Sneak Attack as a Feat

[Ruvion]

I've always liked Lost Soul's sneak attack feats (I think it was from a classless system he was trying to build by turning all class abilities to feats if I'm not mistaken)....

Here's some changes I've made on them:

Surprise Attack I [General, Regional]: You are the skilled at taking advantage of flatfooted opponents during an ambush.
Benefit: When wearing light armor or no armor, you can make a melee sneak attack at +1d6 damage against flatfooted foes during a surprise round.
Special: As sneak attacks aim for critical areas, creatures that are immune to critical hits are immune to sneak attack. Rangers can take this feat at level 1 and higher.
Prerequisites: DEX 13+, WIS 13+, Search +4, Spot +4, Proficient with light armors.

Surprise Attack II [General, Regional]: You are the skilled at taking advantage of flatfooted opponents.
Benefit: When wearing light armor or no armor, you can make melee sneak attacks at +2d6 damage against flatfooted foes.
Prerequisites: DEX 14+, WIS 14+, Search +6, Spot +6, Surprise Attack I.

Surprise Attack III [General, Regional]: You are the skilled at taking advantage of flatfooted opponents.
Benefit: When wearing light armor or no armor, you can make sneak attacks at +3d6 damage against flatfooted foes (within 30’).
Prerequisites: DEX 14+, WIS 14+, Search +8, Spot +8, Surprise Attack II.

Surprise Attack IV [General, Regional]: You are the skilled at delivering devastating attacks when opponents show weaknesses.
Benefit: When wearing light armor or no armor, you can make sneak attacks at +4d6 damage against flatfooted foes and foes that you are flanking.
Prerequisites: DEX 15+, WIS 15+, Search +10, Spot +10, Surprise Attack III.

Surprise Attack V [General, Regional]: You are the skilled at delivering devastating attacks when opponents show weaknesses.
Benefit: When wearing light armor or no armor, you can make sneak attacks at +5d6 damage against flatfooted foes and foes that you are flanking.
Prerequisites: DEX 15+, WIS 15+, Search +12, Spot +12, Surprise Attack IV.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Taken (I think) from the Netbook of Feats:Not perfect, but the best one I've seen yet, including from this post's offerings...

Um. This feat doesn't address the problem - the character still needs the Sneak Attack ability first. The task is to find a (still potential) feat that allows non-rogues to perform carefully placed "called shots" (see my earlier posts), without having to take rogue levels.

Ruvion: I like the light armor limitation and requirement. It makes the feat much harder to take for sorcerors and wizards. Which is probably a good thing. It still leaves clerics relatively easy access to the feat, but I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. (Correction, it's a minor bad, but I don't know how I'd fix it.) It does get me to thinking about how it effects each of the core classes, however.

		@ Spot +4	@Spot +3	@ Spot +3 w/armor
Class		1st Acq   Max	1st Acq   Max	1st Acq   Max
Barbarian	6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Bard		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Cleric		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Druid		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Fighter		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Monk		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Paladin		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Ranger		1st       +4d6	1st       +7d6	1st       +7d6
Rogue		1st      +13d6	1st      +13d6	1st      +13d6
Sorceror	6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Wizard		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
***
Adept		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6
Aristocrat	1st       +4d6	1st       +7d6	1st       +7d6
Commoner	1st       +4d6	1st       +7d6	3rd       +6d6
Expert		1st       +4d6	1st       +7d6	1st       +7d6
Warrior		6th       +2d6	6th       +3d6	6th       +3d6

Hunh. That was a bit of a surprise; except for the commoner, the armor requirement makes no difference at all. It also hadn't hit me how late the other classes got it.

Practically, the ranger gets a noticeable increase in power (as do the commoner and expert), the rogue gets a slight increase in power, and the rest of the classes to not gain appreciably.

I think I see why it's limited to rogues only.

 

[hammymchamham]

There is already a feat that gives you +1d6 to sneak attack. Granted its an Epic feat with a prereq of sneak attack 8d6

 

[GuardianLurker]

There is already a feat that gives you +1d6 to sneak attack. Granted its an Epic feat with a prereq of sneak attack 8d6

Refer to my reply to IndyPendant.

Actually, I guess it doesn't matter - this discussion has convinced me that there is no worthwhile mechanic for adapting sneak attack for use by other classes.

The closest I've been able to come is at Spot +2 increments, which raises non-rogue cross-class to +5d6 max (at 20th), but keeps the others the same as at Spot +3. It's not a bad balance, but mainly it increases the power of *all* the classes; I was hoping to find one that did so much less dramatically. The choices however, seem to be between letting non-rogues be just as good as rogues in one of their prime specialties, increasing the power of all classes dramatically, or increasing the power of rogues with a barely worthwhile increase in the power of the others.

For what it's worth, to those who are interested, I offer the final version of the two feats, even though I won't use them myself.


Sneak Attack [General]
Prerequisites : Weapon Focus, Spot 2 ranks
Benefit :
Any time the target would be denied their Dexterity bonus to AC, or when the character is flanking the target, the character's melee attack deals an extra 1d6 damage. Only living creatures with a discernible anatomy can be sneak attacked. Creatures that are immune to criticals are also not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The character cannot sneak attack targets with concealment, or whose vital areas are out of reach.
Special :
This feat can be taken multiple times. Each time it is taken, the extra damage increases by 1d6, and the Spot requirement increases by 2, and this feat may only be taken once per level. All classes with the sneak attack class ability gain this feat as a bonus feat instead at the same rate. When taken as a bonus feat, the requirements are waived. For example, rogues gain this feat for free at first level and every two levels thereafter, regardless of whether they meet the requirements or not.

Ranged Sneak Attack (General)
Prerequisites : Sneak Attack
Benefit :
The character can use ranged weapons to make sneak attacks out to a range of 30 feet.
Normal :
Sneak attacks are melee only.
Special :
All classes with the sneak attack class ability gain this feat as a bonus feat the first time they would acquire the sneak attack feat as a bonus. For example, rogues gain this feat for free at first level.