Sean H |
Up until recently, I was always under the impression that Sneak Attack was allowed whenever there was an attack roll, assuming the target isn't immune to precision damage. This went for melee weapons, natural attacks, spells even - I thought this was the entire basis of the Arcane Trickster class. However, I recently heard someone tell a Gunslinger Rogue that SA does not apply to touch attacks. Rereading the description, SA doesn't seem to mention it one way or the other. So, can SA be applied to touch attacks? I very much hope so, because I love the idea of a rogue UMDing a wand of CLW to SA undead with.
james maissen |
Awesome. That actually brings up another question though; what if the attack does ability damage? Obviously it would be silly if SA did strength damage or whatnot, but could it also just deal normal damage in addition to the ability damage?
It deals negative energy damage, the same as any other additional damage (weapon spec, ranger favored enemy, etc).
Likewise sneak attacking with enervation...
-James
SmiloDan RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
AdamMeyers |
I assume it was a typo above, but yeah, you cannot deal sneak attacks with splash weapons, but you can deal sneak attacks with anything that involves an attack roll. I don't know how that works with ability damage, but personally I would rule that sneak attack damage only applies if the attack in question is actually dealing damage.
Game Player |
So if a rogue/spell caster has chill touch and caught an opponent flat footed, he would on (a successful) touch attack deal 1d6 damage and a potential + 1 str drain and then his/her sneak attack damage?
And if he was using acid arrow within 30 ft the same would also apply?
Would the extra damage in the acid arrow be additional acid damage for the SA? Would the SA damage on a chill touch be additional damage or negative damage?
Just wondering as I may have a rogue/spell caster become a party pain in the butt and want to make sure I am dealing the damage correctly.
asthyril |
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if you are using a spell to do sneak attack damage, the extra damage is the same type as the spell does, acid for acid splash or acid arrow, fire for scorching ray. spells that do not do actual damage (eg enervation) do extra damage based on the spell (so enervation sneak attack would do negative energy damage, HP DAMAGE, not extra level drain.)