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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 4171985" data-attributes="member: 1645">There are a few important distinctions wrapped up in that.For instance, we want a rogue to need a level mismatch to one-shot a guard in D&D, because of the nature of hit points: if you have a  50-50 chance to one-shot someone, you're virtually guaranteed to two-shot him.  Being able to one-shot someone in D&D means vastly overpowering him.Also, surprising someone, especially at higher levels, where the disparity between the rogue's sneaking skills and the fighter's noticing skills has grown, isn't particularly difficult, so it's overpowering to give the rogue too much of a bonus for achieving surprise.But we can design the game to work more sensibly from a simulationist point of view and just as well, or better, from a gamist point of view.Obviously the rogue's sneak attack can work just like the assassin's death attack, which goes against a Fort save.  That way, the attack can have a good chance to one-shot a challenging foe -- and a good chance to do very little at all.Or, if we don't like bypassing hit points, we can have the sneak attack do much more damage, but only if that extra damage is enough to one-shot a foe.Also, we can add extra stealth-based requirements to the sneak attack.  The assassin's death attack requires three rounds of studying the foe.  That can work.  Or we can require an additional set of hide and move silently rolls to qualify for a death attack.So there are ways to boost the rogue's chance of one-shotting a foe without making the rogue more powerful overall.</blockquote>

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