[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Bruno

No point in not stacking the deck as much as possible, though...

Evaluate for 3 turns, for +3 to hit.
Telegraph the attack, for +4 to hit (opponent would get +2 to defenses, but because it's an attack from behind and he doesn't even know you're there anyways, he can't defend and the bonus becomes a moot point).

If you've got a base skill of 16, this provides +7, enough to counteract the penalty for a Brain hit while still reasonably minimizing your chances of a critical failure (not so good for your chances of a critical hit, but if you're looking for a guarenteed horrible ending, rather than gambling on Luck, ignore critical HITs for the moment).

If your swing damage is at all better than your thrust, use a swinging attack rather than a thrusting one - for brain hits, once differing DR types vs damage types are dealt with, damage type itself doesn't matter so go for the biggest amount of damage possible. Once you penetrate the skull, you're looking at x4 damage AND a Stun/knockdown check even if only one point penetrates. If you do a Major WOund (usually if you do 2 points of base damage it's enough to force a major wound) then the stun/knockdown check is at -10, and almost guarenteed to critically fail.

This is less of a back stab and more of a head-smashed-in, but it's hard to argue with results...

Ah assassins with mauls...