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<blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 3736698" data-attributes="member: 8158">I'm not clear on what you mean by Backstab being a separate ability that &quot;comes back&quot;. I'm always surprised that many folks don't accept this, but backstabbing was rolled up into sneak attack. Sneak-attacking with flank is supposed to be stabbing the guy in the back when he turns the other way. It wasn't called &quot;backstab&quot; because of the complications that arise when people get all literal-minded (and an unfortunately, there is a large contingent of folks playing the game who are fond of literal interpretations). Were it called backstab, folks kept bringing facing into the matter, even when 3e explicitly doesn't concern itself with facing (thankfully so, since I don't want to have to keep spinning my mini around every time something catches my character's attention). Also, many monsters lack &quot;backs&quot; in a literal sense of the word (but could still be attacked while looking in another direction).The one thing that really annoys me about the rules for Hide and Move Silently is that they require cover or concealment. This means that you generally can't just creep up behind someone unless they're standing next to a hedge or a fog bank (of course, if they're actually standing in the hedge or fog bank, they have concealment themselves and are thus immune to sneak attack). I'd ceretainly like to see backstab come back in the form of some &quot;creeping up&quot; rules.I personally would have preferred that sneak attack had been two separate abilities. One for striking flat-footed opponents, and one for striking flanked targets. That would make it a modular ability that we could offer classes like ninja and dread commando without coming with a &quot;Sudden Strike&quot; ability that's identical in all ways but one. And while we're at it,</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Felon, post: 3736698, member: 8158"] I'm not clear on what you mean by Backstab being a separate ability that "comes back". I'm always surprised that many folks don't accept this, but backstabbing was rolled up into sneak attack. Sneak-attacking with flank is supposed to be stabbing the guy in the back when he turns the other way. It wasn't called "backstab" because of the complications that arise when people get all literal-minded (and an unfortunately, there is a large contingent of folks playing the game who are fond of literal interpretations). Were it called backstab, folks kept bringing facing into the matter, even when 3e explicitly doesn't concern itself with facing (thankfully so, since I don't want to have to keep spinning my mini around every time something catches my character's attention). Also, many monsters lack "backs" in a literal sense of the word (but could still be attacked while looking in another direction). The one thing that really annoys me about the rules for Hide and Move Silently is that they require cover or concealment. This means that you generally can't just creep up behind someone unless they're standing next to a hedge or a fog bank (of course, if they're actually standing in the hedge or fog bank, they have concealment themselves and are thus immune to sneak attack). I'd ceretainly like to see backstab come back in the form of some "creeping up" rules. I personally would have preferred that sneak attack had been two separate abilities. One for striking flat-footed opponents, and one for striking flanked targets. That would make it a modular ability that we could offer classes like ninja and dread commando without coming with a "Sudden Strike" ability that's identical in all ways but one. And while we're at it, [/QUOTE]

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