[Discuss] Abusing Bounties

[Lyman Stone]

>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: discuss-bounces at news.battlemaster.org [mailto:discuss-
>>> bounces at news.battlemaster.org] On Behalf Of James
>>> Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 7:25 PM
>>> To: BattleMaster general discussion list
>>> Subject: Re: [Discuss] Abusing Bounties
>>>
>>> Exactly why I think this isn't an abuse.  You are wounded for  
>>> that time
>>> period.
>>>
>>
>> Except that as far as your character knows you are risking death,  
>> so unless
>> you're character is a real fanatic they would never volunteer to be
>> assassinated.
>
> Or, your character knows that, as a practical matter, death rarely
> occurs as a result of an assassination attempt.  I think its genrally
> fair to say most characters have a basic understanding of the workings
> of their world.
>
> Mark Moss

ehh... no, not really. Do remember, the middle ages were a time in  
which only isolated pockets of the world had even begun to do any  
sort of semi-complex math, let alone physics. The "workings of the  
world", such as the natural and earth sciences, as well as astronomy 
(which actually was well understood in many places, such as Iran, the  
Islamic dynasties, and China), and physics were almost completely  
foreign.

As far as anatomy goes, it would also be largely unknown. They still  
believed in the "four humours". To cure your bleeding, a healer very  
well might try to cause you to vomit in order to balance the blood  
and bile factors of your health. Does this seem like a surefire way  
to survive?

Most assassination attempts DO kill people, actually. Lets count each  
militia an infiltrator has ever knifed as one assassination. Killing  
a noble is much the same. Those militia might have been in their  
tents when you knifed them. The only reason the nobles don't die is  
to prevent widespread character death and limit the power of  
infiltrators. But, as far as your character can tell, assassinations  
have an astonishingly high success rate. I'd wage about 80% of all  
assassinations have been attacks on militia, if not an even higher rate.