Creative Director
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Depends on the creature you're fighting. Even a 1 hp bleeding attack can be a death sentence to a creature who isn't able to stop the bleeding (due to lack of skill or lack of intellect).
My take: if folks are indeed arguing both sides of things, then the power level is perfect. It's not so bad that no one wants it, nor is it so good that folks think you're doing it wrong if you don't take it.
Against animals, beasts and people: I love it. It will force them to heal up if they can, or kill them as they flee.
Against undead, constructs or things with fast healing: Not so good. Situational.
There's a talent some folks love that lets you treat all 1s on sneak attack dice as 2s - for a -2 attack penalty. Since you'll roll a 1 one out of every six times, this talent lets you increase your sneak attack damage by 1 point for every 6d6 of sneak attack dice you have (on average). This damage stacks with itself, so every sneak attack you make, you're adding that damage each time.
This talent inflicts an extra 1 point per d6 of sneak attack against some creatures on the attack you inflict it with (6 points per 6d6 of sneak attack dice you have), and then every round after that automatically, unless they burn an action to stop it. It's a way bigger payout, but only against some creatures.
Some people scoff that it's a waste of a talent for only a small handful of extra damage. I'm thinking maybe those folks never had a character taken out by the big bad guy's last-ditch, 3-hp-left suicide attack.
The bleeding talent isn't awful (unlike the mentioned minuscule bonus damage to sneak attack) but its not that great either. Most creatures are dead before the damage amounts to much and it's a pain to remember to add each round. We once had a rogue with the bleeding talent and we forgot to add the damage almost as often as we remembered it.
Against certain creatures the bleed is basically a death sentence. Provided you are willing to wait opponents that cannot heal can be beaten with low use of party resourses.
Bleeding attack is ok if you are willing to run away and let the enemy slowly die, to "win" a fight w/ minimal personal risk. It's also a great way to keep track of where a foe is if they turn invisible.
Kinda subpar overall, though.
Powerful Sneak is hella terrible and will actually DROP your damage output, so it's basically 100% trap option. Don't do it.
The bleeding talent isn't awful (unlike the mentioned minuscule bonus damage to sneak attack) but its not that great either. Most creatures are dead before the damage amounts to much and it's a pain to remember to add each round. We once had a rogue with the bleeding talent and we forgot to add the damage almost as often as we remembered it.
GAHHHH.....
Yeah... That's one I forget to add in myself!
/flogs self.
It ignores DR so it has that going for it too. If there is a creature causing you headaches from DR getting one hit in that bleeds it can save you some long term trouble.
Also how long your combats last will play into it. The last time I played we had several 5~8 round combats where the bleed damage would have amounted to a total of 10~16 points of damage, possibly cutting down a big bad faster than we were able to do.