Kerry's Mugging Rules

To attempt a mugging, your target must be:

• 1)Unaware of your presence
• 2)Not wearing a helm
• 3)Not engaged in combat

Also, you must be:

• 1)A thief
• 2)Armed with a blunt weapon(sword/dagger hilt is OK)
• 3)Within one size class of your target (You are S, target is M=OK. You are S, target is L=No way)

To hit:

When you make your mugging attmept, you roll to hit as per a normal backstab(ie, you get +4 to hit against target's AC with no shield or dex bonus). If you hit, you roll damage as per your weapon's damage against medium, regardless of actual opponent size. Hitting with the hilt does the same damage as the weapon (a sword is bigger and heavier than a dagger).

Damage/KO:

You only inflict 1d3+Str real damage regardless of whether or not you get a KO. To determine if your opponent goes unconcious, you multiply your rolled damage times your thief backstab multiplier plus one, then add your Str bonus. If that is equal to or greater than your target's current hp, he goes down for 3d4 rounds.

Note- If you are using a sap or blackjack, the real damage is only 1+Str, but the KO check base damage is 1d4+4. That means you have a much better chance of knocking out your target, because that +4 gets multiplied. If you have a magical weapon the damage plus is added to real damage and added after multiplication to the KO check.

[the rolled damaged x (your thief multiplier+1)]+Str damage bonus >= target's current hp-real damage = KO

Examples:

Bob, a weak fifth level human thief, tries to mug a 3rd level fighter guard(21 hp) using a club. Bob makes his to hit roll, and rolls a 2 for real damage and a 3 for his check. [3x(3+1)]=12<21-2= no KO.

Famous Hamish, a 15th level halfling thief wearing guantlets of ogre power, tries to mug Captain Halcyon(hp 68) with a magical blackjack+4. He makes his to hit roll, and does 11 points of real damage and rolls a 4 for his check. [8x(5+1)+10]=58>68-11=Halcyon sleeps with the fishes

These rules let you mug normal folk easily, and low-hp characters with luck(or if you are high level), but you'll never get the 10th level fighter unless he is wounded. If you think it is too hard to mug, then you can increase the bonus to the thief's multiplier to (normal multiplier+2 or 3).