Can you be willingly sneak attacked?

[qwertyu63]

The title says it all. I'm working on a trick, and I need to know if someone can willingly be sneak attacked. Thank you in advance.

[awa]

I dont see why not. Not shure why they would want to but whatever.

I know by raw they could chose not to look at you and let you jab them (like avoiding a gaze http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#gazeAttacks)

[angry_bear]

Close your eyes and pretend you're not about to be shanked I guess? Sure, I don't see why not.

I'm a little curious as to why you'd want your character to get hit by a sneak attack though...

[Piggy Knowles]

Dragonfire Strike + Flame Cincture? Sneak attack yourself... with fire! And shoot it out as a swift action!

[Uncle Pine]

If you can't see someone that's attacking you, you don't get your Dex bonus to AC against him. It works for invisible enemies, and if your target close his/her eyes you can sneak attack him/her at ease.

I'd really like to know why someone should want to be sneak attacked, though. Will you submit the trick as soon as you've completed it?

[CaladanMoonblad]

so... can you fake being surprised? can you will yourself to be surprised and ignore all stimuli until the stimuli that surprises you actually takes effect?

The fight or flight response is hardwired into human beings. It is very difficult to force yourself to touch a burning stove, and keep your hand there.

Such would be the problem with allowing a sneak attack to do damage without a flanker.

If you really want to make this work, pick up leadership or hire a hireling to flank you any time you are a attacked by a rogue. That way, the rogue gets the sneak attack damage and your hireling (provided you treat him/her poorly) will really try to kill you.

[Uncle Pine]

so... can you fake being surprised? can you will yourself to be surprised and ignore all stimuli until the stimuli that surprises you actually takes effect?

If you close your eyes, you don't take sneak attack damage from a rogue because you are feigning surprise: you take the extra damage because you can't see where your enemy (or, in this case, ally) is.

[SowZ]

so... can you fake being surprised? can you will yourself to be surprised and ignore all stimuli until the stimuli that surprises you actually takes effect?

The fight or flight response is hardwired into human beings. It is very difficult to force yourself to touch a burning stove, and keep your hand there.

Such would be the problem with allowing a sneak attack to do damage without a flanker.

If you really want to make this work, pick up leadership or hire a hireling to flank you any time you are a attacked by a rogue. That way, the rogue gets the sneak attack damage and your hireling (provided you treat him/her poorly) will really try to kill you.

I still think, by RAW, closing your eyes would do the trick.

[awa]

look at the gaze rules you dont even need to close your eyes wich would leave you vulnurable to other creatures just choose not to look at the sneak attacker

[Carth]

Blindfold and earplugs should do the trick. Even if you're willing, you might still flinch as the blow approaches, so you need to mute your senses.

[Deepbluediver]

I think you can choose to remain flat-footed or just not react to a situation. Although it's never come up, I would imagine that a character who didn't attempt to defend themselves would have an effective AC of 0. (or would they be treated like an object?)

[limejuicepowder]

How about just not moving? A stunned character is susceptible to sneak attacks, yes? Closing your eyes, feigning surprise...that's ridicules. Don't move, lose your dexterity, get sneak attacked.

[The Rose Dragon]

Why am I guessing this is gonna involve cure or inflict spells healing extra due to the sneak attack?

[Kuulvheysoon]

Why am I guessing this is gonna involve cure or inflict spells healing extra due to the sneak attack?

That was my thought as well.

[Curmudgeon]

I think you can choose to remain flat-footed or just not react to a situation.
The only way you can choose to be flat-footed is if you never act in combat. So have your character just stand there after you've rolled initiative, and continually use Delay. Even speaking, which is allowed when it's not your turn, will end your flat-footed status; it's taking an action.

Note that you can't choose to be hit in D&D. Regardless of your desires, the attacker still has to overcome your AC.

[Kerilstrasz]

Well... if one of my players asked me this question i d probably go with this..

sneak attack means you caught someone offguard (deny dex to Ac) so you can deliver a "deadly blow"...
in order to willingly get snicked attacked you have to keep in mind that you have to get caught offguard... ok.. you can walk into a trap without checking, fight without pay attention to the surroundings... but there will be occasions that you cant just "remove" you Dex form AC willingly. That is called reflexes.. like when you walk down a street and a stranger turns the corner and is about to bump on to you... 80% of the times you react by instict and avoid him. So..
you can willingly get sneak attacked by willingly ignore your surrondings
you can not willingly get sneak attacked in all situations. (ruled by Dm according to situations)

[Fouredged Sword]

Sneak attack damage on a spell or effect that deals no damage doesn't happen. You cannot sneak attack with a healing spell on a living creature or sneak attack an undead creature with negative energy.

[nedz]

Eldritch Disciple: Healing Blast but the build has to be something like
Cleric 4 / Warlock 1 / Eldritch Disciple 1 / Rogue 1

[qwertyu63]

Why am I guessing this is gonna involve cure or inflict spells healing extra due to the sneak attack?

...you are guessing that because it is right. :smallsmile:

[SiuiS]

Yes.

You can also coup de grace yourself.


so... can you fake being surprised? can you will yourself to be surprised and ignore all stimuli until the stimuli that surprises you actually takes effect?

The fight or flight response is hardwired into human beings. It is very difficult to force yourself to touch a burning stove, and keep your hand there.

Fight or flight doesn't matter. You can voluntarily stand in dragon fire, voluntarily suppress immune function, dnd voluntarily shut off reflex from the spinal cord (fail a ref/fort/will save).


I think you can choose to remain flat-footed or just not react to a situation. Although it's never come up, I would imagine that a character who didn't attempt to defend themselves would have an effective AC of 0. (or would they be treated like an object?)

You can stand still and be no reactive enough to consider yourself helpless, an also immobile. You can do an automatic success on the attack.

[nedz]

...you are guessing that because it is right. :smallsmile:

You can't do it with the Cure X spells because they don't do damage, unless you're undead, but Healing Blast converts Eldritch Blast damage to curing — so it might work.

[The Glyphstone]

...you are guessing that because it is right. :smallsmile:


Would this even work? Sneak Attack adds damage of the same type as the spell. Undead specifically heal from negative energy and take damage from positive energy regardless of its source, but is 'positive energy damage' even a thing, and would it cause healing to a living creature?


...you are guessing that because it is right.
You can't do it with the Cure X spells because they don't do damage, unless you're undead, but Healing Blast converts Eldritch Blast damage to curing — so it might work.

Also this.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Hmmm... and here I was assuming some strange mixture of Duskblade and Archivist.

...Actually, would that even work? Hunter's eye for the SA, then channel a cure spell?

[Emmerask]

You can stand still and be no reactive enough to consider yourself helpless, an also immobile. You can do an automatic success on the attack.

Hm I actually think this is harder then one thinks, reacting to an attack is pretty much a reflex ignoring a reflex would in my book require a will save.

[sonofzeal]

From Verisimilitude:

"Sneak Attack" involves knowing sensitive parts of the body where attacks will have the greatest effect. If you know how to do that, there's no possible reason you couldn't hit those same points on a willing target.

If I was the DM, I might make the recipient have to close their eyes or risk a Will Save vs flinching, but that's it.

[KillianHawkeye]

Hm I actually think this is harder then one thinks, reacting to an attack is pretty much a reflex ignoring a reflex would in my book require a will save.

Ignoring a reflex isn't a Will save, it's voluntarily failing a Reflex save.... :smalltongue:

[Lord Vukodlak]

Sneak attack damage on a spell or effect that deals no damage doesn't happen. You cannot sneak attack with a healing spell on a living creature or sneak attack an undead creature with negative energy.

Even if you could sneak attack using a cure spell on a living creature. Sneak attack adds damage A sadistic DM could have the character cured 1d8+1 points of damage from the wand of cure light wounds, then suffer the 6d6 points of damage from the sneak attack.

[nyjastul69]

Yes.

You can also coup de grace yourself.

I'm not sure coup de gracing oneself is possible. Coup de grace requires the opponent to be helpless. How do you attack yourself when you are helpless?

Edit: Added *not* after I'm

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'm sure coup de gracing oneself is possible. Coup de grace requires the opponent to be helpless. How do you attack yourself when you are helpless?

Use a guillotine and tie yourself up?

[Scow2]

like when you walk down a street and a stranger turns the corner and is about to bump on to you... 80% of the times you react by instict and avoid him. So..

Empirical evidence indicates only a 30% (Or less) not-bumping-into-sudden-guy situation. 10% if they're looking the other way or texting.

And, just not looking at the guy is enough for a Sneak Attack - you know the attack's coming, but you don't know exactly when or where it will hit you. This is a voluntary Sneak Attack, not a voluntary coup de grace.

[CaladanMoonblad]

Fight or flight doesn't matter. You can voluntarily stand in dragon fire, voluntarily suppress immune function, dnd voluntarily shut off reflex from the spinal cord (fail a ref/fort/will save).

You can stand still and be no reactive enough to consider yourself helpless, an also immobile. You can do an automatic success on the attack.

See, this is the problem. An RPG is a model for reality. It has dumbed down rules because we cannot model every variable in reality, not even with a supercomputer. All RPG rules are based originally from wargaming, where there are definitions and rule interpretations. People who like to parse the rules in effect argue for a nonreality of the game because they continually fail to remember that the entire system is based on.... "reality." This is a case of taking a textual abstraction, and making it even more abstract from the reality it is based upon.

So yes. Fight or Flight does matter. Because an RPG is a dumbed down version of reality. Because Fight or Flight IS reality for both vertebrates and invertebrates on our planet.


Hm I actually think this is harder then one thinks, reacting to an attack is pretty much a reflex ignoring a reflex would in my book require a will save.

I'd go that far, but no further. It would take an enormous amount of willpower and training to fight the hardwired reactions built into every species to accept a potentially lethal attack. At least a DC 20.

[CRtwenty]

If the character in question is being sneak attacked by a healing shiv, and knows that to be the case it's not so much "fight or flight" and more "getting a painful injection at the clinic".

Totally different situations imo.

[TuggyNE]

Would this even work? Sneak Attack adds damage of the same type as the spell. Undead specifically heal from negative energy and take damage from positive energy regardless of its source, but is 'positive energy damage' even a thing, and would it cause healing to a living creature?

It seems to be, and it doesn't. Bolt of glory (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/spells/boltOfGlory.htm), end of story. Rhyming provided free of charge.

[Ryulin18]

The act of sneak attacking someone is that they have access to your vital organs or weak spots whilst you are suprised. If you openly allow access to these spots, you can get sneak attacked freely.

I can see how it would go at the table:
"I open my arms wide and show the open spots of my breast plate, look up to reveal my neck and I close my eyes, praying not to scream as I'm opened chest to navel."

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Just a quick note: if you don't know when an attack is coming, and you're making no attempts to predict when it might be coming, and you're not aware (aka blindfolded), that's a sneak attack.

If you doubt this, close your eyes and have a friend tap you on the forehead at a time of their choosing. I guarantee you won't sense it coming. Sneak Attack.

[Piggy Knowles]

Why all this nonsense about closing your eyes? Why not just stand on a bunch of marbles without appropriate ranks in balance?

[awa]

or you could use the gaze rules if you don't look at the person he has total concealment vrs you.

[Twilightwyrm]

I would consider it being effectively helpless, since you are doing nothing to defend yourself, which automatically makes you flatfooted against the attack. Sneak attacking isn't about being caught by surprise, it is about the sneak attacker using said surprise or distraction to line up a shot at vital organs, or areas that will do more damage. If you are unwilling to defend yourself, the sneak attacker can likewise line up the shot at your vital organs, so it is effectively the same.

And I'm not going to presume this is your trick, but if it is, yes you can sneak attack with a healing effect, depending on the effect in question. Cure light wounds, for instance, is a touch attack, and therefore by RAW, can be used as a weapon-like spell to either crit or sneak attack. You can probably expect your DM to instantly revise this situation, as this wasn't likely the RAI, but it should work fine by RAW.

[Crasical]

On the topic of abusing your allies for their own good, you can deliver touch-range spells via unarmed strikes. If you don't have any of the unarmed-boosting feats, you deal a small amount of nonlethal damage, and cure spells wipe away an equivalent amount of 'real' and nonlethal damage, usually ending up with the damage they took from you punching them being instantly negated.

Feel free to slap, smack, kick, punch, or spank your allies back to health with unarmed healing attacks! It's not necessary to deliver them this way, but they don't need to know that!

[Cirrylius]

If you really want to make this work, pick up leadership or hire a hireling to flank you any time you are a attacked by a rogue. That way, the rogue gets the sneak attack damage and your hireling (provided you treat him/her poorly) will really try to kill you.
Kato?? I have had a very bad day. I do NOT want you to attack me.

[Orran]

When sneak attacking with a weaponlike spell that deals ability damage, sneak attack damage becomes negative energy damage I believe. With tomb tainted soul or an undead, this could lead to healing, bind naberius for extra fun.
Can't remember the source of that though, so use with caution.