Sneak Attack Damage with a thrown Potion?

[Illydth]

So the question is simple: Can a rogue get sneak attack damage by throwing something like alchemists fire in a situation where they would normally get sneak attack damage with, say, a crossbow?

I've got to say I've been playing D&D since Red Box Base set in the 80s and this is the first time I've gotten a question this baffling.

We've got a situation in my campaign at the moment where we have a set of zombies trapped in a web spell (with the Grappled effect). The party rogue asks "If I throw Alchemists fire at one of the Grappled enemies do I get sneak attack damage?"

According to the manual there are only 2 conditions for when to apply sneak attack damage:

1) When the target is denied his dex bonus to AC (obviously in the case of being Grappled).
2) When the rogue has a clear line of sight on a vital area of the target. (i.e. The target is not concealed).

Logically I have problems with a thrown potion providing sneak attack damage, but I can't argue that both restrictions do apply in this situation.

I won't get into the argument of "how do you find a 'vital area' on a nonliving creature that doesn't eat, breath or have internal organs". :)

So, GMs, how would you rule and why?

--Illydth

[Jiggy]

Since a lot of rules questions are of the format "how does X interact with Y?", a helpful habit is to re-read the core rules of X and Y even if you have a pretty decent handle on how they work. Often, one or the other will answer the question directly, but with a detail that you wouldn't think to notice until you were specifically looking for it.

From the Combat chapter of the Core Rulebook:

Throw a Splash Weapon wrote:

Splash weapons cannot deal precision-based damage (such as the damage from the rogue's sneak attack class feature).

Not something you'd normally pay attention to, is it? :)

[Illydth]

DOH! Failure to Full Text Search the PDF Manual FOR THE LOSE!

Thanks for smacking me upside the head on this one. :) Never thought to look up the splash weapon rules to see if they are explicitly excluded from Sneak attack damage.

Thanks much! Sorry for wasting everyone's time. :)

--Illydth

[Starbuck_II]

Illydth wrote:

So the question is simple: Can a rogue get sneak attack damage by throwing something like alchemists fire in a situation where they would normally get sneak attack damage with, say, a crossbow?

Not in Pathfinder; but yes in 3.0.3.5.