Assassination

This special Knowledge skill allows the user to virtually guarantee the death of his target upon a successful strike which damages the target. This is a rare skill and any character which wishes to posses the skill should provide a suitable background to explain the skill. This skill can only be learned from others who have the skill and, for purposes of learning the skill, assassination is treated as an Advanced skill. This means that the skill starts at 1D regardless of the KNO of the character.

Advancement of the skill is also treated as an advanced skill at double the normal character point cost. However, the skill may be advanced at normal skill cost if the character wishes to specialize in one particular method of assassination (ie. blaster, melee combat, brawling, demolitions

A character wishing to attempt to use the assassination skill must declare that he is going to use the skill and spend one round preparing. (Picking out a vital location, examining the target's physiology, aiming, etc.) This round of preparation does not confer an additional +1D to hit as with a normal attack. The character then rolls the appropriate attack skill or his Assassination skill, whichever is lower. The base difficulty of this attack is that of the weapon used plus 10 plus the Search skill of the target.

Example: Glen's character has as a KNO of 3D, Assassination of 4D and Blaster of 7D. He wishes to use a blaster rifle to quickly dispatch a sentry. Glen spends one round preparing and then rolls his Assassination skill of 4D. The base difficulty of the shot is Difficult due to the range plus 10 plus the sentry's Search of 2D. Glen needs a 32 to hit. He rolls a 16 on his four dice and then spends 4 character points and gets a total of 32. A hit!

Once a hit is determined, the GM determines hit location. Normally, this is rolled on a D6 with a 1 indicating a head strike (-1D to resist damage). However, the character with Assassination skill modifies the location roll by -1 for each point of success over the difficulty number. This means that a character which beats the difficulty by 5 or more automatically hits the target's head. Less skilled Assassins or those who "hurry" their shots may only wing their target!

Example: Glen's attack location is rolled and the GM gets a result of 2 which is unmodified. This is a torso hit (+1D to resist damage). If Glen had only rolled a 33 or greater, this hit location would have been modified to a head shot. The target will roll his STR+1D plus any armor protection for his torso to resist Glen's shot.

Damage is equal to that for the attack which hit plus the Assassination die code.

Example: Glen's opponent in the above example is not wearing any armor and has a STR 2D. He will roll 3D to resist Glen's shot. Glen rolls the damage value of the rifle (5D) plus his Assassination skill (2D) for a total of 7D! Odds are good that this will result in an incapacitating result. Glen may, of course, spend up to two more character points to modify the damage further…

If a character attempting an assassination fails the Assassination skill test, then the attack is treated as normal. If the attack, unmodified by the target's Search and the additional +10 modifier, would have normally hit, then it is treated as a normal attack.

Example: Glen's attack above actually resulted in a to hit roll of 25. This is above the base weapon difficulty of 16, but not high enough to effect assassination of the target. Glen rolls the weapon's normal damage code of 5D to determine damage.

Using the target's Search skill to modify the attack does not necessarily mean that the target is aware of the impending attack, but is meant to reflect heightened "vigilance" which more experienced individuals may have. The target may catch a glint of sunlight off a rifle scope or move at the last minute and spoil the shot. If the target is in a group (ie surrounded by bodyguards or retainers) then the Search skills of the immediate group are combined with the target up to the target's Command skill.

Example: In the above example, Glen is targeting an Imperial Moff surrounded by an honor guard of six Stormtroopers. The Moff's Search skill is 4D and his Command is 8D. The six troopers combine with his Search (+2D) to give Glen a base difficulty for Assassination of 16 + 10 + 4D +2D! If the Moff had a few more troopers then the modifier could be adjusted for two more troopers or up to 2D+2.

A character which specializes in a particular form of assassination and uses another form of attack for an assassination halves his Assassination skill (rounding down) for determining both the hit and the damage of the attack.

Example: Glen's character specializes with blaster for his assassination method. Glen decides that he needs to kill a target in an especially quiet method and opts to brawl him (ie. break his neck). Glen has a Brawling skill of 6D and an Assassination skill of 7D. If Glen was not specialized, he would roll his Brawling of 6D to hit. However, Glen halves his Assassination skill and rounds down (3D). Glen has 3D to hit and rolls only STR+3D for damage if he hits his target. Were he not specialized, Glen would roll STR+7D for damage!

Assassination also lends itself to other, less direct, methods such as poisoning and bombing. Once again, the appropriate skill or Assassination is used, whichever is lower. However, other modifiers may come into play such as Search from chemical "sniffers" or other security countermeasures. As an option, Security skill may be used to modify the difficulty of someone attempting to Assassinate someone through bombing their speeder, house, etc.

Assassination is neither an honorable or noble act. It is a "necessary" evil at best. A character which successfully dispatches a target through Assassination had best have a noble cause for the death or else immediately gain a Dark Side point. Wonton murder should reap its just rewards.