Need ideas for assassination attempts

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I'm in the very early stages of putting an adventure together for a group of new and relatively new players and I'm looking for some ideas.

The basic outline is that a noble patron of the PCs has somehow made for himself a bad enough enemy that this enemy has hired a notorious gang of assassins. The assassins are a quirky bunch and tend to make a game out of their jobs; each comes after the target separately, trying to be the one to beat their allies to the kill (or "pick up the spare" after others fail). (I say assassins, but I don't know if any are going to have the Assassin prestige class because having a variety of styles would be much more interesting.)

With my current plan, the PCs first become aware of this while attending a banquet hosted by the nobleman during which a Dread Necromancer uses Summon Undead to block the doors before filling the room with Fell Animate Kelgore's Grave Mist (if the cold doesn't get him, the zombies will!) If the players manage to figure out who's responsible (the Conceal Spellcasting skill trick is being used so it isn't just the guy who's obviously casing spells) they can try to get information on the rest of the gang or on who hired them and the adventure takes off from there. (He'll probably have some clues/evidence on him in case they kill him without questions, of course.)

Any ideas on who/what other assassins or their strategies could be? I'm thinking each will be somewhere in the neighborhood of level 10 but that definitely isn't set in stone yet. This is probably going to be a one-night game so I'm probably only going to have about three assassins (maybe even just two if their plans turn out to be elaborate enough.)

[Hazrond]

I'm in the very early stages of putting an adventure together for a group of new and relatively new players and I'm looking for some ideas.

The basic outline is that a noble patron of the PCs has somehow made for himself a bad enough enemy that this enemy has hired a notorious gang of assassins. The assassins are a quirky bunch and tend to make a game out of their jobs; each comes after the target separately, trying to be the one to beat their allies to the kill (or "pick up the spare" after others fail). (I say assassins, but I don't know if any are going to have the Assassin prestige class because having a variety of styles would be much more interesting.)

With my current plan, the PCs first become aware of this while attending a banquet hosted by the nobleman during which a Dread Necromancer uses Summon Undead to block the doors before filling the room with Fell Animate Kelgore's Grave Mist (if the cold doesn't get him, the zombies will!) If the players manage to figure out who's responsible (the Conceal Spellcasting skill trick is being used so it isn't just the guy who's obviously casing spells) they can try to get information on the rest of the gang or on who hired them and the adventure takes off from there. (He'll probably have some clues/evidence on him in case they kill him without questions, of course.)

Any ideas on who/what other assassins or their strategies could be? I'm thinking each will be somewhere in the neighborhood of level 10 but that definitely isn't set in stone yet. This is probably going to be a one-night game so I'm probably only going to have about three assassins (maybe even just two if their plans turn out to be elaborate enough.)

I feel like one should be a Swordsage / Assassin

[daemonvatis]

Well, poison is a classic. It doesn't even have to be a lethal poison; anything that damages CON will soften up the mark for later kills, etc. Alternately, the guards could all be poisoned with something that leaves them puking and unable to do their job. In that case, the noble could pay for some to be healed, but healing them ALL would be impractical, so the manor is under-guarded.

Then there's the direct dagger approach: hide in room and ambush, sneak into room in the middle of the night, infiltrate the servants as an excuse to get close.

Mages are an interesting element, because their powers vary between fantasy settings, so its easier to avoid over-done tropes.

Then I always feel that bards (especially the gnomes) are underestimated by both players and characters. (I actually had a character who used this to her advantage). They can get in as the evening's entertainment, lie their way past any trouble, and have both mundane and magical means to lure people into compromising situations. Not necessarily a bard, but a charismatic individual could also try to seduce their way into a private chat where the noble's naked.

[Kiren]

How about a Beguiler who uses illusions to feign fake assassination squads, craft illusionary hazards to make their marks run into a trap, utilize an illusion to make bodyguards believe the person they are protecting has died, and other such methods of confusion to disrupt their opposistion and kill their target.

[erok0809]

The spell Stop Heart is always fun, if the BoVD is allowed. It does involve your assassin being able to touch the noble, but that's what invisiblity or something is for. It even looks kind of natural, since it's a heart attack. It's not a guaranteed death, but it's fun nonetheless. Plus, the mage using it can have other spells to help if it comes to a fight, or if the attempt fails.

[supersonic29]

I was in a thread earlier where someone mentioned this gem of a strategy. (This is Magic of Incarnum content if it sounds like greek)

Two levels of Totemist. At first level, you gain the ability to shape the Blink Shirt soulmeld, for at-will Dimension Door. At second level, you open your totem chakra; if bound to the totem chakra, Blink Shirt can be used as a move action.

Couple that with at least level 4 of Telflammar Shadowlord (Unapproachable East), which he can qualify for without that racial template due to his Blink Shirt, and you've got yourself a nasty assassin type who teleports as a move action and is allowed a full attack to boot. It's not exactly OP, it's just mobile full attacks, probably with some dual wielded daggers or something, but it's intimidating to a party at the least. Easy way to put the party on edge in an instant as this guy goes for a teleport sneak attack full attack on his mark, in fact at that point the clever design would come from how you keep him from winning right there. Perfectly doable though, just give the assassin a spot of bad luck that ends in his doing battle with the party.

[yoshi67]

A shapeshifting wizard/sorcerer or a rogue with a wand/magical item of alter self and hat of disguise. He can become anyone. And if he is cornered he can change into the mark or a member of your group, and then you have a classic twin "I'm the real Lord!" "No, I am!" problem where the group has to decide who is the assassin.