Stalking With Intent To Kill

[Iso]

Assassinations must be performed under the watch of a DM, but Assassinations are dispassionate jobs undertaken by soldiers of fortune.

My question today deals with the stalking and premeditated murder of an opponent, most specifically, Clergy of a rival faith.

We all know the PvP rules at face value: any physical action short of cooperation, fleeing, or averting the situation that is performed in response to hostile threatening is considered consent to PvP. This includes buffing, resting to potentially regain abilities to use in the following fight, and launching a Hide In Plain Sight action.

However, often the element of surprise is critical for launching a successful attack.

How could someone of a completely rival faith, perhaps say stalking invisibly and poised to murder their chosen opponent, properly and legally display their intent to commence PvP with someone given the first opening based on some kind of legitimate hatred and divine decree while not giving themselves away and forfeiting their rightful advantage?

The way I can see this actually working then is to locate and get yourself in position, set a character to hostile, perform a threatening emote from your place of ambush, and then send a person an OOC tell explaining to them clearly what they've just heard/witnessed is someone intending to murder them in PvP - do they wish for an out?

If the person begins buffing, HIPS, or rests - what then is the verdict? Is that consent to PvP?
(Casting Detect Invisibility would in fact be metagaming on top of normal consent to PvP in the given situation.)

Therein lies the question, and I know some of the staff heavily frown upon PvP, but the server as a whole has chosen to include and regulate it. This post seeks to clarify a fringe situation that has often bothered me, even when I have been the person on the receiving end of what should be violence in just about every case where I've encountered it.

Why should a Chaotic Evil character who has carefully stalked my stuck-up Lawful Neutral trash talker of a rival faith be required to allow me a head start if all due warning and offerings for an Out were given on top of a friendly OOC confirmation of what I witnessed being a threat of violence?

Example. HIPS hostile would-be murderer emotes,
*The twigs in the underbrush snap sharply under the weight of something heavy! The distinct unsheathing of a poorly oiled weapon cuts through the air as something prepares to strike!*
Then, the player sends a tell.
((My character desires to murder yours for a legitimate hatred fueled by religion. Your character's holy symbol has marked it as a member of a rival faith and my character's deity has demanded all Clerics of his enemy be put to death. The emote you just witnessed is the offer of an RP out - flee now, or take no hostile action, for the moment you prepare for combat I will initiate PvP.))

What is the official ruling on such a situation and is the approach suggested appropriate?

[DM Strahd]

Iso, I do not believe the Staff frowns upon PvP in any way. As for your questions, they are fair ones, but the basic logic is flawed by a false assumption. That assumption is: to assassinate someone, you have to successfully "win" a PvP situation without breaking rules accepted by both parties. That is incorrect. To assassinate someone, you need (as in all roleplay circumstances, really) the other player's consent. Not a PvP consent. A much wider one: a consent to the possible outcomes, a willingness to further each other's RP this way, and to keep the outcome acceptable for both parties.

Therefore, discussing rules is not going to cut it. PvP rules are a defense against griefing, and are made so that you can never attack anybody if they do not wish to fight. Therefore, what you need is to provide the other player with a stimulating RP environment, in which even losing would not detract, but ADD to his/her character's story. From there comes the true consent you need. Without that consent, which is by no means a PvP consent for omitted use of RP out, you cannot have a healthy RP and bad mood/dissatisfaction will ensue.

THAT is what the Staff heavily frowns upon, more than PvP.