So in our last session one of the players (fighter/rogue) was using sneak attack on undead and also a stone golem later on. Given how easy it is to use sneak attack, it bothered me about the idea of sneak attack on creatures that are animated and really don't have vitals or vulnerable spots.
I've read some threads about this and people argue that undead still have muscles, ligaments, etc. which could be targeted, but since they are animated I can't agree with it. And a stone golem? What are you going to strike on that to warrant so much potential damage every round???
And I know sneak attack is a big part of the rogue's features, but it is hardly all and rogues can do a lot. It is like playing in a game with little to no undead, and a cleric has nothing to turn... the cleric still has a lot it can do.
I'm open to ideas, so for people who find this a non-issue, what is your logic?
To me the logic of sneak dsmage Aldo extends into the area of critical hits and really into damage at all. What is "damage" that is being done by the dagger or arrow to the creature and how can there be or not be more and less damaging, vital or significant shots?
Last time I checked, stone statues and skeletal structures still have differentiation in points - still have joints and the like - still have places where a hit would "do more" damage than others.
So I dont see the objection there. Conceptually I as GM have no problem narratively describing a sneak or crit in a way that makes it seem like it did more - got you closer to "down."
This is especially true if you recall the original golem myth where a single letter of a word etched on that golem is the difference between life and death.
Then we come to the incorporeals, like specters, wraiths, will-o-wisps etc and again you start at "how do I describe damage"? For those I hang onto a couple different aspects...
1 - in 5e nearly every if not all invorporeals have the "takes damage if dnd up inside solid" clause which to me opens up the narrative of it draining and disrupting their essence the more solid matter is stuck inside them at points in time etc. So, I often describe them as pulsing in and out - more flickering like - which opens up timing as the "more damage" flavor - "when" you hit rather than a case of "where" you hit.
2 - I often describe some aspects of these undead spirits a still stuck in their past, as if the other side of the "veil" is re-enacting the horrific moments of their past, so for example, a critical hit may be described with a visual of another ancient blade striking at the same time in a sort of horrific augmented reality overlay - complete with noises of that other time and place.
To enhance this, these creatures may have descriptive elements such as seeping wounds, smouldering scars and all sorts of visual, audible and olfactory phenomenon embedded into their description from the first moment they are encountered. Or even before like say if the smell of burning flesh or infected wounds are a sigil or a trail they leave behind or a tell they are nearby.
So, to me, it's only if you, the GM, choose to define, depict and portray these magical entities as not having any "vital spots" by not giving them flavor and as some sort of vanilla shape without distinction that you run into a problem with critical hits or sneak etc.