When using Scorching Ray with sneak attacks, why does the fact that the spell and attacks are simultaneous stop you from applying sneak attack damage to each hit. If you were to say use greater invisibility or blind your opponent shouldn't you be able to apply sneak attack to every attack? If you were shooting him with a bow and he was blind, you would be able to sneak attack on every hit.
If i were to home rule this i would probably allow for invisible attackers or blinded defenders to be hit with multi sneak attacks from scorching ray.
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Sneak Attack: Can I add sneak attack damage to simultaneous attacks from a spell?
No. For example, scorching ray fires simultaneous rays at one or more targets, and the extra damage is only added once to one ray, chosen by the caster when the spell is cast.
Spell-based attacks which are not simultaneous, such as multiple attacks per round by a 8th-level druid using flame blade, may apply sneak attack damage to each attack so long as each attack qualifies for sneak attack (the target is denied its Dex bonus or the caster is flanking the target).
—Pathfinder Design Team, 06/19/13
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-http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qqm
There's no Rules Question here that I can see.
Probably belongs in Homebrew or General Discussion.
And I imagine it's because the devs fell for the "Wheeeee! Dice!" trap too.
It would seem that between the choice of either making scorching ray too effective when one has a simple invisibility or making it perhaps too weak with a greater invisibility, they chose the latter.
As for "why"? Probably multiple reasons. The stated reason was consistency -- they want to enforce consistency in the game rules across multiple effects. In this case, they wanted to bring it in line with Manyshot, which is a simultaneous attack yet grants sneak attack only once. "Why" could also be for balance (perhaps granting three sneak attacks when using a simple invisibility is beyond the scope of scorching ray) or reasoning (conceptually, it's difficult to identify the weak points of fifteen people at once).
If you want to come up with a reason, perhaps you can do so successfully. For example -- bow attacks are iterative, one after another. That could be described as taking a split second before each shot, allowing you to pick out an enemy's vital spots well enough to claim sneak attack on each shot (assuming you catch your target unaware on every attack). However, since scorching ray is fired simultaneously, perhaps it's not possible to pick out the vital spots of multiple enemies simultaneously.
I realize that leaves the logical gap of aiming all three attacks at the same enemy and not being able to perform more than one sneak attack. Perhaps an additional justification could be furnished for that. However, if that's too weak for you, perhaps simply cast an iterative spell or use an iterative attack?
It looks like you have a good idea how to fix the problem you perceive. As for me, if scorching ray doesn't grant multiple sneak attacks while the attacker is invisible, it doesn't make any more sense to me for greater invisibility to grant simultaneous attacks multiple sneak attacks.
I imagine you could also ask, "Why doesn't Manyshot grant an additional sneak attack when you remain invisible?"
This issue is older than the recent clarification.