Stealth Killing

[NerdBoner]

only the most veteran of BG players ever realize that the Rogue is in fact the most broken, OP and fun class to play...

 

between the stealth skill, backstab x5 (x7 for assassins), invisibility potions and haste potions/boots of speed, FEW mages could survive more than a few seconds against a well prepared rogue...even Irenicus was turned to mush by well placed traps before he could even get his contingencies off. Dealing with fighters was just a matter of speed/poison/backstab/arrows and everything else was just fodder.

 

so as to the question of stealth killing in a game? HELL YES, NO QUESTION ABOUT IT.

[Troller]

Well as long as you keep in mind the people on the world has a certain amount of reasoning, like if they see you entering the house of the NPC and then suddenly few days later the NPC is found dead, you are definitely to blame for the death.

[l3loodangel]

I would only go for that it if would give same or more XP wise as killing all the castle, because sneaking option's are crappy XP wise. That's the other reason I never really use them.

 

You could get most XP for completing the quest (killing the NPC, for example) and come crappy XP for eliminating low-level guards. If you didn't kill everyone in the castle, you could supposedly receive some XP for using the disguise, if successful (could be based on your skill). But sure, it is probably hard to implement, so most developers just force the player to slaughter everyone.

 

That's a really awkward justification. Just increase the XP gain, for using stealth skills and Bingo. I think it's just one command line with ifs... The player will still lose the loot and money otherwise gained from killing +100 guards, but at least it won't hurt character development badly...

[Nakia]

Of course, rogues and assassins need that ability to be rogues and assassins. Especially assassins.

[TwinkieGorilla]

Well as long as you keep in mind the people on the world has a certain amount of reasoning, like if they see you entering the house of the NPC and then suddenly few days later the NPC is found dead, you are definitely to blame for the death.

 

So maybe a death in an actual settlement like a town house has attached to it a counter wherein suspicion arises after a few days even if you've successfully rolled getting in and out of the house and you're tracked down. This is where skills like speech, bluff, charisma, etc might come into play? I dunno. Just shootin' off the hip.

[Malcador]

System like that could end up fairly complex I'd imagine.. Of course they could just use reputation against the suspicion for short - so if you've helped some locals do their work they might not assume you're a murderer.

[TwinkieGorilla]

Again, I know nothing about coding or the complexity of game-making (other than I know it is complex). I was just hoping to see some creative solutions and/or brainstorming in here.

[Nonek]

Might it be possible for stealth to have its own routes in game? Sealed off areas that can only be accessed by a lone rogue, the thieves highway so to speak, which you must reach through climbing walls or making a sign and a donation to the local guildsman, a toothless beggar or hard eyed orphan.

 

Say for instance your party is hoping to cross Executioners square to enter the palace of Vlad the Impotent, unfortunately the square has crossbowmen guarding it who will raise the alarm summoning a host of the royal Rottweilers. Your thief climbs a wall, thus entering the sealed off veranda where the crossbowmen idle, using stealth he could attempt to assassinate each one, but with the risk of detection and a raised alarm (but a perfect distraction for the rest of the party) inherent in the attempt. Or perhaps he could mug a servant and then bring the crossbowmen their vittles suitably disguised, spiced up with a soporific or a venon.

[TwinkieGorilla]

I know Cain was very vehement with his vision for Fallout that there are different paths for solving quests, including sneaky ones, so I'm not too worried about paths per se (though ideas like you mentioned are very important to think about). I just want to see more attention paid to these sorts of things:

 

* poisons (vials, capsules, pills, etc) which, when tainting food or drink, act as lethal weapons

* stealthy placement of poisons (like reverse pickpocketing or the super stimpack exploit)

* non-alerted npcs that are nowhere near the incident

* disguises coupled with stealth/sneak checks which enhance assassin abilities

Edited September 22, 2012 by TwinkieGorilla

[Nonek]

In an old pen and paper campaign I once had a waxed parchment letter delivered to the players in an obscure tongue, they passed it around until the dwarf character (the dumbest party member) finally recognised the language as an obscure dialect of gnomish saying: "I hope the poison takes a few of you bastards." The contact poison that was smeared on the letter killed two of them and fairly much incapacitated everyone but the dwarf, because of his poison resistance. This really blew the wind out of the parties sails, and left them in no doubt that however strong they were both vulnerable and not quite as clever as they thought.

 

I'm in favour of what you suggest along with diseases and infectious wounds, they can be as effective as the worst of monsters in the hands of a good DM. And make a truly potent, smart protagonist if a touch ruthless.