Sneaky flanking buddy

[Christopk-K]

Thinking about a new character.

Is there any option to get a flanking buddy with sneak attack? Could be anything, e. g. animal companion, familiar, ...
Only leadership is out.
Preferably with a class for my character that has also sneak attack.

I'm not sure, but this might be quite broken. Right now I'm mainly curious.

[Cavall]

Well theres a rogue archetype that has a pet that does sneak attack. You're basically playing an organ grinder with a monkey.

It reduces yours but he gets it too. You can then apply accomplished sneak attacker to make up for a bit of the reduction.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/archetypes/paizo-rogue- archetypes/carnivalist

As it is a familiar I reccomend peeking at the mauler familiar archetype.

[Syries]

Ankou's shadow archetype for the slayer let's you get quasi-real flanking buddies.

[blahpers]

Make friends with an NPC rogue or slayer. Try to keep them alive and friendly.

[Heather 540]

I have a hunter/rogue that has a big focus on flanking and AoOs. With Pack Flanking, you and your companion are always flanking if next to each other or sharing the same square. 3 levels of Hunter means that your companion shares every Teamwork feat, so you can take Precise Strike to add an extra 1d6 damage. It'll be like giving you both an extra Sneak Attack die.

[Syries]

Circling Mongoose is another option. Flank with yourself!

[BlarkNipnar]

Christopk-K wrote:

Thinking about a new character.

Is there any option to get a flanking buddy with sneak attack? Could be anything, e. g. animal companion, familiar, ...
Only leadership is out.
Preferably with a class for my character that has also sneak attack.

I'm not sure, but this might be quite broken. Right now I'm mainly curious.

It won't be Broken; so no worries.

It's worth mentioning (even if this isn't a direct answer) that you get Sneak Attack any time your opponent is Flat-Footed.

This includes:
* Going first. High initiative means your opponents have not acted, which means you get an auto-matic Flat-Footed style bonus!

* Surprise round. Similar to the above, getting a surprise round on your opponents is an auto-matic sneak attack!

* If your enemy is unaware of you (such as hiding, then stealthing to the enemy successfully, then attacking)

* When they are blinded

* After a successful Feint move (which you can do with a Move Action after Improved Feint)

* When you are invisible (such as with Ninja's Vanishing Trick)

* The Gang Up feat is also a way to get the bonus if it's actually getting to the other side of the creature that is the problem.

____
Other tips:
* Don't forget that Acrobatics can allow you to dodge AoO's which allows you to get behind opponents easier

And realize that this has been asked a million times, so there is a wealth of information out there that I didn't mention featuring more obscure ways to get the bonus:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2petg?Ways-to-get-more-sneak-attacks-without

____
People often claim that the Rogue is bad and make jokes like "yeah if you can get the enemy to be prone all the time LOLOL" but the fact is there are so many ways to get Flat Footed on an opponent that you really should have it most of the time.

Another note is that there are Facing rules as found here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/combatFacing.htm

which happen to make flanking very doable with a high speed, and then your opponent has a hard time turning to get to you because they incur AoO's to do so.

[Cavall]

I do agree that if you can't find a way to always get sneak attack after 10 years of options you aren't looking even casually. Most people that say you can't are parroting some guide that sold them a load.

[MageHunter]

I'm rather partial to the canny tumble feat. Let's you feel like an acrobatic god.

[avr]

There's a teamwork feat which is basically +1d6 sneak attack, precise strike. Animal companions can just get the feat, valet familiars or an eldritch guardian fighter's familiar can share it, various classes can grant teamwork feats too.

The sense vitals spell used with share spells (& ideally either improved share spells or improved spell sharing - those are different feats) gives sneak attack.

Twilight knife is a spell which creates a flanking buddy with +1d6 sneak attack. I'd bet there's summons which could do a similar job too. Come to think of it there's an inquisitor archetype which gives teamwork feats (like the precise strike I mentioned above) to their summons, the monster tactician.

[Cavall]

avr wrote:

There's a teamwork feat which is basically +1d6 sneak attack, precise strike. Animal companions can just get the feat, valet familiars or an eldritch guardian fighter's familiar can share it, various classes can grant teamwork feats too.

The sense vitals spell used with share spells (& ideally either improved share spells or improved spell sharing - those are different feats) gives sneak attack.

Twilight knife is a spell which creates a flanking buddy with +1d6 sneak attack. I'd bet there's summons which could do a similar job too. Come to think of it there's an inquisitor archetype which gives teamwork feats (like the precise strike I mentioned above) to their summons, the monster tactician.

You'll have to avoid the sense vitals advice.

Quote:

This allows you to use any manufactured weapon to make sneak attacks

Does not really work for pets. Unless it's a knife wielding monkey.

[Heather 540]

Cavall wrote:

Quote:

This allows you to use any manufactured weapon to make sneak attacks

Does not really work for pets. Unless it's a knife wielding monkey.

Might work on a companion with a Gore attack wearing Tusk Blades.

[avr]

Cavall wrote:

avr wrote:

There's a teamwork feat which is basically +1d6 sneak attack, precise strike. Animal companions can just get the feat, valet familiars or an eldritch guardian fighter's familiar can share it, various classes can grant teamwork feats too.

The sense vitals spell used with share spells (& ideally either improved share spells or improved spell sharing - those are different feats) gives sneak attack.

Twilight knife is a spell which creates a flanking buddy with +1d6 sneak attack. I'd bet there's summons which could do a similar job too. Come to think of it there's an inquisitor archetype which gives teamwork feats (like the precise strike I mentioned above) to their summons, the monster tactician.

You'll have to avoid the sense vitals advice.

Quote:

This allows you to use any manufactured weapon to make sneak attacks

Does not really work for pets. Unless it's a knife wielding monkey.

A point, but improved familiars are a thing. Many can wield weapons. Though how sensing vital spots would work for manufactured weapons but not claws is beyond me.

[Christopk-K]

Neat options, thanks :-)

[Cavall]

avr wrote:

Cavall wrote:

avr wrote:

There's a teamwork feat which is basically +1d6 sneak attack, precise strike. Animal companions can just get the feat, valet familiars or an eldritch guardian fighter's familiar can share it, various classes can grant teamwork feats too.

The sense vitals spell used with share spells (& ideally either improved share spells or improved spell sharing - those are different feats) gives sneak attack.

Twilight knife is a spell which creates a flanking buddy with +1d6 sneak attack. I'd bet there's summons which could do a similar job too. Come to think of it there's an inquisitor archetype which gives teamwork feats (like the precise strike I mentioned above) to their summons, the monster tactician.

You'll have to avoid the sense vitals advice.

Quote:

This allows you to use any manufactured weapon to make sneak attacks

Does not really work for pets. Unless it's a knife wielding monkey.

A point, but improved familiars are a thing. Many can wield weapons. Though how sensing vital spots would work for manufactured weapons but not claws is beyond me.

Beyond me too,but I still took the spell for my hunter even if the pet couldn't