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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 3976563" data-attributes="member: 467">What you are talking about here is a critical hit, of which the sneak attack is only a component.&nbsp; Allowing criticals against any corporeal opponent, by defining a critical as a blow to a vulnerable area (whatever that may mean for a given opponent) is not a bad idea and affects all characters.&nbsp; I am sure the falchion-wielding, improved criticalled, power critical-ing barbarian would appreciate it, too.Thinking on this, maybe the better way to model &quot;sneak attack&quot; is to call it a critical, and/or double the rogues threat range when flanking or attacking a creature denied its dex bonus.&nbsp; This way, the rogue has an eye for &quot;vitals&quot; but isn't necessarily a cuisinart of awesomeness.In a thread on rpg.net, I did some quick numbers and found, much to my surprise, that all those sneak attack d6's didn't put the rogue over the top -- early on the big weapon, power attacking fighter was still better at dealing damage and even at later levels the rogue only had a slight edge (and only then if the fighter wasn't using a particularly powerful power attack).&nbsp; So, in the end, allowin most creatures to be criticalled, and therefore sneak attacked, isn't going to break the game.&nbsp; Sneak attack is already sufficiently different from &quot;backstab&quot; that the &quot;thief&quot; D&amp;D-ism is long lost already.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 3976563, member: 467"] What you are talking about here is a critical hit, of which the sneak attack is only a component. Allowing criticals against any corporeal opponent, by defining a critical as a blow to a vulnerable area (whatever that may mean for a given opponent) is not a bad idea and affects all characters. I am sure the falchion-wielding, improved criticalled, power critical-ing barbarian would appreciate it, too. Thinking on this, maybe the better way to model "sneak attack" is to call it a critical, and/or double the rogues threat range when flanking or attacking a creature denied its dex bonus. This way, the rogue has an eye for "vitals" but isn't necessarily a cuisinart of awesomeness. In a thread on rpg.net, I did some quick numbers and found, much to my surprise, that all those sneak attack d6's didn't put the rogue over the top -- early on the big weapon, power attacking fighter was still better at dealing damage and even at later levels the rogue only had a slight edge (and only then if the fighter wasn't using a particularly powerful power attack). So, in the end, allowin most creatures to be criticalled, and therefore sneak attacked, isn't going to break the game. Sneak attack is already sufficiently different from "backstab" that the "thief" D&D-ism is long lost already. [/QUOTE]

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