Does a rogue still get their sneak attack with a readied action if they were hidden before the trigger, but not after?
I know it sounds complicated but the question comes from this:
Several PC's were fighting a Ranged monk who kept dodging through some hallways that formed a square. The Rogue, who had been out of sight the entire fight due to the starting set up, snuck into one of the adjoining hallways still out of sight from the enemy and readied an action to shoot if the enemy walked in.
The enemy then proceeded to move into the hallway drawing the attack. The hallway in question is empty so provides no cover or concealment once the person walks into it, and both have obviously already acted in the round.
Ruleswise a readied action happens before the triggering action. The triggering action here is the opponent coming into sight. Before the opponent entered the hallway he was unaware of the Rogue -->sneakable.
Can be sneak attacked.
Annotations:
Normally the combat rules operate on an instantaneous 360 degree vision assumption for simplification purposes, thus if it werent for the specific rule of "readied action" the monk and rogue would notice each other at the same time.
I forget, do monks get uncanny dodge/improved uncanny dodge?
That might come into play here.
Yes, but don't forget you must be within 30ft to sneak attack with a ranged weapon. Which may or may not be an issue depending on the exact setup.
Ruleswise a readied action happens before the triggering action. The triggering action here is the opponent coming into sight.
Another example of readied action rules that don't work. If the shot is before the opponent is in sight, theoretically they would have total concealment (and probably total cover).
Basically the readied action rules are a hot mess. Players need to not try to find abuses of them, and GMs need to interpret them creatively in ways that are sensible.
In this specific case though, I would certainly give the Rogue the benefit of being stealthed for the readied action.
It's not even that tricky; all you need are the Stealth rules:
Breaking Stealth
When you start your turn using Stealth, you can leave cover or concealment and remain unobserved ... Your Stealth immediately ends after you make an attack roll
(The middle part of that quote is irrelevant to this question so I snipped it for simplicity).
So, the rogue started his turn using Stealth, used part of that turn as a readied action (still using Stealth), so he can leave cover or concealment and still remain unobserved until after his attack. In this case, it's the enemy's movement that causes the rogue to lose cover or concealment, but the rule doesn't care about the reason for leaving cover or concealment, so that doesn't matter. QED.
Assuming the target failed a perception check, I agree with the above posters.
Actually, perception is (probably*) irrelevant. The rogue would have had complete concealment and was (presumably*) not making any overt sounds. Therefore, the monk never had a chance to perceive the rogue before rounding the corner and a readied action would fire immediately as the monk rounds the corner, before the monk had a chance to perceive.
*Also assuming no shenanigans with tremorsense, scent or something similar.
No, walls aren't distractions. Well, maybe if the wall is covered with naughty graffiti. Otherwise, an ordinary wall is no distraction. In office buildings, people ADD walls to REDUCE distractions so employees can focus on their work.
Now the fact that the monk is being pursued and dodging combat, that IS a distraction, no doubt about it. It's not a distraction to perceive the people who are chasing him, but it definitely is going to distract him from noticing the rogue in time so apply the full distraction penalty on his perception check.
And yes, there is ALWAYS a perception check to notice someone trying to attack you. It might be impossibly hard, but you always get one. That's why we have penalties for things like sleeping because even sleeping dogs get to roll a perception check when someone won't let them lie in peace.