For the campaign I'm currently working on, one of the major villains is going to assassinate the leaders of another city but does not want to be anywhere near the effect when it happens. In fact, this villain is planning on using this assassination to implicate and get rid of the PCs.
I'm not sure what to use to kill this city leader though. I would like something capable of killing him outright, preferably with no save or miss chance. If it can take out a good area that'd be better. Also, I would want it to be carried by good PCs, so it cant be something like a scroll of gate to pull in an angry demon to rip everyone apart.
I already know about Explosive Runes, but 6d6 (average of 21 damage) seems a little low to be full proof. Does anyone have any better ideas?
I want to assassinate someone and frame the PCs for it and have the PCs carry the trap in, unaware that they are carrying a death trap.
The PCs will be acting effectively as trusted emissaries on a diplomatic mission carrying official documents from on leader to another. The trap can either be in or on a diplomatic case or on the documents themselves. My first thought was Explosive Runes on the documents, giving the appearance that the PCs blew up the leader with a spell and leaving no physical trace of the documents that contained the trap, but Explosive Runes don't deal much damage. I would love something that makes a very big bang and is likely to destroy itself too but won't level the entire building and murder the PCs as well.
Explosive Runes works, just use more of them.
Have a bunch of Explosive Runes on the document (maybe 20), and have the document rigged to cast Greater Dispel Magic on itself when opened.
*BOOM*
No save, save for half for anyon within 10 feet, and no damage to anything beyond that.
Very focused explosion, but VERY deadly.
Doubly dangerous because should say, the Court Wizard decide to try and Dispel any traps on the thing himself, the same result occurs.
Working within the rules whenever possible is a good quality to have when GMing, even if the exact mechanics are handwaved somewhat.
At the level of adventure.....5th or so?...way to easy to prove pc's innocence. In high magic game like PF these plots don't work w/o huge amount of 'fix'. Sorry
I see two major options.
1: Scarab of Death
2: Necklace of Strangulation
Have the big bad hire the PCs (or spread rumors of a rare item, or have an informant make the leader order the PCs to go fetch the item, or etc) to deliver an item to them of legendary power. Upon finding the item, if the quest does not kill them, they return and give it to the person who then puts it on and dies as a result.
Bam, assassination done.
Rynjin, I did know about the Explosive Runes Suitcase Nuke but I wanted to avoid it because I didn't really agree with the idea of stuffing a box with a thousand or so runes and having them all go off at once. But did you say that they capped the damage it can do at 100? If so, I can deal with that. Mostly I don't want super massive Ex. Runes nukes to work so PCs don't copy that.
Strayshift, the point is that the PCs wouldn't do it. It's not about money or treasure, but it's an obviously evil act that would result in major alignment changes. Sounds like you may be playing with a bunch of murderhobos. Also, if they a tally did it there would be no reason to frame them.
Thenovalord, they may be able to prove their innocence to a specific person with magic, but it's a lot harder to convince a city of people out for blood. And magic can be used to lie just as easily as to show the truth. More, I'm looking to make this a major twist where the guy the PCs thought was good turns out to be a major minion of the BBEG and betrays them, putting them on the defensive and on the run.
Otherwise, thanks for the ideas guys. Writing my blocks out helps me work past them.
Rynjin, I did know about the Explosive Runes Suitcase Nuke but I wanted to avoid it because I didn't really agree with the idea of stuffing a box with a thousand or so runes and having them all go off at once. But did you say that they capped the damage it can do at 100? If so, I can deal with that. Mostly I don't want super massive Ex. Runes nukes to work so PCs don't copy that.
Strayshift, the point is that the PCs wouldn't do it. It's not about money or treasure, but it's an obviously evil act that would result in major alignment changes. Sounds like you may be playing with a bunch of murderhobos. Also, if they a tally did it there would be no reason to frame them.
Thenovalord, they may be able to prove their innocence to a specific person with magic, but it's a lot harder to convince a city of people out for blood. And magic can be used to lie just as easily as to show the truth. More, I'm looking to make this a major twist where the guy the PCs thought was good turns out to be a major minion of the BBEG and betrays them, putting them on the defensive and on the run.
Otherwise, thanks for the ideas guys. Writing my blocks out helps me work past them.
No, the 100 cap is the dice-roller's number cap. It was dealing 120d6 damage in this case.
Ah, I see. I misunderstood. And here I was hoping that Explosive Runes had a cap put on how much it can be stacked.
I might go with a combination of Rynjin and LazarX's ideas. Not sure if I want the PCs present when people start dying, with maybe a magical and super virulent disease that kills within hours, or just a bomb that the PCs deliver without knowing it's a bomb.
I wonder about that Explosive Runes nuke. If someone pulls open a box of scraps with ER written on them, you're not reading them all at the same time, are you? After you read the first one and it explodes, doesn't that kind of stop you from getting a good look at the rest of them?
It does. The first rune going off would bow up the ther scraps of paper, making them harmless.
However, Explosive Runes explode on a failed Dispel check. So if you use the Area Dispel feature of Greater Dispel Magic, it tries to dispel each of them simultaneously.
Any of the Dispel checks that fail, result in a *BOOM*.
To ensure this, you cast Explosive Runes with your highest CL, and make the trap cast Greater Dispel at the minimum CL possible (11).
Considering the BBEG is probably the final boss, he'd be around 17th level at least, meaning you have a Dispel check of 11 vs a DC of 28. It's very likely to fail.
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Have a ring gate incorporated into a semi magical item. After delivery the enemy reaches through the gate, opens the item and sends in a few dozen castings of summon nature's ally 3 (stirges). The stirges swarm the monarch and pop a few rounds later leaving odd splotches of blood on the floor. The enemy reaches through the gate and closes the item. No save required.
If you want to frame the PC’s then you have to use a method they have access to, or at least that people will believe they have access to. If the party is a bunch of martial types and the only casters is a cleric then a lot of methods will not be believable. More details on the party is needed to give any real advice.
If you want to frame the PC’s then you have to use a method they have access to, or at least that people will believe they have access to. If the party is a bunch of martial types and the only casters is a cleric then a lot of methods will not be believable. More details on the party is needed to give any real advice.
This logic doesn't really hold up.
Does it really matter if the PCs are capable fo BUIDING a bomb, if they're the ones who've delivered it?
Pandora's Box of Banshee's Wail?
Yeah, the bomb, or whatever it turns out to be specifically, will be carried and delivered by the PCs, implying that they are involved with the assassination.
And even if they can show that they didn't do it on purpose, they will still want to know who did give them the bomb or find proof that that person wanted the city lewder dead. An angry mob won't be sated until they have blood.
At the level of adventure.....5th or so?...way to easy to prove pc's innocence. In high magic game like PF these plots don't work w/o huge amount of 'fix'. SorryHence get the players to do it.
I like this idea, unless the storyline at least partially revolves around the PC's trying to prove they are innocent.
Its be neat, but I doubt I could convince the PCs to assassinate the guy. By this point in the story, they already would have helped to remove a real despot from power. Getting them to believe the guy next door is also a cruel despot would be reaching quite a bit.
I think I may go with a suitcase bomb of some kind. Maybe a very nice wooden box rigged to cast a high level Fireball when its opened. Or a bigger boom spell if I can find a nice one.
The roblem with Fireball is that even an Empowered Maximized Intensified Fireball still only does at most 142 damage, save for half. Easily survivable, especially if the king has a Resit Energy spell or something on him.
I don't know why you would assume there's no forensics. Speak with Dead, among other divinations.
Have you considered poison? Really an inhaled or contact poison would be much more elegant and probably less likely to be detected.
I don't see any on the table that are exactly perfect for this, but most players wouldn't have a problem with you coming up with a 'special poison' that the big bad uses for this.
Personally I think a contact poison on a document would be perfect, especially if one could be reasonably sure that the target would be the one to handle it.
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Well, the first question you need to ask yourself is: "Can the players interrupt the plot?" If the answer is no, then just go with LazarX' suggestion and GM Fiat his death. Also, if this guy must die, then for the love of all that is holy don't let the players interact with the "bomb". What happens if they decide to open it up? Oops, dead PC and the plot just jumped the rails completely. Never, ever expect the PCs to act in a way you expect, they will usually surprise you.
Here is two scenarios for how I would handle this:
If this is a public death, I would send a CR appropriate assassin wizard to kill the leader disguised as one of the PCs with a hat of disguise. Since this guy is a leader and not an adventurer he should probably have the Aristocrat NPC class at an appropriate level (like 5 or so); therefore, a competent scorching ray could kill the guy and a fireball should smear him into the pavement. Have the wizard then make his escape with a transport spell appropriate to his level (teleport, dimension door, expeditious retreat, etc.) then drop his disguise.
If this is a private death, I would have the leader summon the PCs for a job. Once again, send a CR appropriate assassin (a slayer would work), and have him wax the leader before the PCs arrive. You can have the PCs see the assassin as he escapes or just find the body. People will assume the PCs killed the leader since they we the last people to see the leader and they "found the body".
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I don't know why you would assume there's no forensics. Speak with Dead, among other divinations.You really don't know the meaning of forensics, do you?
forensic
[fuh-ren-sik]adjective
1.
pertaining to, connected with, or used in courts of law or public discussion and debate.
2.
adapted or suited to argumentation; rhetorical.
noun
3.
forensics, (used with a singular or plural verb) the art or study of argumentation and formal debate.
Do you? Seems like there's plenty of room for Forensic Magic if there is anything even sniffing a judicial system in place. Pedantry and snark aside, there is no reason to assume there will not be some sort of divination in play to try to assign guilt, so this is something that OP will need to consider heavily. Furthermore, McGuffin will only take you so far; there needs to be more concrete reasons besides "a wizard did it" before credulity is stretched to the breaking point.
This is one reason why I'm looking more for a big boom trap as opposed to a death effect. An explosion doesn't leave a corpse for Speak With Dead or similar spells.
All in all, thanks for the ideas. I think ill go with a nice big boom spell tied to either the opening of the box or removing the documents within.