So this winter I am going to be GMing a short module length game. This is also my first time ever doing so, I've always just played or assisted the GM before.
So my idea is that the group is hired to stop a serial killer running rampant through the town, targeting particular high profile citizens. He's probably going to be a tiefling Gunslinger/Rouge/Assassin, a sniper character. But I haven't put him together yet, so I dunno. The groups fairly large, so he's probably going to be significantly higher leveled than the party.
But anyway, my main question is does anybody know a module already made that could fit this well, or am I gonna have to make my own?
And either way, does anybody have any interesting/cool ideas to throw in, or tips to help me out?
Thanks.
If you want Gunslinger at all, go Gunslinger 5 / Rogue 2 / Assassin 10 / Rogue X. Gunslinger 5 to get Dex to damage, Rogue 2 to get your first rogue talent (and able to get more through feats), Assassin 10 because you want to be an Assassin, Rogue X because it's your best option at that point. You pretty much always have to be close range though, which is a problem. Sneak attack at range is difficult and you need to be within 30 ft. You also need to be close to get your guns to be ranged touch attacks.
However, if you want a sniper, I'd recommend straight Sniper Rogue X or straight Zen Monk X. Either of these builds are much more effective at longer range than 30 ft. than any Gunslinger could hope to be. Maybe Gunslinger 5 / Sniper Rogue X. No Assassin though. You need all the bonuses from Rogue that you can get.
Aren't there ways to extend both those things?
@dragonfire - our group doesn't really do houserules in general, and particularly for my first time I'd be a lot more comfortable sticking to the rulebook.
@kyrt - We only do pathfinder, as there's too many people who've never played 3.5
You can register a touch attack from a Gunslinger outside of the weapon's first range increment, but it takes a grit point per extra range increment and Gunslingers have few grit points, only as much as their Wis. So it's certainly not something that you can use often enough to justify designing a build around. The only other option is getting a weapon with a really high range increment. The only way I see it working is with Musket Master, and I'm not sure that's your best option for a sniper.
You can also increase the range that sneak attacks will work. They usually involve taking a Rogue Talent for it, but the Sniper archetype gives you extra range from sneak attack for "free" (it replaces Trapfinding and Trap Sense), which is why I suggested it. :)
Let's not forget that ranged sneak attack isn't exactly easy to maintain, especially by a solo character.
The Archer archetype for Fighter would also work well. It gives bonuses to perception for seeing farther, increase range increments from your bows, lets you do combat maneuvers at range, and other cool things.
Why wouldn't Musket Master be good? And I was already planning on the Sniper archetype.
I debated going archer, but several reasons stopped me. One, I really want to use gunslinger, cause nobody in our group has used one yet and it'll be interesting to see how they try and counter it. Two, I kinda want to set this in a place where guns are extremely rare/basically unheard of, so the population will be freaking out and make it easier for this to be a driving force. We really don't have that long to play, and our group tends to get distracted really easily (one time we had a guy travel halfway around the world to raise a baby dragon he had found while we were supposed to be collapsing the Cheliaxian government), so I want this to seem urgent.
Why wouldn't Musket Master be good? And I was already planning on the Sniper archetype.
I debated going archer, but several reasons stopped me. One, I really want to use gunslinger, cause nobody in our group has used one yet and it'll be interesting to see how they try and counter it. Two, I kinda want to set this in a place where guns are extremely rare/basically unheard of, so the population will be freaking out and make it easier for this to be a driving force. We really don't have that long to play, and our group tends to get distracted really easily (one time we had a guy travel halfway around the world to raise a baby dragon he had found while we were supposed to be collapsing the Cheliaxian government), so I want this to seem urgent.
Musket Master is good. It's your best Gunslinger option. I'm just not sure that Gunslinger is your best option in the first place. Even so, you have good flavor going with that so I'd suggest Musket Master 5 / Sniper Rogue X with no Assassin levels. You need all the extra range for sneak attacks from Rogue levels that you can get.
@dragonfire - yeah, I'm gonna have to play him smart, but only two people in the group know anything about playing an effective character, most of them just go with what looks cool, so I'm not terribly worried. So long as I don't get stuck in a straight up fight I'm not too worried.
@nategar - oh gotcha. I'll def think about dropping the assassin. Like I said, I haven't really put the character together at all other than a vague idea.
Thanks guys. Any thoughts on a possible module?
What idea? Dropping the assassin?
I suggest a trio of similarly dressed fellows working in conjunction. They an make it seem like the work of the same guy but it gives you several opponents for the final battle.
i like this idea! it would also make it harder to track thim down, like they give each other cover stories.
ohh, Evil!
If you use Sneak attacks, provide him with a pair of these
Sneak attack from any distance. Then stack up the SA dice with your favorite archetype.
Personaly I think a zen archer with slippers of spider climb would make an excellent rooftop assassin.
If you use Sneak attacks, provide him with a pair of these
Sneak attack from any distance. Then stack up the SA dice with your favorite archetype.
Personaly I think a zen archer with slippers of spider climb would make an excellent rooftop assassin.
Those are freaking AWESOME!
Also, I was thinking along the same lines as Karkon. That way you don't lose out on too much action economy and you won't have to make the bag guy a bajillion levels higher than the party.
All sound like excellent ideas, thank you very much. I actually read a rather good book some time ago with the same premise, of three assassins who pretended they were all the same. Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.
Give each of the three differences in their abilities. That will mess with some heads as they prep for the wrong opponent. Plus you can use all the proposed ideas.
The key is to make them superficially similar, but mechanichally diverse.
Example:
One rogue with sniper goggles
One zen archer. slippers of spider climb recomended
One Urban ranger, archer style. maybe dipping assassin for poison use.
Or throw in a radically different style, considering all of them would be shut down by wind wall.
A remote bombing alchemist would be a good addition.
An enchanter who charm/dominates other into killing in their place
..... just thought of the best combo.
The enchanter and alchemist together, secretly implanting bombs in people who will be near their targets, using charms and enchantments to make the subjects compliant and cover their tracks. Then later on..... BOOM!
Give each of the three differences in their abilities. That will mess with some heads as they prep for the wrong opponent. Plus you can use all the proposed ideas.
The key is to make them superficially similar, but mechanichally diverse.Example:
One rogue with sniper goggles
One zen archer. slippers of spider climb recomended
One Urban ranger, archer style. maybe dipping assassin for poison use.Or throw in a radically different style, considering all of them would be shut down by wind wall.
A remote bombing alchemist would be a good addition.
An enchanter who charm/dominates other into killing in their place..... just thought of the best combo.
The enchanter and alchemist together, secretly implanting bombs in people who will be near their targets, using charms and enchantments to make the subjects compliant and cover their tracks. Then later on..... BOOM!
+1. Though Delayed Bomb has low duration and looks tricky to pull off.
For a sniper I would say a Gunslinger 5 (Focused on Musket)/Bard X. The Gunslinger part gives him a few useful tricks and knickknacks, while the
Bard gives him loads of utility from spells and a nice buff from performance. You could use the Archeologist (I think) archetype for the Bard part so he won't have to mime to himself while being invisible and silenced ;)
Then load him up on Antimagic and Disintegrate bullets and go to town.
Oh! And remember to buy a Far-Reaching Sight. You'll only make 1 touch attack each round, but with the distance enchantment and the scope, it's out to 800 feet. Combine that with a desintegrate bullet and bam! Dusted noble :D
This has come down to the point of the gritty mechanics of (N)PC building pretty fast :)
But imho you should ask yourself a question beforehand:
How much do I want my NPCs to follow the rules and how much do I want them to be able to do the stuff the story needs them to do?
The advantage of sticking strictly to the rules is that no player can actually accuse you of "cheating" and, you being inexperienced, will not as likely fall into the "instant houserule" trap aka "he makes it up as he goes along".
The disadvantage is that some stories are hard to pull off under the rules, and a murder mystery is one of them!
When passing level 5 there just that many ways to foil any serial killer and not that much the killer can do against it. This might be the reason why I really don't know any published material along this plot idea.
So unless you are dead set onto the theme I would advise you to start your DMing career with something that is easier to run under the rules until you have mastered the art of subtly breaking the rules for the sake of the story without pissing anyone off.
@ Brambleman - I don't want to post too much in case my players stumble across this, but I have vaguely taken your advice, thank you.
@ Rocket Surgeon - that is an excellent item, thank you very much for pointing that out. I don't think I'll be making him a magic user though, due to story issues, but that does sound like a very fun character to play.
@ MicMan - I agree with you a lot, but I'm coming at it from a slightly different angle. For the most part, I much prefer playing to DMing, simply by virtue of I'm incredibly lazy. I plan on warning the players beforehand that this is going to be an incredibly hard game, with the likelihood of at least a couple of them dying being quite high. This will accomplish one of two things: 1) They will hate it and never ask me to do this again, so I can go back to just being a player or 2) They will love it, and all will be well with the world. I’ll get to run the kind of game I want, and they’ll enjoy it. That’s like a win-win-win.
However, I do agree that what I want to do with this is probably going to be kind of hard with the rules, which is why I was originally considering Assassin for the Death Attack, which would really help things (but sadly only works with melee attacks). I’m also thinking about counting targets as helpless for purposes of a coup de gras if the sniper is so far away and unnoticed. Seems like a fairly small smudge of the rules, and effective. We shall see though, and I would greatly appreciate any advice on the matter.
Well, whatever it was, glad to help.
A thing that might help would be giving them a boon to push the story along.
A pack of spell storing arrows loaded with save or dies like flesh to stone or slay living. Throw in a phase arrow thing like the arcane archer gets and you have a very special assasins weapon.
...I’m also thinking about counting targets as helpless for purposes of a coup de gras if the sniper is so far away and unnoticed. Seems like a fairly small smudge of the rules...
One method to evaluate the impact of any rules change is to envision how your game would change if the PCs would constantly use your updated rule to the best of their own ability.
Soo, the rule above states that whenever someone is "far" away (at least 40'?) und the target doesn't notice him (Stealth vs Perception), the target is considered helpless and thus could be "coup'ed".
Well, in my book, this would make any stealthy ranged attack class incredibly powerful.
You should at least add "and is not moving and is not in conbat" or else you stealthy ranger archer will be making "coups" in each and every combat. But even with the addendum this would change my game dramatically.
A better way, imho, would be to simply use an unsusual NPC for the task. A Pixie Assassin could do the job of approaching a target and getting away easily after the death attack. The charm with this is that if you need any rules chanegs, you can tie them to being a Pixie and thus make it impossible for your PCs to wreck your game with these.
Soo, the rule above states that whenever someone is "far" away (at least 40'?) und the target doesn't notice him (Stealth vs Perception), the target is considered helpless and thus could be "coup'ed".
Well, in my book, this would make any stealthy ranged attack class incredibly powerful.
You should at least add "and is not moving and is not in conbat" or else you stealthy ranger archer will be making "coups" in each and every combat. But even with the addendum this would change my game dramatically.
I was thinking more in the way of extreme long range. Like, basically whatever the max range is for a rifle. Particularly with the scope item mentioned above. There might be some penalty involved with shooting from such a far distance, but not enough to make it impossible or even unlikely unless serious enviromental factors come into play (heavy wind, one or both players moving, prone vs standing, etc). I'm pretty sure none of the players will be doing much in the way of ranged stealth anyway, so I'm not terribly worried.
Oh nice, I hadn't even considered that. Probably shouldn't have been researching modern rifles as examples... >.<
Thank you :)