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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 7569128" data-attributes="member: 6777737">Now, wait a minute.Assassinate only crits if the target is surprised, and surprise something the DM determines on an encounter-by-encounter basis. The target isn't automatically surprised just because they haven't acted yet; that only grants advantage and it only grants advantage to the Assassin. In that case, the Rogue should have less than a 10% chance of a crit even when rolling with advantage. The surprise-for-automatic-critical aspect of Assassinate comes up very rarely because surprise is relatively rare. You can only get the full benefits of assassinate if you've surprised the target and you act before the target (since surprise expires at the end of the target's first turn).<a href="https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf" target="_blank">Here's how Jeremy Crawford explained surprise</a> (p9):That means when the Assassin beats an NPC's initiative and they're surprised, this is what happens:Round 1: The target is surprised (critical hit) and has not taken a turn (advantage)Round 2: The target is no longer surprised (no crit) and has not taken a turn (advantage)Round 3: The target is no longer surprised (no crit) and has taken a turn (no advantage)When the Assassin does not beat an NPC's initiative and they're surprised, this is what happens:Round 1: The target is no longer surprised (no crit) and has not taken a turn (advantage)Round 2: The target is no longer surprised (no crit) and has taken a turn (no advantage)Given that your Assassin only has +3 to Initiative at best (unless they took the Alert feat at level 4), I do not see how they're winning initiative so often.Furthermore the PHB says this about Surprise:So the question is: Exactly how good is your party at rolling for Stealth? Generally, if they hear anybody coming then the answer to the question, "are the NPCs surprised?" is, "no." If you've got a light source, that's also a pretty big giveaway. If you haven't got a light source, then you're all at disadvantage to Perception checks even if you have darkvision and you're probably not going to detect anybody hiding at all. You're going to be the party that's surprised.Secondly, how is the Assassin moving so quickly in the first round of every combat? Remember, both Cunning Action Dash and attacking with an off-hand weapon require a bonus action. Are you telling me that every encounter begins within 30 feet?If every encounter begins with the NPCs surprised, and every encounter begins with the opponents within 30 feet, it's no wonder that the Assassin seems overpowered!</blockquote>

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