What kind of spells, if any, may be used in sneak attacks?

[Pielorinho]

Makes sense; thanks!
Daniel

 

[Jack Haggerty]

There is one other important moderator to sneak attacking with spells that everyone is forgetting about... SPELLS PER DAY.

Let's say I'm a 19th level Rogue to maximize my sneak attack. Now I take 1 level of either Wizard or Sorcerer to get Ray of Frost.

As a 1st level Wizard, I'd get all of 4 Rays of Frost each day, 5 if I'm a Conjurer specialist. Sorcerers get 5. That's it. And you don't get bonus 0-level spells from high ability scores.

Now, let's say I was a Rogue/Wizard, and I wanted to get some higher level spells to use sneak attack with. As a Wizard, it takes two wizard levels to be able to cast a new level of spells (it's worse for Sorcerers). As a Rogue, it takes two levels to gain +1d6 Sneak Attack damage.

So, for every level of spell you want to be able to cast, you have to sacrifice 1d6 sneak attack damage.

You can cast Cantrips with 10d6 sneak attack, or 5th level spells with 5d6 sneak attack, or one 9th level spell with 2d6 sneak attack.

The only real exception to this is the Arcane Trickster, which gains full spell levels and full sneak attack progression.

Why not just get a Brilliant Energy weapon and sneak Attack endlessly with that? It will avoid the armor just as easily as any touch attack.

 

[jontherev]

There is one other important moderator to sneak attacking with spells that everyone is forgetting about... SPELLS PER DAY.

Let's say I'm a 19th level Rogue to maximize my sneak attack. Now I take 1 level of either Wizard or Sorcerer to get Ray of Frost.

As a 1st level Wizard, I'd get all of 4 Rays of Frost each day, 5 if I'm a Conjurer specialist. Sorcerers get 5. That's it. And you don't get bonus 0-level spells from high ability scores.

Now, let's say I was a Rogue/Wizard, and I wanted to get some higher level spells to use sneak attack with. As a Wizard, it takes two wizard levels to be able to cast a new level of spells (it's worse for Sorcerers). As a Rogue, it takes two levels to gain +1d6 Sneak Attack damage.

So, for every level of spell you want to be able to cast, you have to sacrifice 1d6 sneak attack damage.

You can cast Cantrips with 10d6 sneak attack, or 5th level spells with 5d6 sneak attack, or one 9th level spell with 2d6 sneak attack.

The only real exception to this is the Arcane Trickster, which gains full spell levels and full sneak attack progression.

Why not just get a Brilliant Energy weapon and sneak Attack endlessly with that? It will avoid the armor just as easily as any touch attack.

Yes, but with that 1 level of wizard comes the Scribe Scroll feat. And wands of a 0 level spell are really cheap. I don't think this issue has been raised because it is actually a non-issue as long as you have time to scribe extra scrolls. Now, once that wand is gone and the scrolls too, then all you have left is your spells per day. Personally, I spend my time scribing a bunch of Shield scrolls and other utility spells that I don't normally memorize like Knock, etc., rather than Ray of Frost. But my rogue is a melee type, so YMMV.

 

[mzsylver]

Why not just get a Brilliant Energy weapon and sneak Attack endlessly with that? It will avoid the armor just as easily as any touch attack.

Brilliant Energy is a wonderful tasty thing... but it doesnt ignore that silly Natural Armor (damn dragons).

that is why Touch rules all