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Surprise and Sneak Attack
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<blockquote data-quote="giore" data-source="post: 8472915" data-attributes="member: 7033411"><p>That makes a lot of sense. </p><p></p><p>I just recently found out we were playing it all wrong.... Well at least not how we were "supposed" to.</p><p>We all come from 3.5 and we all took for granted that surpise meant "surprise rounds". It is functionally pretty much the same thing, a mechanic that rewards forward planning with free actions, but it's much simpler and more intuitive.</p><p>It took me a lot to understand why we were wrong, because the 5e assassin actually worked pretty well with the old surprise round!</p><p>Even the wording seemed to refer to the old ruling.</p><p>Still the class it's not perfect by any means and perhaps it's still a bit underpowered, but it allows you to do what the class was conceived to do: evil scheming for happy brutal murder.</p><p></p><p>It's a simple gimmick, but it's one of the reasons i fell in love with dnd. </p><p>I think this is what rules and mechanics should strive to do: encourage players to solve in game problems through their narrative skills.</p><p></p><p>This is also why i kind of care about the assassin and how to fix it, it's a prime example of how well thought rules can force you into deeper immersion</p><p></p><p>Ok, nerdy example no one asked for: </p><p>Some time ago I rolled an assassin shadow sorcerer, which on paper should have been severely lacking and also prone to be a cringey edge lord (or edge lady, in this case), but it actually came out as a fun, supportive and surprisingly reliable character. She's a "living plot device": she can dish out a ridiculous amount of punishment, but she needs to cooperate with the rest the party and work with them to set up the deadliest trap possible. On her own, she's fun to play, but not particularly powerful (and also pretty dumb). </p><p>The other players love her thematically, and actively build strategies requiring her assassination skills.</p><p>We even set a "combat password": when someone says the magic word, the assassin will drop her silly girly disguise and immediately alpha strike the closest enemy caster.</p><p></p><p>We're having fun together, and part of it comes from seeing the rules as a tool to enhance our collective narration</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="giore, post: 8472915, member: 7033411"] That makes a lot of sense. I just recently found out we were playing it all wrong.... Well at least not how we were "supposed" to. We all come from 3.5 and we all took for granted that surpise meant "surprise rounds". It is functionally pretty much the same thing, a mechanic that rewards forward planning with free actions, but it's much simpler and more intuitive. It took me a lot to understand why we were wrong, because the 5e assassin actually worked pretty well with the old surprise round! Even the wording seemed to refer to the old ruling. Still the class it's not perfect by any means and perhaps it's still a bit underpowered, but it allows you to do what the class was conceived to do: evil scheming for happy brutal murder. It's a simple gimmick, but it's one of the reasons i fell in love with dnd. I think this is what rules and mechanics should strive to do: encourage players to solve in game problems through their narrative skills. This is also why i kind of care about the assassin and how to fix it, it's a prime example of how well thought rules can force you into deeper immersion Ok, nerdy example no one asked for: Some time ago I rolled an assassin shadow sorcerer, which on paper should have been severely lacking and also prone to be a cringey edge lord (or edge lady, in this case), but it actually came out as a fun, supportive and surprisingly reliable character. She's a "living plot device": she can dish out a ridiculous amount of punishment, but she needs to cooperate with the rest the party and work with them to set up the deadliest trap possible. On her own, she's fun to play, but not particularly powerful (and also pretty dumb). The other players love her thematically, and actively build strategies requiring her assassination skills. We even set a "combat password": when someone says the magic word, the assassin will drop her silly girly disguise and immediately alpha strike the closest enemy caster. We're having fun together, and part of it comes from seeing the rules as a tool to enhance our collective narration [/QUOTE]
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