Hello all. I've seen a similar question answered a few times for other classes, but not for Slayer. I'm a Tiefling Slayer 9/Wizard 1. My question is similar to the others. In a round where an enemy is flatfooted (because, for example, I'm acting before the enemy in the first round), do I get my sneak attack damage on all of my attacks, or only on the first. My weapon of choice is the longbow, so they are ranged attacks (I didn't know if this made a difference or not).
Thanks in advance!!
You should get sneak attack on every attack against an enemy that is flat footed. The first attack does not remove their flat footed condition.
Note that with a ranged attack you need to be within 30' to get sneak attack.
But anytime you make an attack you get to apply SA damage if the target qualifies. e.g is flat-footed, you are invisible/stealthed, you are flanking etc. There is no limit to the number of attacks per round that can get SA so long as one of the conditions are met.
note that unless you have special abilities or items you can not make a sneak attack beyond the range of 30 ft.
(or if the target has concealment, like being in a bit dark area, but as a tiefling with dark-vision you won't care for it...)
edit :ninja'd
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you are invisible/stealthed, you are flanking etc. There is no limit to the number of attacks per round that can get SA so long as one of the conditions are met.
attacking usually break invisibility (not greater) and stealth so in these cases unless other factors included only the 1st attack is made against an enemy with no dex to ac and is SA rest are done normally.
It's also worth noting that you cannot use flanking to make ranged sneak attacks, only melee attacks benefit from flanking.
And feinting is normally limited to melee attacks as well, but their is the feat Ranged Feint.
Excellent! Thank you for all the helpful info! This is what I expected, but I have a, shall we say, rather stingy DM. :)
And, I should have mentioned that ANY sneak attacks would only be within 30 feet!!!
Thanks again all!
A lot of inexperienced players overvalue the sneak attack damage. Once you've had the chance to play with it, you can see that it's not really that great.
A lot of inexperienced players overvalue the sneak attack damage. Once you've had the chance to play with it, you can see that it's not really that great.
Yeah, full attacking from a greater range with the longbow is quite possibly mathematically superior.
The round spent moving closer in means a round of only one attack instead of the, what, 5?
Then being close in you might have to reposition more frequently, losing more attacks each time you have to take more than a 5ft step.
Then getting them flat-footed takes doing, potentially only happening at the start of combat (which probably starts at more than 30ft, so only one attack typically).
Tell your GM not to worry so much.
In a vacuum, sneak attack seems great.
If you're a two-weapon fighting build and can manage to get sneak attack on all of your attacks in a single round the theoretical damage can seem very impressive.
However, the reality is you will rarely hit with all attack and rarely will all attacks qualify for sneak attack. The easiest method for two-weapon fighting is flanking. Which isn't an option for ranged attacks.
Ranged sneak attack is one of the hardest things to use with any consistency.
Sniper goggles help with that, but hoo gobby are they expensive.
Probably the most consistent method to gain ranged sneak attacks requires:
1) Either a sylph with the Cloud Gazer feat or another character with a Goz mask and
2) Use of obscuring mist.
wellllll.
some1 pointed out to me that the mist thingy is great for 50% miss chance but that nowhere was it said that you are invisible (you only get the same amount of concealment as invisible.) so...being 10 feet in mist\smoke etc doesn't actually make your target loose their dex to ac. it only give what it say - a 50% miss chance...
"Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to locate the target)."
For a defender that can't see the attacker, the blinded rules apply: "A blinded creature loses its Dexterity modifier to AC (if positive) and takes a –2 penalty to AC."
Sneak attack damage is very situational. I've played 4 games now with a 3rd-level slayer (with Studied Sneak Attack to raise my sneak attack to 2d6) and last night's game was the very first time I managed to get sneak attack damage in. It's great when you can get it.
We had a group of foes all but one of whom succumbed to our bard's DC18 glitterdust, rendering them blind and giving me the extra 2d6 sneak on each hit.
I'd love to take Press to the Wall to get flanking whenever there's a fixed obstacle across from me (very, very frequent situation in dungeons, tombs, cities, forests, caves... etc.) but there's a feat tax with Step Up, and so many other cool feats to choose from...
@ Derklord
the first is a rule, the 2nd ('the blinded rules apply') is an assumption (probably right ,but still not raw). you being in a cloud that prevent location by sight doesn't mean the target you attack is blind.
one difference is he can see the arrows you shoot at him once they get into the edge of the mist (20% miss area and of course if they exit the mist). a blind man can't .
so a blind man would loose his dex to ac, your mist facing foe won't.
he has problems attacking you doesn't mean he also automatically have problems defending himself.
@ Derklord
the first is a rule, the 2nd ('the blinded rules apply') is an assumption (probably right ,but still not raw). you being in a cloud that prevent location by sight doesn't mean the target you attack is blind.
The CRB isn't always explicit, but i found something that is:
"A creature with blindsense is still denied its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class against attacks from creatures it cannot see." CRB pg. 561Here we have an explicit mention that you don't just lose your dex bonus to AC against invisible enemies, but against all "creatures [you] cannot see"!
Note that if we don't apply that (or the invisibility rules*), Stealth doesn't enable Sneak Attack either.
*) "An invisible creature gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls against a sighted opponent, and ignores its opponent’s Dexterity bonus to AC (if any).", CRB pg. 567
one difference is he can see the arrows you shoot at him once they get into the edge of the mist (20% miss area and of course if they exit the mist). a blind man can't.
If that concept was true (if you could defend against an arrow in flight that you only see after it was fired), it would also apply to Invisibility. As you can see from the above rule quote, that's not the case. It would also apply to stealth.
Thank you for all the comments! Very helpful. I know that sneak attack is not that great. I'm asking more to "prove a point". I did build the character to have a pretty high initiative bonus, with the thinking that I could get off at least 1 sneak attack prior to the enemies acting.
Thank you for all the comments! Very helpful. I know that sneak attack is not that great. I'm asking more to "prove a point". I did build the character to have a pretty high initiative bonus, with the thinking that I could get off at least 1 sneak attack prior to the enemies acting.
We were more pointing out why your DM has the opinion he does. He's probably thinking to himself, "This is way too powerful, so this can't be right". If he had more experience playing a sneak attack character, he'd probably realize that it is certainly not too powerful, so it must be fine.
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Sneak attack is fantastic IF you have another melee buddy to help out. My last PC was a level 18 Barbarian/Rogue who did something like 14D6+45 non-lethal damage per hit and could hit up to 7 times per round with haste, AoO's and some specific feats. My attacking buddy got me sneak attacks almost every melee. Unfortunately, our AP just ended and I had to retire the character.