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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 7569404" data-attributes="member: 907">I think you are over-interpreting the Assassinate feature. Here's what the PHB says: &quot;You have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn’t taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit you score against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit.&quot;In most cases, Assassinate only gives you advantage on the attack roll, which means you get to sneak attack even if your buddies haven't gotten to the target yet. The automatic crit is only against creatures that are surprised. In my experience, surprise is fairly rare, especially when you're moving with a party full of people who are not as stealthy as you. Basically, in order to get the auto-crit you'd have to:1. Sneak ahead of the party.2. Avoid detection by the target (Stealth vs Passive Perception, which usually isn't a problem for a stealthy character).3. Beat the target on initiative (because surprise in 5e works by eating your first action - essentially, the surprised character's action in round 1 is &quot;stop being surprised&quot;).That's fairly rare.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 7569404, member: 907"] I think you are over-interpreting the Assassinate feature. Here's what the PHB says: "You have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn’t taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit you score against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit." In most cases, Assassinate only gives you advantage on the attack roll, which means you get to sneak attack even if your buddies haven't gotten to the target yet. The automatic crit is only against creatures that are [B]surprised[/B]. In my experience, surprise is fairly rare, especially when you're moving with a party full of people who are not as stealthy as you. Basically, in order to get the auto-crit you'd have to: 1. Sneak ahead of the party. 2. Avoid detection by the target (Stealth vs Passive Perception, which usually isn't a problem for a stealthy character). 3. Beat the target on initiative (because surprise in 5e works by eating your first action - essentially, the surprised character's action in round 1 is "stop being surprised"). That's fairly rare. [/QUOTE]

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