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Assassinate
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<blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 6675699" data-attributes="member: 6777696"><p>I'm not saying that's a bad way to do it. I think that's more or less how 4e ran it, and you can certainly house-rule it that way. It will certainly make surprise even more powerful than it already is, and give more advantage to stealthy characters, and A HUGE advantage to assassins. In this situation, any time an assassin rolls well on stealth (not hard with that expertise), they open combat with 6d6 damage (just at 3rd level, increasing by 2d6 every time sneak attack improves), just by popping around a corner. As many times a day as they want. That's a lot of damage. The 3rd level wizard, by contrast, gets 2 scorching rays a day. If they don't burn a spell slot on a utility spell.</p><p></p><p>In the current ruling, when an assassin gets a good stealth roll before combat, but otherwise just "pops out and fires", there is a chance that their Assassinate feature won't go off, if their target succeeds on an initiative roll. Of course, your rogue is probably pumping dex, so the odds are probably in the assassin's favor. Maybe 60% chance of a superior initiative roll? If you sneak into 6 combats a day, that's between 3 and 4 Assassinates a day. Not bad for the Assassin.</p><p></p><p>I think the 5e version works for the fiction too. If you are surprised, you can't act normally, but, with a little luck and a good natural reaction time, you might be able to take a "reaction."</p><p></p><p>The case being argued above, where the assassin shoots an unsuspecting target from behind, is a case that only fails to make sense with the fiction if you insist on a narrow and inflexible interpretation of the rules that clearly doesn't apply. How could somebody take a turn in combat before combat has started? Initiative doesn't go backwards in time. The rules don't need to spell that one out for you, because it's obvious. And you know it's obvious too. Is anybody here really arguing (admit I haven't read every response) that, in the case where a hidden assassin fires on an unsuspecting target who has no way of knowing they have been fired upon until the projectile hits them, that target can somehow take a turn before the projectile hits them?</p><p></p><p>The rules exist to adjudicate the actions that <em>are not obvious.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="redrick, post: 6675699, member: 6777696"] I'm not saying that's a bad way to do it. I think that's more or less how 4e ran it, and you can certainly house-rule it that way. It will certainly make surprise even more powerful than it already is, and give more advantage to stealthy characters, and A HUGE advantage to assassins. In this situation, any time an assassin rolls well on stealth (not hard with that expertise), they open combat with 6d6 damage (just at 3rd level, increasing by 2d6 every time sneak attack improves), just by popping around a corner. As many times a day as they want. That's a lot of damage. The 3rd level wizard, by contrast, gets 2 scorching rays a day. If they don't burn a spell slot on a utility spell. In the current ruling, when an assassin gets a good stealth roll before combat, but otherwise just "pops out and fires", there is a chance that their Assassinate feature won't go off, if their target succeeds on an initiative roll. Of course, your rogue is probably pumping dex, so the odds are probably in the assassin's favor. Maybe 60% chance of a superior initiative roll? If you sneak into 6 combats a day, that's between 3 and 4 Assassinates a day. Not bad for the Assassin. I think the 5e version works for the fiction too. If you are surprised, you can't act normally, but, with a little luck and a good natural reaction time, you might be able to take a "reaction." The case being argued above, where the assassin shoots an unsuspecting target from behind, is a case that only fails to make sense with the fiction if you insist on a narrow and inflexible interpretation of the rules that clearly doesn't apply. How could somebody take a turn in combat before combat has started? Initiative doesn't go backwards in time. The rules don't need to spell that one out for you, because it's obvious. And you know it's obvious too. Is anybody here really arguing (admit I haven't read every response) that, in the case where a hidden assassin fires on an unsuspecting target who has no way of knowing they have been fired upon until the projectile hits them, that target can somehow take a turn before the projectile hits them? The rules exist to adjudicate the actions that [I]are not obvious.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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