Multi-Coup De Gras


Rules Questions


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

Recently, a player in my Game snuck into a room with 5 sleeping enemies. She wanted to Coup De Gras them all. She had passed the Initial Stealth Check, and was able to use sneak attack. I couldn't find a ruling in the book, so I ruled that as long as she killed them outright that she would not have to reroll a stealth check. and she managed to do so. I am still wondering if I made the right call or should her roll a stealth check after each kill? Should I have made some kind of roll to see if the other soldiers woke up?

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Although I don't think there's a rule anywhere stating how loud it is when you kill someone, I'd suggest another stealth check each time would still be appropriate.

And I'm probably a terrible person, but the subject line has me imagining the PC killing people with bags of lard.

Grand Lodge

I would have gone with a Stealth check each time.

Changes in circumstance.

Grand Lodge

It definitely wasn't a wrong call. I probably would have asked for a stealth check for/during/after/whatever each kill, but there's no where that explicitly says how to handle this kind of thing.

Grand Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Yeah, you are not "wrong".

It's just not explicitly covered, so you did the DM thing, and made a ruling.

Everyone seems happy, and if so, you did good.

Scarab Sages

Is the PC able to kill all of them in a single round? If so, one stealth check. Just do a new stealth check each round.


Multiple actions generally require multiple stealth checks. Since each CDG is its own action each should require its own stealth check.

Strict RAW a CDG is an attack so stealth is automatically broken, but that hardly seems appropriate for the circumstances. A slightly less strict reading of RAW has each CDG as combat which is DC 0 to notice, but sleepers get a -10 to the roll.

Remember, however easy you make it for the PCs to slaughter sleeping foes is how easy it is for the bad guys to do it to them.


Strict RAW: Breaking Stealth: ... Your Stealth immediately ends after you make an attack roll, whether or not the attack is successful.

As a CDG doesn't require an attack roll - technically it doesn't explicitly break stealth.

I would've gone with a Stealth check after each CDG - with appropriate modifiers depending on the situation. A CDG with a dagger (slit throat) being quieter than a CDG with an earthbreaker.

Probably DC 15 (modified up to 25) if the CDG was successful.
DC 5-10 (modified up to 15-20) if the CDG didn't autokill, or they were using a bludgeoning weapon.

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