Rogues and rolling all the dice

[Oofta]

Hold up. The assassin ability has two parts. If they act on the first turn before an enemy, they get advantage. But they only get an auto-crit if the enemy is surprised.

D'oh! You are right, brain cramp on my part. They get sneak attack but not advantage. Shows how often I've seen an assassin in play.

 

[Oofta]

As [MENTION=6683613]TheCosmicKid[/MENTION] pointed out, you only get the auto crit if the target is surprised. In my experience that doesn't happen all that often so I'm wondering if the player is thinking they always get surprise because they act first? If the target noticed anyone in the party approaching, they are not surprised.

One note on two weapon fighting, a main reason for a rogue to use their bonus action to do an off hand attack is because they missed with their primary. So if Sneaky Sam has a +3 proficiency bonus and a +5 dex modifier wielding dual short swords, they are +8 to hit with both weapons but only add the +5 to damage for their primary weapon. On the other hand if they missed with their primary they can still get sneak attack damage with their off-hand weapon.

The assassin still gets advantage on both primary and off hand attacks if they are acting before the target creature.

 

[Darren Campbell]

So a bit of an update with some more experience and I just want to make sure that the Rogue-Assassin is getting to roll all the dice, not too many and not too little. I don't want to nerf him, but I don't want to give him everything.

Does the rogue get to roll sneak attack on every round that an ally of his is within 5 feet of him

The way the book reads is that there is a combat encounter with each player having a turn in a series of rounds. The Rogue has a sword of warning, and all the dex he'll ever need and therefore will 99% of the time get the highest initiative. Ok, so he goes first but does that mean that he's getting to use his sneak attack dice every round of combat to any enemy that he hits with an ally within 5 feet?

We seem to think he does.

Then he uses the other weapon in hand as a second attack.

Thanks everyone.

 

[rgoodbb]

Does the rogue get to roll sneak attack on every round that an ally of his is within 5 feet of him

Whenever an ally of the Rogue is within 5 feet of an enemy, the Rogue gets to use sneak on that enemy if they hit.

If there are no allies next to that enemy currently, you will need some form of Advantage to get your sneak attack in.

The Assassinate feature works for that one attack only.

Often, teammates find a way to help give the Rogue advantage (Prone, Blinded etc.) It is in their interest to do so for when the Rogue's sneak attack lands ot often does some nice damage and is also a very powerful way to interrupt an enemy spellcaster's concentration.

 

[Tormyr]

So a bit of an update with some more experience and I just want to make sure that the Rogue-Assassin is getting to roll all the dice, not too many and not too little. I don't want to nerf him, but I don't want to give him everything.

Does the rogue get to roll sneak attack on every round that an ally of his is within 5 feet of him

The way the book reads is that there is a combat encounter with each player having a turn in a series of rounds. The Rogue has a sword of warning, and all the dex he'll ever need and therefore will 99% of the time get the highest initiative. Ok, so he goes first but does that mean that he's getting to use his sneak attack dice every round of combat to any enemy that he hits with an ally within 5 feet?

We seem to think he does.

Then he uses the other weapon in hand as a second attack.

Thanks everyone.

Yes, once on every turn that the rogue hits on an attack that has advantage or an ally is within 5 feet of the target. This means that an attack made with a reaction is a second opportunity to get sneak attack within a round.

 

[Blue]

Elf so no more dice please.

In game for a critical hit we ended up choosing to roll double dice. We might move to doubling the damage instead to keep the math down!

If you double the damage, you need to double just the rolled damage and then add in the static numbers. If your base damage is 3d6+4 it becomes 6d6+4, not 6d6+8.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I use Max Weapon Damage + (normal Damage roll + modifiers) for Crits.

But it goes both ways so I always have to check the players are ok with that.

So that might cut down on the amount of actual die rolling for you!

 

[aco175]

I use Max Weapon Damage + (normal Damage roll + modifiers) for Crits.

But it goes both ways so I always have to check the players are ok with that.

So that might cut down on the amount of actual die rolling for you!

I like to roll the many dice when I crit and my players do as well. When monsters crit, I just add one more damage die, even if there would be more. Most of the time a monster does 1d6+2 and it becomes 2d6+2, but of a monster normally does 2d6+2 it just deals 3d6+2.

 

[fenwig]

Assassins only get crit if they have surprise, and only get advantage during the first round of combat if they attack before the target. Just making sure your rogue isn't doing this every turn.