D&D 5E Sneak Attack Critical

[pepticburrito]

All dice are doubled. No static modifiers are.

So a poison using +2d6 dice would double. Poison giving +5 damage will not.

Page 196 PHB: "When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack's damage against the target."

Incorrect. Mike Mearls clarified this on his twitter account, even though there should be no need to. Poison damage is determined by the save, not the attack roll. It's not attack damage, it's save damage. Therefore, the damage dice is not doubled.

 

[pepticburrito]

Theres a healthy balance of give and take with such rules. On the one hand, crushing a monster with a big crit is a ton of fun. On the other....getting instantly crushed by a big crit from a monster might not be.

Personally I think the current crit rules are good, but I can understand a desire to tone them a bit.

Adventuring is a dangerous occupation. Sometimes, the dice will kill you and that's okay. It's not like characters are hard to make.

 

[TarionzCousin]

On the one hand, crushing a monster with a big crit is a ton of fun. On the other....getting instantly crushed by a big crit from a monster might not be.

"Might"???

 

[Eejit]

Page 196 PHB: "When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack's damage against the target."

Incorrect. Mike Mearls clarified this on his twitter account, even though there should be no need to. Poison damage is determined by the save, not the attack roll. It's not attack damage, it's save damage. Therefore, the damage dice is not doubled.

When there is a save. Not all creatures have saves for their poison, sometimes it's directly applied on hit. Relevant to done wild shapes, plus true polymorph of course.

 

[Stalker0]

It's not like characters are hard to make.

This is one of those key style differences between groups. Some groups like their adventuring super risky, and if characters die, a new one takes their place. Others want their characters to make it till the end and focus on the story. And of course, there's everything in between.

WOTC has tried to strike a middle balance with their crit rules...but their will always be groups that prefer their crits to be more or less swingy.

 

[77IM]

It's worth mentioning that statistically, taking max damage is very similar to rolling all dice twice (the reroll's expected value is better by +1 per die), so making that change shouldn't affect much. You'll get crits that are more reliable, less swingy, but just as deadly.

You could even add in the +1 per die and precalculate expected crit damage for PC attacks. In the OP's example it might be notated:
short bow: 1d6+4 (crit: 11)
sneak attack: +3d6 (crit: +21)

 

[Luiz Dutra Fagundes]

sneak atak

Hi, I would like to know if the sneak attack of the rogue is in all attacks if he combat with two weapons for example. thx

 

[guachi]

Sneak attack works with one attack per turn. If a rogue fights with two weapons the rogue can use the Attack action on his turn to attack once and then use his Bonus action to attack once. He can Sneak attack with either attack, assuming he is otherwise eligible. But he can only apply the Sneak attack damage to one attack that hits. He can't apply Sneak attack damage to both attacks on his turn. No matter how many attack the Rogue gets in a turn, he can only apply Sneak attack damage to one of them.

 

[Guest 6801328]

If it's a gnome ninja/pirate with a katana then just grab as many dice, of whatever type, that you can hold in two hands and roll all of them.

 

[Pauln6]

I only allow class related dice to double. That way you avoid magic item silliness.