My Kineticist was recently sneak attacked by a rogue. The damage due to the weapon did not pierce my force ward, but the GM still applied the sneak damage, is this right? If so, how can sneak damage, which applies as the rogue has found a vital spot, apply, when, according to the Force Ward description, the weapon has not actually achieved a hit?
You're in the wrong forum here, this is for the Adventure Card Game.
Anyway, yopur GM is right. There is no separation between the "normal" damage and the sneak damage. The damage from a sneak attack is not an additional effect that triggers when you get hit. It is simply "more damage". So that provision from the force ward wild talent does not apply.
You're in the wrong forum here, this is for the Adventure Card Game.
Anyway, yopur GM is right. There is no separation between the "normal" damage and the sneak damage. The damage from a sneak attack is not an additional effect that triggers when you get hit. It is simply "more damage". So that provision from the force ward wild talent does not apply.
So what you are saying, is that sneak attack damage does not rely on a hit to apply!
there is no such thing as "sneak attack damage" the damage from sneak attack is added to the weapon's damage. So the weapon didn't do 1d6 damage + 4d6 "sneak attack damage", the weapon is doing 5d6 damage. Thus all that should be enough to puncture your ward and count as a hit. If the 5d6 couldn't do it then the entire thing is a miss.
My Kineticist was recently sneak attacked by a rogue. The damage due to the weapon did not pierce my force ward, but the GM still applied the sneak damage, is this right? If so, how can sneak damage, which applies as the rogue has found a vital spot, apply, when, according to the Force Ward description, the weapon has not actually achieved a hit?
Same reason attacks that don't penetrate DR with their basic damage can still apply Sneak Attack.
Unless an effect says it negates precision damage the sneak attack damage will apply.
@Keslix: you should make a separate thread for that question as it has no bearing on the OP.
I just did a quick search on the prd, and the only thing that came up was the Lifesurge magic weapon ability, which lets you add the weapon's enhancement bonus to any temp hp you gain, but if I'm reading it right, it specifically says multiple applications don't stack, so you really wouldn't get more than a couple of extra temp hp out of it. There may be some obscure feat or trait or something out there that affects temp hp, but I haven't seen any myself.
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The replies here stating that the sneak attack damage would apply are incorrect.
The wording on sneak attack includes the following:
"The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot."
Notice the part where it says "Must be able to reach the spot."
However, Force sword Thematically isn't a buffer of life, but instead is a telekinetic field which is deflecting blows away entirely.
This is further backed up by the phrasing "otherwise counts as a miss"
Meaning, the blow is deflected away. The rogue has failed to reach the vital spot they wanted to strike.
That means this falls into 2 categories: Thematic and mechanical interpretation.
Thematic: If you were trying to stab someone in the kidneys for extra damage, you obviously didn't deal bonus precision damage if you never hit them at all.
Mechanical: Since the attack didn't hit, and sneak attack explicitly requires that you be able to reach the target in order to deal the damage, then the damage wasn't dealt.
It does create an unusual situation of "Schrodinger's damage", but in this unique situation, it's correct to roll weapon damage without sneak attacks, and then apply sneak attack damage if and only if the weapon damage completely penetrates the ward and counts as a hit, therefor meeting the qualifications of the sneak attack.
it also says "The rogue's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet."
ANY TIME.
The correct way (according to the rules) is roll all the damage, including sneak attack, then apply DR
“Reach such a spot” is basically vestigial flavor text. It’s referring to vitals being out of reach because of size. But I’ve never seen a rogue in Pathfinder being unable to sneak attack a target because it’s too large.