Sneak Attack / Precise Strike

[Davelozzi]

I have a player in my campaign who will be playing a swashbuckler Ftr/Rog. I was thinking of letting her have the precise strike ability from the Sword & Fist Duelist PrC instead of sneak attack, since she's not really a sneaky type. Do you think that this would be a balanced trade?

For those who aren't familiar, basically, the extra damage is the same (1d6) but instead of being usable only against flat footed or flanked opponents, it can be used at any time, but requires that the chracter does not weild anything in her off-hand. For a swashbuckler type, whose fighting style is two weapon (has ambidexterity and either has or will soon take two weapon fighting) this seems like a significant enough drawback to balance the more frequent usage. Opinions?

A few other things to note...the player isn't asking for this, it's just something that seemd like a good idea to me. Also, the player may opt to take the Duelist PrC later anyway. I figured I'd just let the ability stack when she earns it there. At any rate, the campaign is unlikely to last long enough that she gets very many levels of Duelist so it probably wouldn't get out of hand.

 

[CRGreathouse]

No, just let the player wait for the Duellist class. Precise strike is better than sneak attack.

 

[SnowDog]

Also, realize that sneak attack doesn't necessarily mean sneaky -- it just means striking at the right time to hit a little harder.

Flanking, for example, leads to sneak attack. A bluff can lead to a sneak attack. A flatfooted/surprised opponent can be sneak-attacked.

You don't have to be sneaky to use this.

I would be very wary of giving the precise strike instead of sneak attack. I would just package sneak attack differently -- have the player play it out almost like precise strike -- "When your opponent is distracted, it's easy to strike at the right spot." etc....

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

I wouldn't advise it.

If you decide to go ahead anyway, be sure not to translate every sneak attack bonus dice into a precise strike bonus dice on a 1/1 ratio.

1/3 is more like it. A first precise strike at 5th level, another at 11th and a last one at 17th.

And don't get fooled into accepting the duelist PrC once you do this.

 

[Davelozzi]

Okay, thanks for the feedback, I'll have to rethink that one.