What skills fit the pay?

[JMISBEST]

For the benefit of A Traveller based Story I'm writing for A Story Writing Competition what skills, stats, past careers amd ranks in those careers would you suggest for a hitman who for the killing he's hired for in the story has agreed to choose his own fee and has a choice of all up front and getting Cr 75,000, half upfront and getting a total of Cr 225,000, a quarter upfront and getting a total of Cr 500,000 or nothing up front and getting a total of Cr 1,000,000?

 

[steve98052]

Based on the real world crime articles I've read, a hit man gets anywhere from nothing at all (mob boss says, "Kill him or I'll kill you.") or status (gang leader says, "Kill him and you are a fully initiated member.") to around US$50k; typical seems to be around $10k. A Traveller Imperial Credit is customarily defined as about one 1978 US dollar, which is about four present day US dollars, so a $10k hit would be about Cr2500, and a difficult $50k hit would be about Cr12500.

What about the character? Violent criminals are almost always stupid and low status (which is why they couldn't get by with an honest job), so I'd say the maximum Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing would be 5. They tend to be strong, maybe 9 to 11 Strength. Dexterity and Endurance are likely to be average, 6 to 8.

For skills, I'd say Gun Combat-1, Melee-1, possibly Stealth-1, and if old enough also Streetwise-1. If they were good at anything else they'd have an honest job.

 

[Condottiere]

In some parts of the world and (I'm thinking of an example I heard from Mexico), you go to a dive you know where these types hang out, and they know you, and a hit on an easily accessible target is two hundred bucks.

 

[Pyromancer]

I'd guess that the price goes up if you aren't known, if you have no connections to the underworld and want to get rid of your unfaithful spouse or a political rival.