Magical sneak attack damage

[Rallets Artois]

Ok in 3.0 assume that you are flanking etc, your foe is denied dex.

when I use a wand and hit with a ray i get my sneak attack damage of the same type as the wand damage.

What about touch attacks and ability damage? is there a spell that would give em the ability to do ability damage to a foe and will the sneak attack damage apply Ie draining strength like my shadow. can I apply my sneak attack damage to the str loss?

 

[angry monkey]

sneak attack damage can't be turned into str loss, and you can't flank with a ranged attack (wand)

 

[likuidice]

ok, sneak attacks work with any attack form that uses an attack roll and causes hit point damage, and the damage dealt is the same type as the spell or attack that caused it (sneak attack with a meteor swarm=fire damage). the only ability I am aware of that adds ability damage to a sneak attack is the rogue ability "crippling strike". a spell such as chill touch which has an additional effect on top of its damage has its hit point damage increased, but not the str drain, etc.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Actually, Sneak Attacks work on anything that uses a to hit roll. Hit point damage isn't necessary.

For instance, one could make a Sneak Attack with a Ray of Enfeeblement - Strength Penalty + Additional damage. As stated above, the SA damage is always of the same type as the initial attack. In this case, the Ray would apply a Strength penalty to your opponent and then do Negative Energy damage in the amount of your SA (similar to an additional touch with an Inflict Light Wounds spell).

EDIT: I may be wrong about RoE being SA-able but, as stated below, you need not do HP damage to qualify for a SA.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

ok, sneak attacks work with any attack form that uses an attack roll and causes hit point damage.

I believe this is incorrect. Sneak attacks require an attack that does damage, not (specifically) an attack that does hit point damage. In 3.0, subdual damage, ability damage, and negative levels are all defined as being damage.

Sneak attacks do subdual damage when the attack itself does so because that's part of the definition of the ability. Otherwise, they do hit point damage implicitly. So if, for example, a shadow were to have the sneak attack ability, it would do Str damage as normal, but its sneak attack would still be(negative energy) hit point damage.

 

[mikebr99]

From RotG - Sneak attacks

Spells as Sneak Attacks

Any spell that requires an attack roll and deals damage can be used in a sneak attack. In this case "damage" is normal damage, nonlethal damage, ability damage, or energy drain. You can sneak attack with a Melf's acid arrow spell, but not with a magic missile spell.
​

Ranged spells are effective as sneak attacks only at ranges of 30 feet or less (just like any other ranged sneak attack).
​

A successful sneak attack with a weaponlike spell inflicts extra damage according to the attacker's sneak attack ability, and the extra damage dealt is the same type as the spell deals. For example, a 10th-level rogue who makes a successful sneak attack with a Melf's acid arrow spell inflicts 2d4 points of acid damage, plus an extra 5d6 points of acid damage from the sneak attack (note that continuing damage from this spell is not part of the sneak attack). Spells that inflict energy drains or ability damage deal extra negative energy damage in a sneak attack, not extra negative levels or ability damage. For example, a 10th-level rogue who makes a successful sneak attack with an enervation spell deals 1d4 negative levels plus an extra 5d6 points of negative energy damage.
​

If the sneak attack with a weaponlike spell results in a critical hit, the damage from the spell is doubled but the extra sneak attack damage is not doubled (as with any sneak attack).
​

With spell effects that allow you to make multiple attack rolls, such as the energy orb spells or the Split Ray feat from Tome and Blood, you must treat the effect like a volley -- only the first attack can be a sneak attack.
​

​

Mike
​

 

[Hypersmurf]

EDIT: I may be wrong about RoE being SA-able...

Yeah, you are - a penalty is not damage (In fact, Ray of Enfeeblement was the example used in Tome and Blood of "not a weaponlike spell".)

-Hyp.

 

[UltimaGabe]

(sneak attack with a meteor swarm=fire damage).

Actually, in 3.5, a Meteor Swarm used to Sneak Attack would cause Bludgeoning damage, not Fire damage. The 3.5 Meteor Swarm allows a tough attack roll to cause 2d6 bludgeoning damage- if the attack succeeds, the target gets no save against the 6d6 Fire damage. Thus, the attack itself is doing Bludgeoning, with the added effect of Fire damage to all in a 20-foot radius.

Also, just to clarify, although a single casting of Meteor Swarm shoots out four missiles (each dealing 2d6 Bludgeoning and 6d6 fire), a DM could easily say that only one is precise enough to deal Sneak Attack damage (similar to Manyshot), although one piece of evidence against this is that it allows the caster to target more than one creature. If a DM rules that a Scorching Ray can only sneak attack once, then the same would apply to Meteor Swarm.

Just thought I'd nitpick.

 

[Hypersmurf]

... although one piece of evidence against this is that it allows the caster to target more than one creature.

I'd need to check Tome and Blood, but didn't it suggest that multiple-target volley attacks (like the Orb spells) could still only apply precision damage to a single element of the volley?

So even if you split your Meteor Swarm at four different targets, you can only sneak attack one of them?

-Hyp.

 

[Darklone]

... as long as you don't have Greater Manyshot, perhaps ? Yeahyeah, that would be a funny houserule with total power for ATs