Machine Gun Snipers

I'd like to highlight one of the crazier things that happened in Session 1: the assassination of four orcs by Deadleaf the elf. As we played the game it struck me as very powerful, the kind of power that gives me pause.

Can a character use a missle weapon to make an assassination attempt? If so, can they make multiple attempts per segment? If so, why would an assassin ever bother with melee weapons?

around elves watch yourselves

Let's review the rules.

First of all, elves working alone or with other elves surprise other monsters two-thirds of the time. This will put them in a situation to assassinate often.

halflings do it too

Secondly, any assassin who surprises his target may opt to use the ASSASSINATION TABLE [edit: added the table at the bottom for reference] in lieu of a regular attack, outright killing their target half the time (or not so often - read on).

cheaters

That's all well and good but characters only get one attack per surprise segment, unless they have a missile weapon at hand. Is that legal? Nothing in the excerpt above (nor anything else I found in the rules) prohibits it, and besides, the sniper is a classic assassin archetype. So ranged assassinations stand.

Many missile weapons have a rate of fire higher than one per round. In a surprise segment, that rate is tripled!

gary what were you thinking

What does that mean for assassination? The rules are ambiguous. The way I see it there are three valid interpretations:

1. One. The assassination does not interact with the weapon's rate of fire or the triple rate of fire provided by surprise (which multiplies the weapon's rate of fire). This option is easy to adjudicate and keeps ranged assassination more-or-less equal in effectiveness to close range.
2. Three. The assassination is not affected by the weapon's rate of fire, but the assassin can leverage the surprise round to snipe multiple targets. This option is also easy to manage as it is a fixed number, but greatly improves the assassin's lethality. It also removes weapon type from the calculation. This is the option I chose.
3. Triple Rate of Fire. Essentially you convert each attack the character is entitled to into an assassination attempt. This solution is unacceptable to me because every failed assassination is still an automatic hit. A level one assassin outdamaging a 5d6 fireball surely goes against the spirit of the game.

Also consider: these are attacks of opportunity, not carefully-crafted assassinations! It is appropriate for the DM to apply a significant penalty to the assassination roll in this situation. This penalty can be used to mitigate the effectiveness of ranged assassination and the effect of multiple attacks.

In this case, I assigned a -5% CUMULATIVE penalty to Deadleaf's assassination attempts (suggested by Deadleaf's player himself). For example, when targeting 1 HD monsters (orcs) the three attempts were at 45%, 40%, and 35% to kill, respectively.

Option 2 has made for some fun moments at the table - it's always great to see a player on a hot streak - but I wonder if it grants too much advantage to ranged weapons. Everyone else seems satisfied with the results so I will roll with it until I see an obvious violation of rules or spirit.

I hope that was an interesting exercise for you. What do you think? Did I miss a rule? Did you come to the same conclusions I did?

Edit: here is the ASSASSINATION TABLE for reference.

Session 2: Charge!

Session for August 17, 2023. Eight players joined the adventure!

Tony D'Angelo, human assassin
Mustacha, human ranger
Bastion, human fighter
Friar Knuck Buck, human cleric
Bard Warpig, human fighter
Deadleaf, elf assassin
Bard Fluid, human Fighter
Analanus Tain't, human cleric

Rumors

• The prisoners (evil cleric and fighter captured by the party last week) are to be executed for practicing necromancy. The execution is scheduled for Thursday the 17th.
• The forest spiders are a menace! A trapper lost an arm to the venom before he was able to reach a cleric for help!
• Captain of the guard has something for you. Come see him.

At the end of last session the captain of the guard promised the party would get first look at any information from the prisoners. He kept his promise and gave the party a map that the cleric promised would lead to their demise at the hands of his brethren.

During the prior week, Tony the assassin discovered the lair of the spiders who have been harassing and eating the locals. The group was excited about the possibilities - particularly the two assassins - and started planning out ways to capture a few of them. It was starting to look like a spider hunt until the Dungeon Master spoke up and reminded the Good characters in the party that harvesting spider venom for whatever purpose should make them uncomfortable at best, and helping assassins (ahem, excuse me, "scouts") obtain poison would result in a shift in alignment.

They decided to plunder the dungeon instead.

Breadth-First or Depth-First?

Back in the dungeon, they regained their bearings thanks to Mustacha's and Deadleaf's maps. They head down the main hall into a triangular chamber with a dais along the back wall. The dais is empty except for worn paths where countless priests practiced their duties. The only exit was a door in an alcove in the northest corner of the room.

The door opened to a 30'x30' room. As they entered to investigate, one of the doors on the opposite side of the room and a group of goblins filed in to do the same!

chaaaarge!

Our bloodthirsty heroes charged across the room to slaughter goblins but their attacks fail to connect. The goblins fought back and put Bard Warpig in a coma (zero hit points, saved by his Constitution modifier)! Goblins weren't so lucky on the following round and were wiped out.

Bard Warpig was in bad shape but he was still alive. The henchmen were tasked with carrying, then escorting him, back to town for some much needed bed rest. They were not pleased by the hard labor but grateful they weren't the ones to get skewered.

The party opened the door to the north and found a small empty closet. What did it contain when it was in use all those ages ago? Deadleaf noticed a secret door in the wall that opened to a spiral staircase heading down. [DM's note: I have rolled a 1 on nearly every passive secret doors check for this elf!]

They wanted to go deeper to where the treasure is. They spiked the other exits shut and descended the spiral staircase.

We Lose More Scouts That Way...

By this time the party had developed a standard exploring procedure. Deadleaf would scout 90' ahead and note any new turns or doors. Then he would return, report, and the party would decide which direction to go next. Doors would be checked for traps by the scout Tony D'Angelo and opened by either Bastion or Mustacha, the stronger characters, because the doors were often stuck.

They entered a door halfway down the hallway. There was a medium size waiting room with stone benches and three doors. One door led to a small pantry with a secret door in the back. The second door opened to a huge hallway, 50' wide, with two rows of columns. They promptly closed the door and headed out door number 3, which led to another long hallway.

I do not understand their decision making process. But isn't that one of the things that makes the game so much fun?

Back to the exploration. They discovered a circular room with an eight-pointed star design in the floor, a large chamber with some debris at the back, and another hallway that ran parallel to the one they were in.

The parallel passage led to a stairway going down. Unfortunately for Deadleaf, he triggered a trap set for anyone going that way (or trying to escape?). The floor gave way under him and sent him sliding down into a prison cell. He sat in the dark amongst the skeletons of all the other elves who fell in and stewed.

[DM's note: this was the result of an error on my part. Deadleaf's player pointed out that he wouldn't have needed to travel so far down the hall before turning back, and wouldn't have triggered the chute. Since I had already described the action, Deadleaf was unharmed, and the party was already working on the plan to retrieve him I let the action stand rather than rewind. Mea culpa!]

The party heard the trap spring from down the hall and rushed to find Deadleaf had gone missing. They discovered the trap without losing anyone else and tried to figure out if they could disarm it somehow. After a few turns of trial and error, they spiked the chute open enough for Mustacha to slip through. With a little extra rope and patience they extracted Deadleaf.

They had made great progress in mapping the dungeon so far, but had little treasure to show for it. It was time to push forward and find the loot!

Bloodbath

Deadleaf went down the hall and around the corner. Soon he was peering into a room full of twenty orcs gearing up for their own kind of adventure. He chose to maintain the element of surprise and head back to the party.

They didn't like the odds of a fight - remember that their men-at-arms had left the dungeon - but they did have a clever plan. Deadleaf would return and bait them into a chase down the hall toward the party, who would be on the other side of the chute.

It almost worked.

Deadleaf caught the orcs with their pants down: 4 segments of surprise. He got their attention by assassinating 9 of them, then taunting them as he retreated. But no one followed.

After taking such heavy losses from a surprise attack I used a morale check to determine their reaction. Success would mean they rally and chase, failure would mean retreat. The orc captain kept a cool head and they made a tactical retreat.

Eager to press the advantage with their improved odds, the party returned to finish the job. Two quarrels flew at them and the lookouts sounded an alarm. The orcs were expecting them!

The party charged in, but found the orcs much better organized and equipped than the goblins. Every combatant in the melee attacked in order of weapon length. That favored the party with one exception: poor Friar Knuck fell to an orc's axe (4') before he could use his +1 mace (2.5').

Caught in a pincer created by the orcs, the party's front line was outnumbered 3 to 2. Their armor held and they rallied! After a brutal counterattack, three remaining orcs (including their captain) retreated down the hall and into the lower level of the dungeon.

It was the end of the night. Everyone was exhausted, in game and out. They looted the bodies, gathered up their fallen comrade, and headed home.

Which is a shame because... well, let's hope it is still there when they return.

THE SCORE

THE VANQUISHED

6 goblins: 84 XP
9 orcs assassinated by Deadleaf: 129 XP
8 orcs defeated in combat: 118 XP

THE HAUL

145 ep
66 sp
Treasure share: 24 ep, 11 sp

Monster XP: 202 total, 34 per survivor

Treasure XP: 76, 13 per survivor

Tony, assassin [E]: 37 XP
Mustacha, ranger [E]: 37 XP
Bastion, fighter [E]: 37 XP
Deadleaf, assassin [E]: 166 XP
Bard Fluid, fighter [E]: 37 XP
Analanus, cleric [S]: 37 XP

GRAVEYARD

Friar Knuck Buck, Lawful Good Human Cleric 1: charged into an orc's axe in session 2.

Session 1: Fort Fenrir

This session was played on August 10, 2023. Seven players joined me for adventure!

Tony D'Angelo, human assassin

Mustacha, human ranger
Bastion, human fighter
Friar Knuck Buck, human cleric
Bard Warpig, human fighter
Deadleaf, elf assassin
Bard Fluid, human fighter

Humble Beginnings

NO ORCS ALLOWED

The players were introduced to Fort Fenrir, a frontier town carved out of the wilderness by Lord Fenrir (Hu Fi 9). Traders and adventurers have been trickling into the new settlement looking to make their fortunes.

According to rumor Lord Fenrir was looking for help with a local dungeon. The garrison captain, Fenrir's trusted lieutenant, filled them in. While exploring the nearby mountain Fenrir and his men were attacked by a pack of ghouls coming from a cave on a rocky pass. He gave them directions and said if they investigated the cave and found information on the undead menace, they would be rewarded.

The party geared up five men-at-arms and departed.

The Deadleaf Show

It was nearly noon when they reached the rocky pass described by the captain.

Mustacha the ranger spotted wolf tracks leading away from the path and into the trees. The party ignored the tracks and continued up the pass to the mouth of a cave.

The cave was small and empty. Mustacha noticed humanoid tracks leading out of the cave and down the path. Deadleaf followed the tracks into the cave and found a concealed passage that led to an ancient hall!

The party entered an antechamber followed by a long hallway. Deadleaf scouted 90 feet ahead of the party to take advantage of his preternatural stealth.

the new meta

Down the hallway, Deadleaf passed a door on his left. At the end of the hall he found a large triangular room with a dais on the back wall and an exit in the far corner. Satisfied there were no immediate threats, he returned to the door.

The door opened to a parallel hall. Deadleaf went right and found a small empty chamber. He doubled back to the left passage and found stairs down to the next level.

On his way back, Deadleaf got the surprise of his life. Four orcs had just turned down the hall, headed his way - from the direction of that empty chamber!

The surprise dice showed 2 vs 2: mutual surprise! Normally mutual surprise would have no effect, but Deadleaf's exceptional Dexterity provided two bonus segments of surprise.

He slaughtered all four orcs with his bow before they knew he was there.

A secret door at the back of the chamber led to a closet where the orcs kept spare weapons. There were also two large chests full of copper pieces. The party, perhaps frusted by a pile of low value coins, dumped the coins out and searched the chests. They found a false bottom. It contained old documents, mostly destroyed, but found one relatively well preserved with some unrecognizable writing on it, which they kept.

You Can't Fool Me!

Another door opened from the closet to a long hallway. The party followed a side passage that curved to another door, which opened to a large room with two columns, faded frescoes, and a domed ceiling with a few stalactites.

The party was suspicious of the stalactites and fired missiles at them. Sure enough, one arrow penetrated the rock and revealed a piercer!

Darkleaf peppered the creatures with arrows as Bastion and party doubled back to retrieve the orc corpses to use as bait. In the end five of the piercers were killed and the party had a safe path to the other side of the room where a door awaited them.

Party Versus Party

The party entered a small waiting room with another exit across from them. Dust and corroded metal bits were all that remained of the furniture. The party noticed "chicken scratch" style footprints in the dust and suspected trouble was waiting in the next room. They got ready to rush in as soon as Bastion opened the door.

The door was stuck! Bard Warpig tried the door and they hoped they could maintain surprise.

It swung open before he could push. Skeletons filled the doorway. "Kill them all!"

The party was caught off guard by the sudden reversal. Bard Warpig's armor repelled the skeletons. Deadleaf reacted quickly and arched arrows through the doorway at the figures beyond - and struck one, spoiling his spell.

Then the party seized initiative. Mustacha took the front line while Bard Fluid and Bastion attacked with spears. Tony D'Angelo lobbed a flask of burning oil into the group of skeletons.

Friar Knuck Buck displayed his holy symbol.

The skeletons scattered. A fighter and cleric stepped up to fight in their place and missed their attacks. The third figure, presumably a magic-user, ran out of view.

Outnumbered three to one, the cleric and fighter surrendered the next round.

Loose Ends

The magic-user escaped through a secret door that led down a tunnel out of the dungeon. The ranger picked up the trail and marked down his map for another day.

The party took the cleric and fighter as prisoners and claimed all their treasure. Three iron trunks opened to the cleric's key and revealed hundreds of electrum pieces. Friar Knuck Buck claimed the priest's armor and unholy-looking mace.

Captain of the guard took the prisoners and confiscated the cleric's unholy symbol. He gave each character a purse with 50 gold pieces as a reward for the clues to the undead activity in the mountain.

What will happen to the cleric and fighter? Are they the source of the undead problem? What were the orcs doing there? Is "Bard" a common name in this land?

THE SCORE

THE ASSASSINATION OF ORCS BY THE COWARD DEADLEAF: 75 XP

THE VANQUISHED

  5 piercers (partial value awarded for difficulty - I forgot the 95% surprise rate as the party entered the room so adjusted xp for not having that "power")

  3 NPCs: level 1 cleric and fighter were captured, level 1 magic-user fled

  6 skeletons

XP Value: 350

THE HAUL

  1000 cp, 750 ep (380 gp value)

  mace +1

  potion of human control

  potion of levitation

XP Value: 1480

TOTAL XP: 1830

XP SHARE: 261