D&D 5E Arcane Trickster and Sneak Attack

[Darrius_Adler]

Ok, so a recent debate on this has left me wondering... do you add sneak attack on to spells that require an attack roll?

The wording of Sneak Attack states "The attack must use a finesse or ranged weapon."

I have been assuming that yes as long as you make an attack roll with the spell it counts as a weapon for Sneak Attack but I am not so sure now that I re-read Sneak Attack.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm afraid not. Spells aren't weapons, and in fact the book talks about "melee spell attacks" and "ranged spell attacks" separately from just melee/ranged attacks.

I can see it being a common houserule to allow it, but by the book? Nope.

 

[Celtavian]

Ok, so a recent debate on this has left me wondering... do you add sneak attack on to spells that require an attack roll?

The wording of Sneak Attack states "The attack must use a finesse or ranged weapon."

I have been assuming that yes as long as you make an attack roll with the spell it counts as a weapon for Sneak Attack but I am not so sure now that I re-read Sneak Attack.

I asked about Sharpshooter which uses similar language. Jeremy Crawford responded that Sharpshooter only works with ranged weapons. Spells don't count as ranged weapons even if they use attack rolls. I'm assuming Sneak Attack is the same.

Seems they intend magic to do very limited damage and combine with very little.

 

[Darrius_Adler]

I guess the arcane trickster is more intended to have utility spells than damage ones.

As a house rule might be ok to allow sneak attack to work with cantrips that require an attack roll. Might be a bit much with higher level spells.