D&D 3E/3.5 Raw 3.5 sneak attack

[Michael Silverbane]

He can't sneak attack because essentially he's been caught and his position is pinpointed.

This...

In the OP case, the rogue is entering the domain of the rat... who pinpoints him, ruining the sneak attack.

And this... are incorrect. Even though the rat can pinpoint the rogue's location, the rat cannot see the rogue, who still has concealment due to the darkness. The rogue may still sneak attack the rat.

 

[pawsplay]

Unless the rat has Blind-Fight, and hence can retain its Dex versus an invisible opponent, rat be sneak attacked.

 

[Vegepygmy]

So the word "pinpoint" is the thing here.

Pinpointing really has nothing to do with sneak attacks. As has already been stated, "pinpointing" an enemy tells you exactly which square he is in. It does nothing to negate his total concealment (i.e., invisibility), which is what denies the target its Dexterity bonus to AC, which is what enables sneak attacks.

The rat is hosed.

 

[Dandu]

Unless the rat can smell well enough to avoid the rogue's rapier thrusts, of course.

 

[Dross]

Pinpointing really has nothing to do with sneak attacks. As has already been stated, "pinpointing" an enemy tells you exactly which square he is in. It does nothing to negate his total concealment (i.e., invisibility), which is what denies the target its Dexterity bonus to AC, which is what enables sneak attacks.

Even if the rat knows/has pinpointed the square that the rogue is in there is still the miss chance due to invisibility/concealment. Your only real bonus is that you know which square to hit into.


Rules Compendium, pg 76,
last sentence under SPOT:
A Spot check that beats the DC by 20 pinpoints the invisible target’s location, but that target still benefits from total concealment.

& Harming:
If a creature tries to attack an invisible target whose location has been pinpointed, the attack resolves normally, but the invisible target benefits from total concealment. A particularly large and slow target might get a smaller or no miss chance, at the DM’s option.