Sneak Attack

[SlashRunner]

Sneak attack says that it works whenever the opponent is denied their DEX bonus to AC. Can anyone provide me with a quick list of situations in which that would occur? I don't feel like digging through all the rules, and most people here know every rule from every sourcebook like the backs of their hands.

[HunterOfJello]

This post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6893722#post6893722) on our own forums gives a list of times when you can sneak attack.



Ways to Qualify for Sneak Attack:

1) Ambush: If you ambush your enemy, you get a free Surprise Round against them. A Flat Footed enemy loses their Dex bonus until they act. Remember the the Surprise Round is only a Standard Action. So you'll need Greater Manyshot or Pounce (remember that you can still Charge if your actions are limited) to get a full attack.

2) Win Initiative: If you win Initiative, you enemy is still Flat Footed, and still denied their Dex bonus.

3) Flanking: Have someone summon a lot of weak creatures. Here's a good list of magic items to do just that.

4) More Flanking: Invest in Handle Animal. Buy a lot of dogs. They're cheap and easy to train.

5) Still More Flanking: Invest in Tumble, get behind your enemies, have your party's meatshield fight in front of them.

6) Yet More Flanking: Adaptable Flanker feat (PHBII) allows you to flank from any square. Combine with a reach weapon, and now you can stand next to or even behind a friend and still flank an enemy.

7) Tome of Battle Flanking: Island of Blades, a Shadow Hand stance allows you to flank from any square as long as you and an ally are both adjacent to the enemy. You can get this from a one level dip into Swordsage, or by taking the Martial Study -> Martial Stance feats.

8) Dear Gods, How Much Flanking Do We Need?: Obtain Familiar + Improved Familiar, if you can cast arcane spells. Now you have a full time friend to Flank with, and he can Share Spells with you (like Alter Self and Greater Invisibility).

9) Armor Lock (Complete Scoundrel): 1st level spell that works on enemies wearing armor for multiple rounds. Buy a wand.

10) Invisibility: Note that most Invisibility effects duplicate the Invisibility spell, which ends as soon as you make your first attack. So it's only useful at low levels, and for traditional scouting and ambushing tactics. The Ninja has Invisibility that lasts for 1 round, but with limited uses per day.

11) Greater Invisibility: Once your party hits level 7ish, there's really no reason someone in your group shouldn't cast this on you at the start of every combat.

12) Ring of Blinking: If you're party members are jerks and refuse to cast Greater Invisibility on you, use this item instead. Pick up the Pierce Magical Concealment feat (Complete Arcane) to ignore your own 20% miss chance.

13) Skill Tricks: Again, check out the Complete Scoundrel. Skill Tricks can be very useful.

14) Fear: If your enemy is Cowering, he loses his Dex bonus. There are a large variety of ways to get and use Fear effects, and a variety of ways to corner or immobilize him.

15) Stun: If your enemy is stunned, he loses his Dex bonus. Work with the Monk in your party, or ask the caster to use spells with this effect.

16) Blind: If your enemy is blind, he loses his Dex bonus. There are a variety of spells and alchemical items that do this, plus the Focalor (Tome of Magic) or Kas vestige (Dragon Magazine 341), the Sand Dancer feat (Sandstorm), and others.

17) Helpless: There are a variety of spells and a few effects that render your foe paralyzed or otherwise helpless. A Rogue's Coup de Grace almost never fails.

18) Hide in Plain Site: There are many ways to get this. My favorite is a dip into Warlock let's you Hide in Plain Site every round as a Swift action. This means that any enemy who fails their Spot check is denied their Dex bonus against your next attack. Not efficient if you want to make full attacks, but helpful nonetheless.

19) Grappling: An opponent who is grappled loses their Dex bonus to everyone except the grappler, another way to tag team with your party members. Or invest in Handle animal and buy mules, which are a cheap and effective Grapple partner.

20) Net, Razor Net, Lasso: Each of these is a touch attack that imposes a -4 penalty on Dex. Penalties from different sources stack. Enemies with 0 Dex count as being paralyzed. I wouldn't even bother with taking the Exotic Weapon feats, because touch attacks are easy, so the -4 penalty to hit is palatable. Though I would definitely invest in Spell Storing weapons, and find spells that deal Dex damage/penalties. Here's a list of ways to deal Dex damage.

21) Feint: This is a retarded waste of an action in most cases. But it works well at low levels if you're only making 1 attack per turn. Can be augmented to a limited degree with the Insightful Feint spell (Spell Compendium), and if you're an Invisible Blade with the Surprising Riposte feat (Drow of the Underdark) it works for a full attack.

22) Telling Blow (PHBII): When you crit, you also deal Sneak Attack. I'm not a fan of this method. It doesn't double your Sneak Attack if you flank and crit, WotC has made it clear that it just let's you qualify. So at best 30% of your attacks get Sneak Attack. There are many better uses for your feats, IMO.

23) More Tome of Battle Craziness: There are a bunch of maneuvers which render your enemy Flat Footed or otherwise deny them their Dex bonus, especially in the Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand disciplines. You can also get Sneak Attack via the Assassin's Stance, which still qualifies you for the best Sneak Attack feats (Staggering Strike, Craven, etc). So in many ways a Swordsage is a better Sneak Attacker then the Rogue. (Or you can go Rogue 1/Swordsage X or Swordsage X/Nightsong Enforcer 1 so that you can use other stances).

24) Confound the Bigfolk (Races of the Wild): It has some very specific mechanics you have to follow, but basically if you're two sizes smaller then your enemy then you can move into his square, and the next round he’s Flat Footed against you, and when other enemies attack you they have a 50% chance of hitting the enemy in your square instead of you.


I'm not aware of a list that only provides the instances when a person is denied their dex bonus to AC.

[SlashRunner]

Second question: is Sneak Attacking via a ranged weapon a viable method? I'm just building a character as a random exercise (and in case I suddenly need a character for any reason (yes, I am paranoid (am I the only one who uses nested parentheses in sentences (yes, I am aware that I have brought up this whole nested parentheses thing before on these forums)))), and I have in mind a rogue that attacks with a bow (inspired, of course, by Haley from OoTS). However, most methods of Sneak Attacking seem to involve flanking. Would there be any way to make this work? I'm totally fine if the character isn't strictly speaking a Rogue, but the two requirements are bow and Sneak Attack.

[Zaq]

Possible by the rules? Absolutely. Viable as a character? Eh, less so. You pretty much need reliable hiding (ideally HiPS) or reliable Grease (or similar) if you want to sneak attack with a bow after the first round of combat.

[gorfnab]

A Ring of Blinking would help. You would have to deal with the 20% miss chance on your attacks from the Blink spell, however the feat Pierce Magical Concealment (CArc) will negate it making it possible to sneak attack on every hit. For prestige class ideas look into Order of the Bow Initiate (the 3.0 S&F version is better than the CW version), Justice of Weald and Woe (CoR), and Peerless Archer (SM). If your DM is willing, see if you can get a pair of Sniper Goggles (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items-from-apg) from the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide.

[Person_Man]

Second question: is Sneak Attacking via a ranged weapon a viable method?

I'm with Zaq. It can be done. But it's very inefficient. You can only Sneak Attack within 30 feet, you generally need/want to burn 4+ feats to make your ranged weapon effective, and an investment in a Ring of Blinking or Wand of Swift Invisibility or whatever so that you can reliably deny your enemies Dex every round. And the net result doesn't really give you much of a benefit.