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With all the bonus Rogue Talents and the ultimate Master Strike, is the effect in addition to sneak attack damage . . . or a substitute for sneak attack damage. (I would assume the prior, but with 10d6 Sneak Attack damage at 20th level, the intended Sleep effect of Master Strike may result in a "Rogar Oops."
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With all the bonus Rogue Talents and the ultimate Master Strike, is the effect in addition to sneak attack damage . . . or a substitute for sneak attack damage. (I would assume the prior, but with 10d6 Sneak Attack damage at 20th level, the intended Sleep effect of Master Strike may result in a "Rogar Oops."
Alpha 3, p.41.
Master Strike (Ex): Upon reaching 20th level, a rogue becomes incredibly deadly when dealing sneak attack damage. This can have one of three effects. The target can be put to sleep for 1d4 hours, paralyzed for 2d6 rounds, or slain.Reading 1:
- based on "dealing sneak attack damage"
- based on Crippling Strike (Ex): A rogue with this ability can sneak attack opponents with such precision that her blows weaken and hamper them. An opponent damaged by one of her sneak attacks also takes 2 points of Strength damage.
- based on the Dispelling attack wording: Dispelling Attack (Su): Opponents that are dealt sneak attack damage by a rogue with this ability are affected by a targeted dispel magic.[...]
- the rogue deals the damage and chooses the additional effect: sleep, paralysis or insta-death.
Reading 2:
- based on the apparent inconsistency of "dealing sneak attack damage" and putting someone to sleep.
- the rogue doesn't deal any hit point damage. He chooses the effect: sleep, paralysis or insta-death.
I'd go for Reading 3 and rephrase the text in the following manner to avoid the complications of "Oopsie, I only wanted to put him to sleep." It makes more sense to associate sleep and paralysis with a massive amount of nonlethal damage and instant death with with a massive amount of lethal damage.
Tweak
Upon reaching 20th level, a rogue becomes incredibly effective when dealing sneak attack damage. Opponents that are dealt lethal sneak attack damage by a rogue are instantly killed, unless they succeed on a Fortitude save with a DC equal to 20 plus the rogue’s Intelligence modifier.
Opponents that are dealt nonlethal sneak attack damage by a rogue are affected by one of the following effects, chosen by the rogue before the attack: paralysis for 2d6 rounds or sleep for 1d4 hours. The target receives a Fortitude save to resist with a DC equal to 20 plus the rogue’s Intelligence modifier.
Once a creature has been the target of a master strike, regardless of whether or not the save is made, that creature is immune to that rogue’s master strike for 24 hours. Creatures that are immune to sneak attack damage are also immune to this ability.