Ninja Stealth Assassination

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

Hmm, what about a maul or sledgehammer and an attack to the brain, would that have good odds of incapacitating someone instantly? Not the usual ninja weapon but should be quite effective in GURPS.

The downside is that the relatively long and time consuming swing attack onvolved gives more time for the would-be victim to move a bit, or hear your clothes rustle, or to see something out of the corner of their eye and flinch. They are also harder to get a clean hit with on a moving target compared to grappling them and knifing them.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

Hell I had an NPC punch a PC in the brian once and accidentaly kill him

Once knew a guy who did time for that in RL. Mind, the guy didn't actually die directly from the punch, but he fell after being hit in the head, then his head bounced on the pavement and he died from that. The puncher already had a record, so it was Manslaughter for him, and good bye for a few years.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

Anyone have data on how much mess the average death by blunt object causes?

A fast or a slow death? A reliable kill with a blunt object means a really hard smack to the head, and there's no way you can do that and reliably not make a mess.

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

I would attempt to firstly, turn that into 2 guards in sight of each other, and 1 guard isolated. If I have to wait for one to sneak off to take a ****, I'll do that, rather than risk raisign the alarm.

In Tenchu, dropping a rice ball somewhere in sight always a good idea :)

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by zorg

In Tenchu, dropping a rice ball somewhere in sight always a good idea :)

You want my rice? Can't have my rice! That's my rice!

Tenchu also established that 1) Pits are WILY and 2) I'd make a terrible ninja, because everytime I'd stealth kill, I'd shout "NINJA!".

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Rupert

The downside is that the relatively long and time consuming swing attack onvolved gives more time for the would-be victim to move a bit, or hear your clothes rustle, or to see something out of the corner of their eye and flinch. They are also harder to get a clean hit with on a moving target compared to grappling them and knifing them.

Ballanced by the longer reach as opposed to the grapleing needed to slit the throat.

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Rupert

A fast or a slow death? A reliable kill with a blunt object means a really hard smack to the head, and there's no way you can do that and reliably not make a mess.

How much mess? If he is dead his scalp wounds will not bleed like they normaly do, and really is slitting someones throat going to be cleaner? YOU have that annoying arterial blood spray and such. So even a wire garrotte would be unwise if you want clean, you need a rope one for that.

[Anthony]

A reliable fast death requires crushing the skull, which will probably result in splashing and a lot of mess. Also, the body might bleed for a while; crushing the skull won't immediately stop the heart.

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Anthony

A reliable fast death requires crushing the skull, which will probably result in splashing and a lot of mess. Also, the body might bleed for a while; crushing the skull won't immediately stop the heart.

THat does not sound much more messy than cutting a throat, and as that is where this thread started I don't see why it is that much of a problem.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

THat does not sound much more messy than cutting a throat, and as that is where this thread started I don't see why it is that much of a problem.

I don't recall saying it was a problem (whether or not a mess is a problem depends on the situation). The problem is the noise and vigorous motion.