Silent Kills?

[ccrossley4]

Hey fellow Wraiths!

I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the ideas behind Wraith Recon. I have all three books and I can't wait for the next releases!

There is ONE issue that I have with the game though, but it's really more of a 4th Edition engine issue. I'm curious how you fellow gamers are handling this issue or if you are just playing the game as is?

The Issue:

How do you handle "silent kills/sniper shots" without making every opposing character a minion?

Usually in a special forces movie/book you have a sniper able to shoot a guard before he can shout, or a point man sneaks up on a sentry and does the same.

Without making every guard/sentry a minion, you can't really accomplish this in D&D without a LOT of luck...and sometimes not even then. It's pretty much impossible to one-shot kill a non-minion and yet, when done properly, this is EXACTLY the kind of flavor/scenario that Wraith Recon calls for.

I had an idea, but I want to hear as many other views as you all can give me.

My idea:

The sniper/sneaky agent can make a Steath check (or series of Stealth checks) vs. the guard's/sentry's Perception to move into position for a silent kill. If the Steath check(s) succeed, then the guard/sentry is treated as a Minion for hit point purposes. If the Stealth check(s) fail, then the guard/sentry is alert and has full access to its hitpoints for the encounter.

I think this helps to make Stealth VERY important to a Wraith Recon game.

What do you all think?

How have you been handling this situation in your games?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[orht]

I think making enemies minions until they spot the Wraiths is the best option. I considered making the attacks coup-de-graces, but the extra maths makes it impractical to me and I prefer my team to be able to kill silently and quickly.

Of course, if the enemy is a major NPC, then I wouldn't let a single attack take them down anyway.

 

[ccrossley4]

Of course, if the enemy is a major NPC, then I wouldn't let a single attack take them down anyway.

Oh, of course not.

I've already had this conversation with another friend.

We also didn't want the Wraiths getting away with one-shotting dragons and such.

It would be up to the DM to decide which NPC's could be taken out quick and easily.

This is in NO way an effort to make the Wraiths capable of skating through a campaign with ease.

I just want to make sure that those cinematic, special forces scenes of sneaking into a complex and such can be recreated in the game.

Chris

 

[doctorjest]

It would be up to the DM to decide which NPC's could be taken out quick and easily.

This is in NO way an effort to make the Wraiths capable of skating through a campaign with ease.

I just want to make sure that those cinematic, special forces scenes of sneaking into a complex and such can be recreated in the game.

Chris

This is EXACTLY what minions are designed to do!

If the DM thinks that, for example, two guards near the gate should be able to be taken out quickly and easily... then they should be minions. Require stealth rolls and the like to prevent the guards from noticing the players (and raising the alarm which will summon non-minion foes).

It's needlessly complex to require multiple skill rolls on the part of the players to effectively change an ordinary foe into a minion when you can just make them a minion in the first place.

Never make a new rule when an existing rule does exactly what you want anyways.

If you want an encounter to be easily bypassed with sniper shots, then the foes in that encounters should absolutely be minions.