Sneak attack and Fey Step

[MeMeMeMe]

I have a player with an Eladrin Rogue, who asked me if he could use Fey Step to teleport behind a kobold and then, because the kobold didn't know he was there, stab him with the sneak attack bonus.

How would you rule?

 

[Eldorian]

Rules as written, no. In my own game... No. The teleport sound effect gets the guy's attention. DWAYNE!!!! /end strong bad reference.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

It looks like a per encounter move action to me, so it seems do-able.

I would allow it to happen personaly. If you want to restrict it, maybe give the baddie a perception check to see or hear where the PC went. Beyond that, I think its all fair play!

 

[KevinF]

I just had this happen last night, thought the character was a cool sword swinging Eladrin Wizard. I let him roll for stealth and he succeeded, so I gave him a +2 to attack. Obviously this is better for rogues and rangers, but is great fun for anyone.

Since its an encounter power, its pretty safe to say it won't get abused. And, it might lure a few aggressive rogues into a position that was easy to get into, but hard to get out of!

 

[MeMeMeMe]

I just had this happen last night, thought the character was a cool sword swinging Eladrin Wizard. I let him roll for stealth and he succeeded, so I gave him a +2 to attack. Obviously this is better for rogues and rangers, but is great fun for anyone.

That's exactly what I did, too, but I wondered about the precedent. If teleport-style powers become more easily available at higher levels, I don't want to have to undo things then.

 

[Dracollich]

If it wasn't so easy for a rogue to get Combat advantage as it is, I'd say no. But, them sneaky little gits sometimes seem to get it every round with out a teleport. As KevinF said, maybe they'll put themselves in a really bad position. Include a stealth vs perception roll from the rogue and it seems there will be enough inherent risk to word off abuse.

 

[DSRilk]

There are no rules I can find for it. Teleport says nothing about creating any condition (like the target is unaware of your position even for a split second), no rules for stealth saying you can do it after a teleport or similar effect, and no rules under combat advantage or flanking (such as flanking with yourself after a teleport - yes, I was grasping at straws by that point).

My gut says this: teleporting is super cool, but using it to give yourself combat advantage is a direct line to some nasty combos that as a DM I might regret. There are some rogue powers that, once you have combat advantage, make it hard for you to lose it. You can for sure use it to teleport into a flanking position to gain combat advantage, which is pretty nice.

I'd like to allow that, but I personally won't be allowing it until I see how often combat advantage is available and how much of an impact it has on the game. I haven't played enough 4e yet to know. Plus, doing it this way means my players might get to feel like they've gained something, instead of me realizing it's too powerful for my game and having the players now feel like they've lost something. I can't imagine it would really BREAK anything, but sometimes it's all about perception in terms of gaining and losing abilities.

 

[Nifft]

No way would I allow it.

PCs can already teleport into flanking position, which grants Combat Advantage. I see no reason to expand the power of an already good ability.

Cheers, -- N

 

[am181d]

In combat? Of course not. There's no facing in combat, and the rules clearly say that every character is visible unless under concealment or cover.

If it's out of combat and the character sneaks up on the creature, sure. But the character would still need to role Stealth against the character's Perception, just like they would if they tip-toed up.

 

[LostSoul]

I don't see why you couldn't just handle it like a normal Stealth check.

You'd get a -5 penalty if you Teleport more than 5 squares, and you need to end up in a square that gives you cover or concealment.