Rogues - Advantage - Sneak Attack damage
- Thread starter Zinnger
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Zinnger
Explorer
Do Rogues get Sneak Attack damage with ANY attack that offers advantage? 5e book reads, "Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll" I don't see where it states that you have to have surprise in order for a Rogue to deal Sneak Attack damage. In fact, it states that you can get Sneak Attack damage with an ally 5' from the same target. So... does a Rogue need surprise or does ANY attack with advantage provide Sneak Attack damage? Consider this - An Arcane Trickster Rogue with the cantrip True Shot casts the cantrip and then attacks with both Advantage and Sneak Attack damage on the following round. You are sure to hit with Advantage and depending on your level, likely to do more Sneak Attack damage than you would normally do in a regular round of combat. How does this work?
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Rune
Once A Fool
Three things:
First, this type of post should be in the 5e forum. It sees more traffic than this forum and that traffic is actually looking for 5e related discussions. This forum, on the other hand, is for discussing/asking about the forums.
Second, the rogue sneak attack once per turn (not round!) if it has advantage OR one of its allies is next to the target. It is really quite versatile. True Strike really isn't the most efficient way to get sneak attack. It could work in a pinch, though.
Third, welcome to EN World!
First, this type of post should be in the 5e forum. It sees more traffic than this forum and that traffic is actually looking for 5e related discussions. This forum, on the other hand, is for discussing/asking about the forums.
Second, the rogue sneak attack once per turn (not round!) if it has advantage OR one of its allies is next to the target. It is really quite versatile. True Strike really isn't the most efficient way to get sneak attack. It could work in a pinch, though.
Third, welcome to EN World!
Gecko85
Explorer
As Rune said, if you have advantage or an ally is next to the target. One minor thing, though, is it's technically not ANY attack: "The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon." But, since that covers the majority of weapons a rogue might be using for sneak attack, it's not going to be an issue very often.
There is nothing "sneaky" about sneak attack, it is just extra damage most of the time the rogue attacks. I think everything has been covered but just to clarify.
1. You need to be using a weapon with the finesse quality or it has to be a ranged weapon.
2. You need to either have advantage on the attack or have an ally within 5' of the target and not have disadvantage on the attack.
3. The extra damage can only be applied once per turn, not once per round. So if an enemy provokes an attack of opportunity from you on it's turn and you still have the conditions that allow sneak attack you get it on the attack of opportunity.
It is pretty easy to get sneak attack every round. If you are using ranged weapon just shoot at the target next to an ally, like the guy the party fighter is smacking around. At second level you have cunning action so each round you can either move up to melee, attack the a target adjacent to an ally, then bonus action disengage or if at range use your bonus action to hide then immediately attack right afterward on your same turn, since attacking from a hidden position gives you advantage on the attack.
It is almost never worth it to waste a round casting True Strike, since you should be getting sneak attack each round anyway.
Fun Fact: Siege Weapons are "ranged weapons" so just like in the movie The Gamers - you can backstab with a ballista.
1. You need to be using a weapon with the finesse quality or it has to be a ranged weapon.
2. You need to either have advantage on the attack or have an ally within 5' of the target and not have disadvantage on the attack.
3. The extra damage can only be applied once per turn, not once per round. So if an enemy provokes an attack of opportunity from you on it's turn and you still have the conditions that allow sneak attack you get it on the attack of opportunity.
It is pretty easy to get sneak attack every round. If you are using ranged weapon just shoot at the target next to an ally, like the guy the party fighter is smacking around. At second level you have cunning action so each round you can either move up to melee, attack the a target adjacent to an ally, then bonus action disengage or if at range use your bonus action to hide then immediately attack right afterward on your same turn, since attacking from a hidden position gives you advantage on the attack.
It is almost never worth it to waste a round casting True Strike, since you should be getting sneak attack each round anyway.
Fun Fact: Siege Weapons are "ranged weapons" so just like in the movie The Gamers - you can backstab with a ballista.
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Also, that's not a bad or unintended thing. Rogues are supposed to deal sneak attack damage each turn. It's their mechanic for dealing extra damage. Fighters get extra attacks, paladins get some extra attacks + smite and stuff, monks get extra attacks and deal more damage with martial arts attacks, and rogues get increasingly nasty sneak attacks.
BoldItalic
First Post
To confirm - Sneak Attack is not related to surprise.
The factors that determine whether or not Sneak Attack applies are still exactly the same, regardless of whether surprise occurs or not. Even if the target is surprised, that doesn't in itself give the rogue advantage on the attack (just the opportunity to attack first, whatever the initiative). There are various ways to gain advantage to get the Sneak Attack bonus, but surprise is not one of them.
The factors that determine whether or not Sneak Attack applies are still exactly the same, regardless of whether surprise occurs or not. Even if the target is surprised, that doesn't in itself give the rogue advantage on the attack (just the opportunity to attack first, whatever the initiative). There are various ways to gain advantage to get the Sneak Attack bonus, but surprise is not one of them.
Surprise helps with gaining Advantage and Rogue Assassin getting Critical hits
I don't think the "backstab with a ballista" works; Ballista takes more than one person operate, it is "Large Object" and does not move to well to boot
Ballistae could be easily modified to shoot both spherical and shaft projectiles, allowing their crews to adapt easily to prevailing battlefield situations in real time.
Nothing in RAW and does not fit the RACS, "Rules As Common Sense"
I don't think the "backstab with a ballista" works; Ballista takes more than one person operate, it is "Large Object" and does not move to well to boot
Ballistae could be easily modified to shoot both spherical and shaft projectiles, allowing their crews to adapt easily to prevailing battlefield situations in real time.
Nothing in RAW and does not fit the RACS, "Rules As Common Sense"
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