Adan's Mugging Rules
These are preliminary rules and have yet to be okayed by Halifax. Please feel free to comment, but please do so in the discussion section of this page. I'd like to preserve my version until we agree on the rules.
Only characters who can backstab are eligible make a mugging attack. Only targets eligible to be backstabbed may be mugged.
A thief must sneak up on the target (making any Move Silently and Hide in Shadows rolls that are required) and make a called shot to the head with a blunt instrument for a mugging attack. If the thief so desires, he may spend the three rounds allowed to aim, but each round spent aiming gives the target a surprise check modified by how many rounds the thief has spent crouched behind him (first round, surprise roll +1; 2nd round, surprise roll +2; 3rd round, surprise roll +3).
When the actual attack is made, the thief must roll his Thac0, adding and minusing all relevant bonuses from backstabbing, calling the shot, and aiming. Target's AC for his head will normally be 10 (unless helmeted, which lowers the AC, although I don't know if we actually play with these rules since called shots to the head aren't normally made; if helmets are too obnoxious, we can just use regular AC for heads too). Magical bonuses will apply (e.g. Rings of Protection, Prayer spells, etc.), but DEX bonuses will not.
If the melee attack is succesful, damage will be dealt, but the target is not automatically rendered unconscious. First, the target's CON must be taken into account, then the target gets a saving throw against petrification.
An average CON score is eleven, so any score higher or lower modifies the target's AC. For example, if Reynaldo is trying to mug an unhelmeted Ivan, he has to hit an AC 10 to actually make the hit. But because Ivan's CON is 19, Reynaldo has to hit an AC 2 to have a chance at knocking him out, lower still of Ivan remembered to put on his helmet, or we decide to use regular AC (in which case Reynaldo has to hit a ridiculously hard -6 AC to have a chance at knocking him out).
If the CON-modified AC is hit, the target gets a saving throw versus petrification modified by the difference in levels. Rey is one thief level higher than Ivan's warrior level, so Ivan has to make the save at -1. If Rey were trying to mug Bardas Phocas, a possible 20th level fighter, Bardas Phocas would make the save at +13, most likely rendering it impossible to knock him out by someone at such a low-level (we'll have to decide if 1s are automatic failures and 20s are automatic saves like in rolling to hit).
If the target fails his saving throw, the mugging attack is succesful and on top of inflicting regular damage, the target will be unconscious for 2d8 rounds (2 to 16 minutes).
If the CON-modified AC is not hit, or the target makes his saving throw, the regular damage is still dealt, but now the target knows you're there and he's gonna be mighty pissed.
If it seems hard to mug someone, that's because it is. I think Dan and/or Hal raised the point that mugging is too powerful because a low-level thief might be able to take out a high-level anything in a matter of seconds by rendering him unconscious and then slitting his throat. But I hope you agree that these rules make it very hard for something like that to happen, and if it does, i think the thief earned it.
