How useful do you consider sneak attack?

[dreaded_beast]

with so many different character abilities out there, how do you think sneak attack rates in comparison?

i'm sure it the useful of sneak attack may vary from campaign to campaign. i imagine a campaign focused on killing undead or constructs would render sneak attack pretty useless, unless the appropriate feats are taken.

 

[gfunk]

A rogue's bread and better is sneak attacking. However, I find it amazing that the designers of the game have gone to such lengths to render opponents immune to it. As you said, constructs and undead don't take the extra damage, nor do rogues or barbarians (unless they are very low level compared to you).

Add to this the fact that a handful of monsters have Uncanny Dodge and throw in some Fortification armor and your rogue may be SOL.

However, if you milk it properly then you can truly inflict horrific damage with sneak attacks. Rogues + Blink or Greater Invisibility are hell against living opponents b/c every attack is a sneak attack. Throw in two-weapon fighting and you have one bad-ass combat rogue.

 

[Mista Collins]

I think sneak attack is a really useful ability. I currently have a rogue focused on combat. Her top skills is dex, then strength. All the skills a took deal with combat/stealth (Tumble/jump/Climb/Balance/Hide/Move silently) and I prestiged into the Thief-Acrobat ASAP in order to get the cartwheel charge. Then I started taking levels in assassin (I talked DM into dropping the evil requirement). She is my favorite character and handles her self really well in combat.

 

[Li Shenron]

I think Sneak Attack is a real killer. Moreover, the most interesting thing of the ability is that since it works only under specific circumstances it forces a Rogue's player to play smart and try to make those circumstances happen, rather than having a constant bonus all the time.

As a DM I am very fond of undead, and I would never run a campaing without them (while for example constructs are relatively rare IMC)! Neverthless, Sneak Attack is still a fantastic ability IMHO.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Sneak attack is essential to the combat tactics of our group. We have three fighter/rogues, and they team up to flank opponents and use their sneak attack all the time.

 

[SeaWolf]

It's an awesome ability, no doubt about it. It makes the rogue have to use his head in combat, and pick his spots to get it to work. That counts for bonus

The last group that I ran used the monk and f/t pretty much as a constant tag team to make sure the f/t would get the sneak attack damage. UG-LY

 

[Creamsteak]

Rogues are awesome. Sneak attack is average at best...

 

[Gez]

Sneak attack is a must have for small combattants -- why are halflings so often rogues, in your opinion -- for it is the best way to offset puny weapons and meager Strength.

It's very useful, but there's a lot of way to disable it, the simplest being concealment.

 

[shilsen]

I think sneak attack is a very useful ability. It gives the rogue a chance to be really effective in a fight, without being able to compare with the more combat-oriented classes on a consistent basis (due to the number of ways in which sneak attack can be negated). Not too powerful, not too weak, easy to adjudicate. Where mechanics are concerned, it's an example of a very good design choice in 3e.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Sneak Attack is one of the Rogue's best abilities, and it makes the Rogue incredibly useful in both stealthy activities and team combat-- arranging flanking and such gives Rogues a natural incentive to cooperate on the battlefield.

This is one of the main reasons I encourage as many of my players as possible to take at least a couple levels of Rogue.