Defense against assassination?

[Choco]

Long story short, the char I am currently playing (Barbarian5/Fighter2) has been having some "disagreements" with the party assassin (Rogue5/Assassin2). The assassin has stated that he has some dislike for me, and may try to kill me in the future. It would be out of character for me to kill him first (without provocation), not to mention the rest of the party might turn on me if I did that, so that option is out. He does not stand a chance against me pretty much any time I am awake due to my uncanny dodge ability making me immune to sneak/death attacks and my +12 to fortitude saves all but negating anything he could reasonably throw at me at his level, and other than hiring some magical NPC's to help kill me his only real option is to do it while I am asleep...

So basically my question is this: How could I defend myself in my sleep against this assassin, who has so many ranks in hide/move silently that no one in the party has any decent chance of detecting him. It would be preferable if the defense was something I could keep hidden from him so that should he try to coup de grace me in my sleep I could detect him, pretend to be asleep until he tries his attack, and then justifiably turn him into a fine paste.

Some info that might be important:
I sleep in my own tent, separate from the rest of the party.
I have 5 less points in listen than he has in move silently (both after all modifications).
I sleep in my armor (Endurance feat, picked it up to get Steadfast Determination and decided to put it to use) with my weapons in reach (also wearing my 2 spiked gauntlets).

Alright, I think that is enough info, looking forward to all the neat ideas

[erikun]

Get friendly with the party Wizard, and have him cast Alarm in your tent/ inn room/ wherever. If I recall, it's not a magical trap per se, so it shouldn't be disarmable.

Of course, this has it own perils if the Wizard wants you dead, too.

[raptor1056]

You ever seen the Maltese Falcon? Toss a bunch of dry leaves-- and caltrops, for that matter-- around your bed. When he tries to sneak up, he makes a lot of noise. Not foolproof, but a decent idea.

[ZeroNumerous]

Pay a hundred gold and buy a dog trained to Guard. Dogs have Scent 30ft. They don't care what your Hide or Move Silently is, they'll smell you. Then they'll bark loudly. You automatically defeat the assassin. Congratulations.

[Choco]

Get friendly with the party Wizard, and have him cast Alarm in your tent/ inn room/ wherever. If I recall, it's not a magical trap per se, so it shouldn't be disarmable.

Of course, this has it own perils if the Wizard wants you dead, too.

I thought about that, but if it was an audible alarm he would have enough time to get away (probably pretend he was taking a dump or somethin to explain why he was not sleeping) and if it was mental only the wizard would hear it, and it may be too late by the time he shows up with reinforcements.

Are there any magic items that can be used without the UMD feat that would let me set the alarm myself perhaps?

You ever seen the Maltese Falcon? Toss a bunch of dry leaves-- and caltrops, for that matter-- around your bed. When he tries to sneak up, he makes a lot of noise. Not foolproof, but a decent idea.

ooo, that is a nice idea. I will probably do that as an extra layer of security even if a more foolproof idea presents itself.

Pay a hundred gold and buy a dog trained to Guard. Dogs have Scent 30ft. They don't care what your Hide or Move Silently is, they'll smell you. Then they'll bark loudly. You automatically defeat the assassin. Congratulations.

That's good too, if he knew I had a dog it would be a good deterrent. In that case all I would have to worry about is him getting rid of the dog somehow.

[Sinfire Titan]

Have someone cast a Darkness spell on your body that has a duration of X Hours/level, then dismiss it in the morning. He can't use Death Attack if you have Concealment, and he can't avoid the concealment unless he can see through magical darkness.

[OverdrivePrime]

Pay a hundred gold and buy a dog trained to Guard. Dogs have Scent 30ft. They don't care what your Hide or Move Silently is, they'll smell you. Then they'll bark loudly. You automatically defeat the assassin. Congratulations.

Better yet, buy an adorable, playful puppy trained to guard. If he hurts the puppy to try to get it to shut up, he's got no hope of survival. The rest of the party will be 100% against him, and any sensible DM would give you major bonuses to carve him up, just on principle.

Alternatively, you could trade in just about everything you have to pick up a minor intelligent weapon. It never sleeps, communicates with you through empathy (DANGER! AWAKE!) and if you're able to keep it a secret, he won't even know that it might be a foil to an assassination attempt.

[ZeroNumerous]

Keep it with you, train it to only take food and water from you and feed it yourself every night. Or just take the Natural Cohort or Animal Cohort or whatever that feat is. Pick a dog. You now have a dog companion with as much HP as you have.

[DamnedIrishman]

Better yet, buy an adorable, playful puppy trained to guard. If he hurts the puppy to try to get it to shut up, he's got no hope of survival. The rest of the party will be 100% against him, and any sensible DM would give you major bonuses to carve him up, just on principle.

Or make your guard dog a vicious half-particularly crazy wolf half-rottweiler half-psycho half-sadist, and then his screams of pain will wake you if the barking doesn't.

[Choco]

Alternatively, you could trade in just about everything you have to pick up a minor intelligent weapon. It never sleeps, communicates with you through empathy (DANGER! AWAKE!) and if you're able to keep it a secret, he won't even know that it might be a foil to an assassination attempt.

Now THAT is the kind of good idea I would probably have never thought of. Would the intelligent item be able to detect the assassin without fail though? I know it doesnt do spot or listen checks for obvious reasons, so where would I look to see exactly how it detects danger?

[The Mentalist]

Hang it on the back of the door, when said door moves it screams.

[ZeroNumerous]

Now THAT is the kind of good idea I would probably have never thought of. Would the intelligent item be able to detect the assassin without fail though? I know it doesnt do spot or listen checks for obvious reasons, so where would I look to see exactly how it detects danger?

It does, actually. Rules on intelligent items.

[DamnedIrishman]

It does, actually. Rules on intelligent items.

If an intelligent weapon had constantly active deathwatch (counts as a minor power), then couldn't it detect any living thing approaching? Or is that bending the rules a little too much?

[OverdrivePrime]

Yeah, see if you can commission an intelligent dagger or some such that can cast Alarm once per day at caster level 5. The list of minor powers isn't the end-all/be-all of item powers, and it's an inoffensive spell, so a reasonable DM should be okay with it.

[Froogleyboy]

The dog idea is ok but why don't you pick up dragon cohort (from draconomicon) . No one ****s with a dragon.

[quick_comment]

Get a dummy about your size. Every night, dig a hole in your tent, sleep covered in the hole, and have the dummy sleep in the middle of your tent disguised to look like you.

[Choco]

Yeah, see if you can commission an intelligent dagger or some such that can cast Alarm once per day at caster level 5. The list of minor powers isn't the end-all/be-all of item powers, and it's an inoffensive spell, so a reasonable DM should be okay with it.

That sounds almost perfect there. The quest the group just completed should net us some insane money as a reward, and the giver is a lvl 15 wizard, so perhaps I can have him craft me an intelligent ring, lawful neutral alignment, purpose being to protect the wearer. It only needs empathy and average mental stats, blindsense out to 30 feet, and the ability to cast Alarm at lvl 5 3 times per day. It would send me a mental "DANGER" message whenever anything small or larger is detected moving within it's area when I am asleep, and at any time whenever it detects something of any size that seems to be moving directly towards me. I think I could convince my DM to allow me one of those in return for the 10-20k gold I would get, and that should cover all bases.

[Emy]

The dog idea is ok but why don't you pick up dragon cohort (from draconomicon) . No one ****s with a dragon.

Dragon Cohort requires character level 9.

[ZeroNumerous]

It only needs empathy and average mental stats, blindsense out to 30 feet, and the ability to cast Alarm at lvl 5 3 times per day.

Blindsense is prohibitively expensive at your level. +12,000gp plus whatever magic ring you're picking up. So a bare minimum of 14,000gp. An intelligent Ring of Protection +1 with continual deathwatch is 16,700gp.

[quick_comment]

Try buying a contingent rouse from a wizard with the craft contingent spell feat. Make the conditions: When the assassin comes within 5ft of me when I am sleeping. Rouse is a cantrip that instantly wakes you up. It is in CA I think.

[RangerOfFortune]

I sleep in my armor (Endurance feat, picked it up to get Steadfast Determination and decided to put it to use) with my weapons in reach (also wearing my 2 spiked gauntlets)

THAT'S one of the more dangerous ideas I've heard in a while...

But anyways...This is kinda lame, but is it possible to work out your differences? Talk about it? Or at least enter an agreement that precludes killing?

I might also suggest mentioning your concern to a fellow party member. "If I end up dead one morning, look no further than the Rogue."

[Kosjsjach]

"If I end up dead one morning, look no further than the Rogue."

Which is all very dandy, except by then he's already dead.
But I completely agree with the principle of what you're saying. Try to work it out. Find some common ground or something. You should be focused on killing everything else, not each other.

[Stormageddon]

Get bells tie them to the tent so that if the tent flaps move the bells sound.

Get a second tent, pretend to go to sleep in first tent than move in the night to the second tent or maybe you don't even need a second tent at all.

sleep on top of the rogue.

take the longest watch possible.

buy full shield and sleep under it.

[Guancyto]

sleep on top of the rogue.

Whoa there!

I don't think it's necessary to work out their differences that thoroughly.

[elliott20]

ODP, that's friggin' awesome. heh.

Better yet, you should bring a REAL puppy to the table. But train this puppy to attack his groin on command. And the moment his character hits yours, sic him!

[quick_comment]

Get a command word item of rope trick, and sleep in your own rope trick.

[Haven]

The assassin has stated that he has some dislike for me, and may try to kill me in the future. It would be out of character for me to kill him first (without provocation), not to mention the rest of the party might turn on me if I did that, so that option is out.

Saying "Hey I might decide to murder you one day" doesn't count as provocation? I'd be pretty freaking provoked.

[hewhosaysfish]

Which is all very dandy, except by then he's already dead.

But since the assassin is the one initiating events then it only matters what the assassin stands to lose (i.e. his life) by doing so, not what he causes the barbarian to lose (i.e. his life)... unless, of course, he's willing to sacrifice his own life to take the barbarian down (which I don't think is the case).

Also, it's possible that the in your post may indicate that you get all this and were just foolin'. In which case: ignore me.

[Darrin]

Are there any magic items that can be used without the UMD feat that would let me set the alarm myself perhaps?

Stone of Alarm in the DMG, 2700 GP. You can affix it to your tent. If you want to lay more of a trap for the assassin, lay down a blanket next to your bedroll and attach the stone to the blanket.

Cloak of Shelter (A&EG, 12080 GP) is a little more expensive, but also quite nice, but the real icing on the cake is Leomund's Secure Shelter comes with a free unseen servant. You can command the unseen servant to do things such as, if the assassin enters the shelter or if someone triggers the alarm, drop this Dust of Sneezing and Choking (DMG, 2500 GP, "Cursed" item) in the room. Make sure you're wearing a Necklace of Adaptation (DMG, 9000 GP). If the Assassin makes his save, he'll still be stunned for 5d4 rounds, plenty of time for you to wake up and reduce him to a red splatter against your tent/shelter wall.

If your DM has banned or won't let you go near the Dust of Sneezing a Choking, then have the unseen servant try Incense of the Gorgon (A&EG, 6600 GP). Fort save DC 19 or turn to stone. Another option might be, find a druid or wizard who doesn't mind casting multiple fire traps on a bottle every day for a few weeks (they'll need 25 GP per casting to cover the material component costs, plus the cost of the spell). When you've got a few dozen fire traps on the bottle, tell the unseen servant to fly to 5' above the intruder and open the bottle. So long as the intruder is standing and you're laying down, he should get umpteen-whatever Xd4+X fire damage and you should be outside of the blast.

That's good too, if he knew I had a dog it would be a good deterrent. In that case all I would have to worry about is him getting rid of the dog somehow.

A dog's scent ability can be defeated too easily, such as catstink (CompAdv, 50 GP) or scentbreaker (FRCS or Tome & Blood, 5 GP). Or, yeah, just kill the dog. A bat might work, dire or otherwise... they're nocturnal to start with and blindsense trumps hide/move silently, but it can be defeated with a silence spell. Then again, you might be able to train a bat to do something when it notices its blindsense is gone. Desmodu bats (MMII) have blindsight, which is a little better, but again, it can be defeated with a silence spell.

Hmm. I'm still liking the fire trap idea, just cast it on your tent. Glyph Stone (MIC, 1000 GP or 4000 GP) would do the same thing, but you'll need to find someone to cast a suitable spell into the glyph.

[Telonius]

What you need is a Transformer.

Leadership, Warforged Druid cohort. Doesn't actually need to sleep, but can wild shape into something that has Scent. Put him in a Bag of Holding when you're awake, so he can "sleep" and recover spells.