D&D 5E Making Sneak Attack allow more weapons

[jgsugden]

As rogues are underpowered and sneak attack grows incrementally with rogue levels, I don't think you'll break anything by allowing any weapon to be used for a sneak attack in the house rules. If you play a rogue in a game I run, you're likely to find a rapier that does +d6 elemental damage pretty early on....

 

[aco175]

I tend to have thieves with daggers which deal 1d4 and this rule would change it to 1d6, which is not really anything. I like the rule option mostly since I feel the rapier pushes the finesse thing. I'm not sure if I would be good with any weapon being finesse as well, but I like the idea for a strength rogue who may want a warhammer and then backstab for 1d6.

I do find that the rogue looks for opportunity to use backstab each round so I'm not sure how much the regular weapon damage would be used over the d6 when backstabing. For flavor this would be great. I once made a magical weapon give finesse property so the dwarf could use a hand ax with backstab.

 

[the Jester]

Are you trying to fix a problem that you perceive? What's the reasoning behind this change? Is this just a change for the sake of change? For what it's worth, I think the answer to "Is this a good idea" really depends on what the reason behind it is. Also, I think that the idea that rogues are underpowered is suspect, to say the least.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Here is the "rogue" portion of the house-rules we use at our table in case you want some more ideas for rogues:

 

[Gladius Legis]

I'd at the very least expand the allowed weapons to light, to allow for Sneak Attacks with clubs and handaxes and such.

(Also to buff the Assassin specifically, I'd allow that subclass to Sneak Attack with any weapon, period, and give that subclass proficiency with all weapons, making for a throwback to the 1e Assassin and giving the 5e version a bit of a neat boost.)

 

[DND_Reborn]

I'd at the very least expand the allowed weapons to light, to allow for Sneak Attacks with clubs and handaxes and such.

(Also to buff the Assassin specifically, I'd allow that subclass to Sneak Attack with any weapon, period, and give that subclass proficiency with all weapons, making for a throwback to the 1e Assassin and giving the 5e version a bit of a neat boost.)

Oh, I like the Assassin getting martial weapons! I might have to add that to the house-rules.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think light weapons would be ok but I would be against doing it with others. GWM+sneak attack would break things pretty quickly. You could sneak attack with reach and +10 damage and then move away without needing to disengage.

Taking the -5 attack +10 damage is actually going to hurt your average damage output with sneak attack more often than not. And unless you also have Polearm Master for the bonus action attack, Sneak Attacking with a reach weapon is no better than doing it with a heavy crossbow. With PAM it’d be pretty strong. Probably a little better than crossbow master in terms of average damage, at the cost of 20 ft. of range. Seems pretty fair to me TBH.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Should Rogues be allowed to use weapons that are not limited to fineness or ranged? If so how would it be worded so nothing breaks?
Sneak Attack
When you use Sneak Attack the damage die of the weapon is replaced with a d6. The weapon can’t be wielded in two hands or have the two handed property unless they are a ranged weapon.

I removed the Finesse weapon restriction for Sneak Attack completely. Rogues can fight dirty with any weapon with which they are proficient.

It hasn't broken anything.

 

[TrueBagelMan]

I removed the Finesse weapon restriction for Sneak Attack completely. Rogues can fight dirty with any weapon with which they are proficient.

It hasn't broken anything.

So no one has gone with Halberd, Pollarm Master, Great Weapon Master, with a dip into fighter for great weapon fighting? You now have two attacks -5 to hit +10 to damage and you reroll 1s and 2s for the sneak attack dice. Variant Human allows this at 5th level.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The main reason for the weapon restrictions is it is a holdover from 1st and 2nd edition, where sneak attack was multiplicative - X2, X3, X4 rather than additive, so the best sneak attack weapon would have been a 2H sword if the rules didn't expressly prevent it.

See Staff of Striking in Baldur's Gate.