round. Ideally you would want to do a ton of damage and combine it with some Con poison so they stay conscious, then next round the Con poison saps the last of their HP away and they start dying while you're already double-moving away.

2) I'm not sure if there is a similar item in 3.5, but Sniper Goggles (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/goggles-sniper-goggles) in PF let you SA at any range.

[Dusk Eclipse]

1) There are rules to Hide in a crowd (RC 92) and "sneak up from hiding" on the same page. Combine those two and you can use a crowd to get close to your mark, hit them flatfooted, and then blend back in, preferably while invisible. You can also throw in the Mosquito's Bite skill trick so they don't realize you've hit them until the following round. Ideally you would want to do a ton of damage and combine it with some Con poison so they stay conscious, then next round the Con poison saps the last of their HP away and they start dying while you're already double-moving away.

2) I'm not sure if there is a similar item in 3.5, but Sniper Goggles (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/goggles-sniper-goggles) in PF let you SA at any range.

Not RAW, but a use activated Item of Sniper's Shot is about 8000 GP.

[atemu1234]

I'm guessing a Sleight of Hand check, opposed by Spot checks from all those positioned to be able to see it.

According to literal rules, if 200 people could have seen it, you'd roll 200 Spot checks. However, two things simplify this:

First, most likely not all 200 people in a crowd are in a position to see you. (Unless you're doing something like stabbing a guy on a podium in front of an audience, which should be near-impossible to pull off without getting caught.) If their view of you is completely obscured by other people in the crowd, or they aren't looking in your direction, then they shouldn't get a Spot check.

Second, whenever I have to roll a ridiculous number of identical rolls, I roll a d% to decide how many succeed, and then roll something to decide which ones they were.

No idea about the sniping questions. Hopefully someone else can answer this.

If there are two hundred, I'd get the average modifier plus twenty and use that instead of rolling for the crowd.

[thefirecrack3r]

Thanks for the answers! I'll be showing these to my DM and see how he wants to handle it. You all were quite helpful!

[frogglesmash]

I made a Rogue build a while back that combined the Mosquito's bite talent, Arterial Strike(my DM let me convert multiple d6s to bleed damage), and Sleight of Hand along with a really thin (almost needle like) dagger to cause victims to die in approx 1-2 minutes due to internal bleeding that they never even notice. (A fair amount of DM approval is required to allow this to work).