According the the Pathfinder rules for Hellcat Pounce:
"Whenever you attack and damage an opponent in the surprise round, you may immediately make a second attack against the same opponent using the same attack bonus. The target is not considered flat-footed against this second attack."
Does this mean that I can attack twice and still be considered stealthed under the rules of sniping?
Expansion on the question:
I made a custom race called Xengal (I am bad at making names so please don't comment). The race of Xengal has four arms, allowing it to hold up to 4 one-handed weapons or 2 two-handed weapons. If I had a Xengal rogue snipe a monster while it was using 2 light crossbows at the same time, would sneak attack damage be applied twice?
No for 2 reasons.
1. In the surprise round you won't have the move action needed to snipe.
2. Even if you have the move action each attack would require a move action to re hide. At least as far as I understand the rules.
No for 2 reasons.
1. In the surprise round you won't have the move action needed to snipe.
2. Even if you have the move action each attack would require a move action to re hide. At least as far as I understand the rules.
What if I was the one who initiated combat? Under that idea, i can snipe, surprise round initiates, then snipe again?
What if I was the one who initiated combat? Under that idea, i can snipe, surprise round initiates, then snipe again?No for 2 reasons.
1. In the surprise round you won't have the move action needed to snipe.
2. Even if you have the move action each attack would require a move action to re hide. At least as far as I understand the rules.
No. According to the surprise round clarification by SKR, the moment you make the decision to fire the crossbow is when the surprise round starts. Basically, you can't make an attack out of combat.
Thank you everyone then who helped me clarify this point. I now know that my character isn't as bad ass as I initially thought.
Hellcat Pounce overrides normal surprise round rules. Specific over common. Right after taking the normal standard action to attack you have another attack.
Sniping is a bit special there, since the rules of sniping leave it out if a surprise round occurs or not. If there is a surprise round, Hellcat Pounce should trigger and you should be allowed to use stealth afterwards, else the feat is meaningless.
Hellcat Pounce overrides normal surprise round rules. Specific over common. Right after taking the normal standard action to attack you have another attack.
Sniping is a bit special there, since the rules of sniping leave it out if a surprise round occurs or not. If there is a surprise round, Hellcat Pounce should trigger and you should be allowed to use stealth afterwards, else the feat is meaningless.
The feat is not useless. It is providing the character 2 attacks in a surprise round. There is no way for a person to snipe in a surprise round as you are limited to 1 move or standard action. Hellcat Pounce does nothing to change that fact, and so attacking during the surprise round (which is required to trigger the effect from Hellcat Pounce in the first place) means you're left with no action by which to immediately Stealth as per the sniping rules. There's nothing stopping you from subsequently dipping behind cover or concealment on the 1st round to set up a new position and start sniping. Now, if the character in question had the Bandit archetype, they could indeed snipe in the surprise round, as the archetype specifically allows the rogue to take a move and a standard action during the surprise round.