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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dykstrav" data-source="post: 5739722" data-attributes="member: 40522">Maybe my recent involvement with Pathfinder Society games has skewed my experience a bit, but I've seen many people play rogues specifically to get sneak attack. I also think that some people want to get sneak attacks with ranged weapons to meliorate the "squishiness" of the rogue. It's a case of someone wanting to take the benefits (awesome damage output) and ignore the drawbacks of a particular class ability (situational setup that often requires you to get into melee), I've just seen a lot of this particular example lately.Upon further reflection, I think it also sticks in my craw a bit because the sort of players that go for that sort of thing just don't want to be team players. It's been observed by several people here that teamwork makes each individual character more effective, but there are unfortunately some players that don't see things that way. They don't want to ask a caster for help and they don't want to wade into melee beside the fighter, because they somehow feel that it detracts from their character's inherent coolness to get help.That's an entirely different issue than in my original post, but it's what I'm gradually realizing as I reflect on it more and more.Nope, "flanking" is a bonus type to attack rolls that you may or may not qualify for, depending on where you and an ally is positioned. It imposes no sort of penalty on the creature that you gain a flanking bonus against. In that respect, it's similar to the +1 bonus you get for being on higher ground or the +2 bonus you get for charging--it's something you get, not something that the target suffers.Let's say that your party's cleric and fighter flank an orc together. When the fighter raises his longsword high overhand to slash at the orc, his cleric pal can catch on to what his fighter buddy is doing and take advantage of that--maybe he swings his morningstar at the orc's knee or abdomen when he sees the fighter going high. You're going to have an easier time hitting that orc because you can attack a weak spot while your flanking pal has the target tied up. A +2 bonus to hit is what this sort of teamwork represents.That doesn't make him any easier to hit with an arrow, however--he's not going to ignore the rogue at precisely thirty feet away just because a fighter and cleric are in his face. (Incidentally, I've also noticed that rogues that want ranged sneak attacks rarely build with Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot, but that's another can of worms entirely.) You can also try to distract the orc yourself and gain that underhanded blow, which is what a Bluff check to feint in combat is about. Even that, however, is still applicable to melee.It's a common misconception that a flanked creature can be sneak attacked by a rogue at range, but it's not the case in the rules as written.From d20pfsrd.com, although it also appears in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook...</blockquote>

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