I need some help with an NPC "Assassin"


Advice

The Exchange

First and foremost, this is for the Kingmaker Adventure Path, but that has little bearing on the actual advice I need. This just provides the context for the advice. I rolled "Assassination" on the event chart a few times (I pre-roll events so I can turn them into encounters if appropriate).

So, what I need advice on. I need help building a gunslinger/sniper of some considerable power. It will be level 7 and I have no idea where to start with stats, feats, archetypes, etc. I only have the scene in my head.

The ruling council meets in their chambers/house/area. A figure some distance away has been laying on a roof, covered in a tarp painted to look like roof tiling for hours. Waiting for this moment. She takes a deep breath, focuses on the target, and takes the shot.
A window shatters, the report of the rifle is heard. But it's too late, the shot was made.
If it misses = She panics, knowing her attempt is lost this time, she makes a break for it, sliding from rooftop to rooftop, hoping to get out of the city or to her safehouse before the guard is alerted.
If it hits = Good chance the baroness or any other target is mortally wounded. The sniper gets cocky, sets up an ambush for the rest of the council (who are adventurers)

The idea behind the mechanics I want are pretty simple concepts, Distance to increase Perception DC. Some way to use a musket or other early firearm with good precision. The possibility of dropping or at least wounding a level 5 character to dangerous levels with that first shot. Not outright kill mind you. Unless it's a crit.

So, with that information, I'm hoping some people could suggest things. Archetypes, Races, Equipment, etc. This is a level 7 character with the heroic NPC array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 for stats. And standard NPC Wealth of 6,000 gp more or less.


Jericho Graves wrote:

First and foremost, this is for the Kingmaker Adventure Path, but that has little bearing on the actual advice I need. This just provides the context for the advice. I rolled "Assassination" on the event chart a few times (I pre-roll events so I can turn them into encounters if appropriate).

So, what I need advice on. I need help building a gunslinger/sniper of some considerable power. It will be level 7 and I have no idea where to start with stats, feats, archetypes, etc. I only have the scene in my head.

The ruling council meets in their chambers/house/area. A figure some distance away has been laying on a roof, covered in a tarp painted to look like roof tiling for hours. Waiting for this moment. She takes a deep breath, focuses on the target, and takes the shot.
A window shatters, the report of the rifle is heard. But it's too late, the shot was made.
If it misses = She panics, knowing her attempt is lost this time, she makes a break for it, sliding from rooftop to rooftop, hoping to get out of the city or to her safehouse before the guard is alerted.
If it hits = Good chance the baroness or any other target is mortally wounded. The sniper gets cocky, sets up an ambush for the rest of the council (who are adventurers)

The idea behind the mechanics I want are pretty simple concepts, Distance to increase Perception DC. Some way to use a musket or other early firearm with good precision. The possibility of dropping or at least wounding a level 5 character to dangerous levels with that first shot. Not outright kill mind you. Unless it's a crit.

So, with that information, I'm hoping some people could suggest things. Archetypes, Races, Equipment, etc. This is a level 7 character with the heroic NPC array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 for stats. And standard NPC Wealth of 6,000 gp more or less.

Just playing around with a PCGen, I made a human Musket Master. Highest stat is Dex, with human and 4th level ability bonuses getting it to 18.

Feats are Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Deadly Aim, Far Shot, Weapon Focus (Musket) and Rapid Shot. Add +1 Musket.

Your assassin is now shooting at +8/+8/+3 1d12+4 from 120 feet. For 2 grit, it's going against the target's Touch AC, otherwise just flat footed. It probably won't kill a 5th level character outright, but on a critical you could be taking down a barbarian.

I don't know if a Gunslinger is the best bet here. A Slayer or Ranger with a good composite bow and maybe a Bane arrow or two might be a better one-shot killer. But I don't have a good feel for the numbers myself.

Statblock:
Male Human; Medium Humanoid ( Human ) Gunslinger7
Hit Dice: (7d10)+10
Hit Points: 52
Initiative: +4
Speed: Walk 30 ft.
AC: 16 (touch 16, flatfooted 10)
Attacks: *Musket +12/+7;
Damage: *Musket 1d12+4;
Special Qualities:
Bleeding Wound, Bonus Feat, Bonus Feats, Bonus Grit (4x), Cheat Death, Deadeye, Dead Shot, Death's Shot, Deeds, Deeds, Evasive, Expert Loading, Fast Musket, Grit, Gunslinger's Dodge, Gunslinger Initiative, Gunsmith, Gunsmith, Gun Training, Lightning Reload, Menacing Shot, Musket Training, Nimble, Pistol-Whip, Quick Clear, Rapid Reloader, Skilled, Slinger's Luck, Startling Shot, Steady Aim, Stunning Shot, Targeting, Weapon Proficiency
Saves:
Fortitude: +6, Reflex: +9, Will: +4
Abilities:
STR 8 (-1), DEX 18 (+4), CON 13 (+1), INT 10 (+0), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 12 (+1)
Skills:
Acrobatics: 12; Appraise: 0; Bluff: 5; Climb: 6; Craft (Untrained): 0; Diplomacy: 1; Disguise: 3; Escape Artist: 4; Fly: 4; Handle Animal: 5; Heal: 2; Intimidate: 1; Knowledge (Local): 7; Perception: 12; Perform (Untrained): 1; Ride: 4; Sense Motive: 2; Sleight of Hand: 8; Stealth: 11; Survival: 9; Swim: -1;
Feats:
Armor Proficiency, Light, Deadly Aim, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms), Far Shot, Gunsmithing, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Reload (Musket), Rapid Shot, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus (Musket)


Might suggest the slayer sniper archtype. The slayer talents can get you the firearm usage. And the sniper gets the death/sneak attack (though not huge range).

The Exchange

Thank you both for the help. I'll look into tweaking things from here.

@ElterAgo: I appreciate the suggestion but I need someone who can snipe from about 100 feet away minimum (conferring a +10 on Perception check DCs to notice). So rather than focusing on sneak attack, I need more of a one shot type of deal.

On the other hand. Yes, I know bows are vastly superior with their many shot and composite bows and optimization and other such things. But, I tend to enjoy my random tables and rolled randomly for the Assassin's class. So it's set in stone unfortunately.

Sovereign Court

Sniper goggles are expensice but SA range is extended


If you don't mind playtests.. look at the vigilante Stalker. Its a bit weird but if I"m understanding it right, it gets some good bonuses for stealth sooting (both the ability to more easily stealth shoot and stealth, and some good damage, and weird tricks)
It might help you snipe from closer...

Otherwise sniper googles are good.

Otherwise I think Slayer is yoru best bet, whether bow or gun or crossbow.

Hell you could look up the "double crossbow" builds (I know i've posted and talked about it various times. and so have others)
Gunslinger 5, then whatever class you want (Sniper google? vigilante stalker, slayer or rogue. Or vigilante warlock with conductive. and the few spells used to buff up the one shot. Or alchemist for explosive missle for a bit more extra, with lingering damage from the bomb extracts).
Vital strike in it too

Its the biggest "one shot" I can think of for ranged stuff, not dealing with buying a giant sized weapon, then making yourself grow to be able to use it.

=========

ALternatively lv 7 gunslinger for that full round action 1 shot thing


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

It's really tough maximizing the "single shot" theme. Maximizing damage usually means a combination of rapid reload/alchemical cartridge and double-barreled cheese. There's no manyshot equivalent for a single shot or guns for that matter AFAIK. Which is a shame...I'd be perfectly okay with that if the single shot still required a full-round action but had the same manyshot damage multiplier for flavor's sake.

Though you could reskin the Manyshot feat yourself and just say it's a single shot. Is this a home game? See if your GM will allow it to 1) work with guns 2) flavored as a single shot (but if he wants to nitpick), still require 2x cartridges...flavor it as a "hot load" or basically extra chemicals that equate to double the ammo expediture.

Otherwise I'm thinking at level 7 at best you have a Vital Strike build...but that only adds a single 1d10. Hurm gonna sleep on it and see what I can come up.

More later.

The Exchange

Well, it turns out I'm the GM in this case. But I try to stick to the intent of the rules without coming up with too much rule-breaking-monster-or-npc-abilities. I also use random tables primarily for impartial decisions. Yes, an archer of any kind would be much better. I understand this. But when I rolled on my table of classes, this NPC turned out to be a Gunslinger. I rolled for race this morning and got a Gnome. So now the question is, does Musket Master stack with Experimental Gunslinger? I could see this "Assasin" having tanglefoot bags or some other alchemical stopping agent loaded as an underbarrel grenade for quick escapes.

Another interesting thing I read, is that in Ultimate Combat there is a line about larger firearms.

Ultimate Combat, pg 136 wrote:

Inappropriately Sized Firearms:

You cannot make use of a firearm that is not properly sized for you. A cumulative -2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between your size and the size of the firearm. If you are not proficient with the firearm, a -4 nonproficiency penalty also applies. The size of a firearm never affects how many hands you need to use to shoot it, the exception being seige firearms and Large or larger creatures. In most cases, a Large or larger creature can use a siege firearm as a two-handed firearm, but the creature takes a -4 penalty for using it this way because of its awkwardness.

So does that break the rule on most other weapons, and mean my little gnome sniper can have a Large Musket? Albeit at a -4 penalty to fire?


Well, it seems you still have wiggle room in your gear. If you're really set on the single shot thing, there's one thing that can really help you and fits very well thematically: Bane Bullets. They're individually rather expensive, but man does it do wonderful things for that one shot or so. (EDIT: Actually, not as expensive as I thought for +1 Bane Bullets. About 167 or so a pop.)

Another idea does somewhat bend the rules, but in a way that I can't really see a sensible story reason to disagree with. Namely, making it so that Gravity Bow affects guns as well. Combined with the Vital Strike suggestion above, this will really enhance your damage to very respectable levels very quickly.


I very well might be overoptimizing here, since it's an NPC, but here's a particularly deadly option for assassination, although it would have some significant weaknesses in a straight up fight:

Gunslinger (Mysterious Stranger) 1 / Fighter (Trench Fighter) 6
Any of the bazillion races with bonuses to Dex and Cha, or just a human with Dual Talent.
Str 8, Dex 20, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 18
Feats: Bullseye Shot, Deadly Aim, Far Shot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (Double Hackbut), Weapon Specialization (Double Hackbut)
Gear: Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2, Headband of Alluring Charisma +2, +1 Glamered Double Hackbut, +1 Bane Distance Bullet, Sandals of Quick Reaction, oil of named bullet, some potions of invisibility, armor of some sort

Before attacking: apply oil of named bullet to the distance bullet
In surprise round:
Move action (from sandals): Use Bullseye Shot
Swift action: Activate Focused Aim
Standard action: Use Vital Strike

Attack is +21 against touch and flat-footed AC
Damage is 2d12+19, with an automatic critical threat for x4 damage
+2d12 damage from Vital Strike, +2d6 damage from bane, +7 damage from named bullet
for a total of
10d12+2d6+83 damage
if the attack and confirmation roll succeed

This build is assuming the assassin is willing to put about 2000 gp of resources into the attack. It's also extremely offensive; the assassination is almost guaranteed to succeed, but afterwards the assassin's best option is just to drink a potion of invisibility and run.

You might want to take just a couple of elements of this, whichever seem interesting and fun, especially if you don't want the attack to be that certain of success and/or you want to focus more on the assassin's ability in an ordinary fight.

Ooh, I just saw that you were randomly rolled gunslinger and were hoping to stick with it. Not sure if this would be close enough to gunslinger to be okay.

Finally, if you're willing to modify something that normally works with bows and crossbows to work with guns, the Cavern Sniper drow fighter archetype could be incredibly fun. Get deeper darkness centered on your target when you shoot them, and watch the chaos erupt.


Since this character is setting up for a snipe, my suggestion is to give them a Double Hackbutt which has a range increment of 50ft. You make sure they have the farshot feat, and use the Dead Eye deed in order to targt touch AC from a distance.

Then Rapid shot gives you 3 shots, though you could also use Deadshot which...just saying, is silly with a set up Double Hackbutt.

The Hackbutt is perfect because it can't be easily moved, so it will serve as a clue for the PCs since the sniper will need to abandon it. They can then carry aboot their own personal firearm.


Also, grab the trait Black Powder Bravado to use with Deadeye. It's perfect for an assassin.

The Exchange

For an update, I've decided the character will be a musket master with some of the goodies mentioned. A bullet of Elf Bane, some oil of named bullet, and a legal bounty for the Elven Baronet from 100 years ago.


Vital Strike. Double damage dice, rather important for a sniper. If they confirm a critical hit, for most firearms that's a (5x damage dice) plus a whole lotta bonuses. Deadly Aim also matters, especially on a crit with a firearm.

Grand Lodge

Just a thought. Potion of true strike?


Thrick wrote:
Just a thought. Potion of true strike?

Potions can't, but an elixir can.

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