What would you do?

[dragsvart]

What would you want to do (in game) after trying (and failing) to assassinate the King (or at least are being hunted for the crime).

I am trying to build an evil sandbox campaign beginning with a failed assassination attempt done by at least some of the PCs and want to make sure to have some plans for what they will be doing.

[Kane0]

More context gives better responses.

First impulse: Shift the blame. Find a scapegoat or fake your own death to take the heat off.
Second impulse: Have him actually killed, so those chasing you have a real killer to go after. Bonus points for having as little possible to do with it, for example sending a message to a third party interested in the king's demise giving him information/incentive on how to get it done.
Third impulse: Employ PC logic, do the exact opposite of what would be reasonable. For example, presenting yourself to the king and pledging loyalty over a peverse sense of honor ("In evading my attempts to end your life you have proven yourself a worthy benefactor. Honor demands my services be granted to you.")

[Edgerunner]

More context gives better responses.

Third impulse: Employ PC logic, do the exact opposite of what would be reasonable. For example, presenting yourself to the king and pledging loyalty over a peverse sense of honor ("In evading my attempts to end your life you have proven yourself a worthy benefactor. Honor demands my services be granted to you.")

Made me literally LOL.

[RickAllison]

Destabilize the authority by carefully taking down the most vulnerable and closest allies of the king, especially trying to make murders seem like accidents while bribing replacements to have loyalty to you. Train for Assassin 13/Warlock 2, and take the Disguise Self at-will invocation. Turn invisible with magic, spend three hours studying the king, then murder/kidnap him with the aid of those I've bribed, taking his place. Slowly, I make the disguises look less like the king and more like myself, under the cover of a supposedly rejuvenating berry concoction I developed. As I look younger and younger (and more like myself), I would then market the potion to others, with myself as the best example of success. I make some mild profits on the snake oil to cover my retirement and live it up as the new king while doing the best I can to better the kingdom (to keep my cover and reduce unrest). If/when anyone discovers my ruse, I escape with as much treasure as I can and the saved profits from my berry juice.

[Safety Sword]

Destabilize the authority by carefully taking down the most vulnerable and closest allies of the king, especially trying to make murders seem like accidents while bribing replacements to have loyalty to you. Train for Assassin 13/Warlock 2, and take the Disguise Self at-will invocation. Turn invisible with magic, spend three hours studying the king, then murder/kidnap him with the aid of those I've bribed, taking his place. Slowly, I make the disguises look less like the king and more like myself, under the cover of a supposedly rejuvenating berry concoction I developed. As I look younger and younger (and more like myself), I would then market the potion to others, with myself as the best example of success. I make some mild profits on the snake oil to cover my retirement and live it up as the new king while doing the best I can to better the kingdom (to keep my cover and reduce unrest). If/when anyone discovers my ruse, I escape with as much treasure as I can and the saved profits from my berry juice.

Sounds like a hell of a plan that can be undone with a Detect Magic Spell and a curious captain of the guard (See: You have bee stabbed with a sword).

[Mr.Moron]

Spend a solid month or two hiking through the wilderness to the next kingdom over. I'm a PC I can hack it. What are they gonna do? Fax my photos to all adjoining town watches? If they don't already have a search team right on top of me I walk away. Anywhere outside where the king & the other witnesses have direct in-person supervision, I may as well be faceless peasant #132,491.

Unless the King has a lot of high-level magic at his disposal information travels slowly, unreliably, with low accuracy and is of little concern to anyone nut under his immediate command. Once I'm 500 miles away the crime may as well not exist.

[Laserlight]

What would you want to do (in game) after trying (and failing) to assassinate the King (or at least are being hunted for the crime).

I am trying to build an evil sandbox campaign beginning with a failed assassination attempt done by at least some of the PCs and want to make sure to have some plans for what they will be doing.

Depends on why I wanted him dead, why I felt I had to be the one to do it myself, why I'm still around rather than already being three countries away, and why my plan failed.

[Grasharm]

Depends on what level I am and what resources I have available.

Druid of any level: Lay low using good berry for at least a month. Maybe grow some mushrooms for fun.

Mid level Druid: Same as above but use conjure woodland being to summon green hags to impersonate me and show up in multiple places at once. after a week or two have one lock me in from the outside then gets startled and accidently drop her disguise and a map to my location. Thank my rescuers profusely for getting me out of the cellar finally. I was running out of mushrooms and the hags weren't feeding me.

Rouge: rat out the person who put me up to this because as a rouge I know better.

These are my first thoughts as to what to do.

[Douche]

Speaking as someone who has failed to assassinate kings & nobles in the past, I'd start some civil unrest. Simply the notion that kings & nobles (especially unjust ones, or the ones that are not loved by their people) are not invincible will get the people riled up. Take advantage of that and start up a revolt. Might end up in the kings chair yourself if you play your cards right.

[Dreadfull]

What would you want to do (in game) after trying (and failing) to assassinate the King (or at least are being hunted for the crime).

I am trying to build an evil sandbox campaign beginning with a failed assassination attempt done by at least some of the PCs and want to make sure to have some plans for what they will be doing.

hmm, i would either be a barbarian and would rage until the whole kingdom burned earning fierce opposition while trying to raise a cult of followers and hire all the NPC's i can to advocate my "down with royalty" views. All under the idea of resetting society and freeing everyone form corrupt rulers while covertly becomming one myself.

Or i would CHAR rogue or bard my way out of this by hiding in a safehouse and spreading rumors and false information until the whole investigation into the assassination is a mess. Only to retry as soon as possible. Because evil evil evil evil.

Or i would go full blown assassin and just change my appearance and blend in with the kings immediate familiars to strike again and vanish.

This all based on the fact that my motivation is just "hello, i'm evil. lets kill a king, because reasons..."

[Blacky the Blackball]

This is a tough one. What level are the party?

Being a king, he's going to have a high priest who can cast Commune and a vizier who can cast Teleport at the very least, so running and hiding is probably a non-starter unless the party were/are smart enough to have covered themselves with Nondetection type spells. Unless they were very careful (to the point where even the Gods don't know who did it) their identities and locations will be known. There's very little that a party can do to go "off the map" when it comes to the sort of resources a king would have to track them down.

So the campaign is going to have to start with them in the custody of the king rather than on the run - and the question then is why are they still alive?

They may be able to do a Colonel Blood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood) and talk their way out of punishment, or the king may have some need for morally dubious (and totally deniable) agents of some kind that can be Geased into begrudging loyalty and the occasional mission when called upon but otherwise given relatively free reign.

[dragsvart]

This is a tough one. What level are the party?

probably starting around level 5, maybe a tad higher.



So the campaign is going to have to start with them in the custody of the king rather than on the run - and the question then is why are they still alive?

the campaign would start maybe 30 minutes after the attempt, just after the PCs who tried to kill the king have gotten out of the castle and the PCs who weren't in on the assassination (if there are any) have run into them, been seen by the guards, and have been assumed to be part of the assassination.

[Sir cryosin]

Wait till mid day when nobody's supposed to be in the bedroom set up a little trap with trip wires to wear when he lays down on the bed he's pushing the pressure plate releasing a wire that goes up up up to the top of his canopy bed tipping over a bottle of it Alchemist fire and a second bottle containing a ooze monster.

[KorvinStarmast]

Spend a solid month or two hiking through the wilderness to the next kingdom over. I'm a PC I can hack it. What are they gonna do? Fax my photos to all adjoining town watches? If they don't already have a search team right on top of me I walk away. Anywhere outside where the king & the other witnesses have direct in-person supervision, I may as well be faceless peasant #132,491.

Unless the King has a lot of high-level magic at his disposal information travels slowly, unreliably, with low accuracy and is of little concern to anyone nut under his immediate command. Once I'm 500 miles away the crime may as well not exist.
A king may be able to afford the advice or services of a wizard or other spell caster who can cast various divination/location spells. Bad plan, unless you like breaking rocks in prison. :smallbiggrin:
The king may also to be able to afford to hire a ranger, an assassin, or other such lethal bounty hunters as you'd rather not have on your trail. In specialized cases, they may be motivated by the belief that you owe them two dollars. :smallcool:

[LordVonDerp]

What would you want to do (in game) after trying (and failing) to assassinate the King (or at least are being hunted for the crime).

I am trying to build an evil sandbox campaign beginning with a failed assassination attempt done by at least some of the PCs and want to make sure to have some plans for what they will be doing.

watch Game of Thrones.

[dragsvart]

watch read Game of Thrones.

I have and I'm not sure most of my players are on that level...