Subdual Sneak Attack

[whatisitgoodfor]

One of the players in a campaign I'm in right now has been debating picking up a level of rogue for her character.

So far, the character has been a Monk, but when I told her about the abuses that are possible with multiple attacks, stunning blows, and sneak attack, she decided that a level in the class would help out her concept a lot.

The question that this rises is whether or not she can use her sneak attack in "Ki Duels." These are generally set up by the DM as a tournament style competition at a monastery, but all damage dealt must be subdual.

Since the SA description says that a subdual sneak attack can not be made with a weapon that deals martial damage, not even by taking the -4 penalty, can she make a subdual unarmed strike?

I realize that the errata for the PHB clarified that monks can deal subdual damage with no penalty, but they are still trying to make a subdual attack with a weapon that deals martial damage.

 

[Christian]

Personally, I'd say yes. If I was going to make a restrictive ruling on this combo, I'd go the other way, and say that a rogue/monk can't deal normal damage with an unarmed sneak attack. After all, unarmed attacks normally do subdual damage-the monk doing normal damage this way is one of the monk's special abilities. Another character could only do normal damage unarmed by taking that -4 ...

 

[Henrix]

As the monk is able to freely choose whether to deal normal or subdual damage I cannot see why it should be any problem.

The Monk/Rogue would not be attempting to deal subdual sneak damage with a weapon that deals normal damage, but with a weapon with which he could choose to deal either at no penalty.

 

[Crothian]

As the monk is able to freely choose whether to deal normal or subdual damage I cannot see why it should be any problem.

The Monk/Rogue would not be attempting to deal subdual sneak damage with a weapon that deals normal damage, but with a weapon with which he could choose to deal either at no penalty.

I agree with Henrix. The sneak attack should me the same type of damage (subdual or lethal) as the weapon used to perform the sneak attack.