Knife Master Greensting Slayer

[Kodger]

I have an Aasimar Knife Master 1/Greensting Slayer 2 (Magus). The Knife Master uses d8s for sneak attacks. The Greensting Slayer gets d6 sneak attacks.

My question is: does being a Knife Master mean that the Greensting Slayer's sneak attack is also d8?

I'm headed for Rogue 1/Magus 3/Arcane Trickster 10, so I'll only get one sneak attack from the Magus. Thus if the answer is no, I'll only be losing an average of one point of damage per sneak attack.

thanks,

Kodger

[kestral287]

By the reading I'd say yes. Sneak Attacks from different sources explicitly stack, and Knife Master's Sneak Attack doesn't specify where the sneak attack has to come from in the first place.

[Secret Wizard]

The Knife Master uses d8 sneak attacks for knives and similar weapons. Any sneak attack you perform with magic is going to deal 1d4 sneak attack.

[Kodger]

@Secret Wizard

The Magus is using a (Mithral) Dagger.

[Secret Wizard]

Kodger wrote:

@Secret Wizard

The Magus is using a (Mithral) Dagger.

So? I imagined you were going Arcane Trickster to sneak attack with spells too, and you are gonna get s&++ty ass Sneak Attack dice for those (1d4) because of the last line of the Sneaky Stab feature.

[Kodger]

Surprise Spells may indeed only get d4s for sneak attack damage.

I hope others can shed more light (and less heat) on the matter.

[Fraust]

Not sure what else you expect to get. Spells cast regularly would go off the d4, attacks that use the class ability that channels spells through a melee weapon would use the d8 if the melee weapon is a dagger. Am I missing something?

[Kodger]

Originally I wanted to know if the Magus sneak attack with a knife used d8s if you were also a Knife Master.

Part of the problem arises because Arcane Trickster was created long before Magus and Brawler.

[Secret Wizard]

I think that dipping Rogue and missing a caster level for +1 to attacks is a bad call though.

[Kodger]

It is possible to become an Arcane Trickster by taking five levels of Greensting Slayer. This would not involve losing caster levels.

Playing my character (above) has been fun even if it is less than optimal. I wanted to avoid cookie cutter solutions.

[Secret Wizard]

Oh I'm just saying that Knife Master Rogue is not a good call for a dip -- there are more effective ways out there to get sneak attack nowadays, including other Rogue archetypes.

5 levels of Greensting into Arcane Trickster is a proven combination, I quite like it.

[kestral287]

Yeah, Surprise Spells would operate off of a d4. Spellstrike'd spells should still be D8s, just don't declare that you're actually using Surprise Spells and it'd be your standard "sneak attack with knife" shenanigans.