Long Range Sneak Attack at Night

[Gelcur]

I would like to sneak attack at a very long range with a bow in the dark.

Sniper Shot lets me sneak attack at any range.

Not sure if a spot check would be needed during daylight hours if the monster is not hiding. But maybe a spot check is needed to sneak attack at that distance? Assuming the Spot DC 0 for a large creature and DC 4 for a medium with a Spot total of 66 I should have some pretty good range. Which I can double using Dragonsight spell.

This just leaves the dark? Is there anyway to see well enough in the dark, like Darkvision, that does not have a range limitation? I found Fire Eyes spell that does this for non-magical fog, smoke with no range limit.

[FaerieGodfather]

Devil's Sight invocation for Warlocks?

[Gelcur]

I am unfamiliar with Invocations, can they be placed on a wand so I can UMD the invocation?

If not are there other options?

[Zaq]

Might there be a way to quickly illuminate the target rather than allowing yourself to see in the darkness at that long range? Might take a bit of prep work (I don't have an easy one-and-done way of doing it in the same turn as your sniper shot), but it might end up being easier. Sometimes lateral thinking is appropriate.

If you use shapechanging magic to turn into some kind of baatezu/devil (Polymorph will work, or Alter Self will work if you're already an outsider), you can use the Assume Supernatural Ability feat to gain their See In Darkness (Su) special quality. Probably kind of expensive, but it should work.

[FaerieGodfather]

I am unfamiliar with Invocations, can they be placed on a wand so I can UMD the invocation?

If not are there other options?

No, you have to take the dip. Devil's Sight is, at least, available from Warlock 1.

[Zaq]

There's also the extremely poorly worded Ebon Eyes spell (SpC, pg. 77). It's honestly not clear what the spell does, but you can talk to your GM and see if it allows you to see through darkness.

To wit, the text includes the sentence "the subject of this spell gains the ability to see normally in natural and magical darkness, although it does not otherwise improve the subject's ability to see in natural dark or shadowy conditions." I honestly do not know what is intended there. It kinda seems to just let you see normally (i.e., as though there were no darkness there) through natural and magical darkness, but it's totally unclear to me what "not otherwise improv[ing] the subject's ability to see in natural dark or shadowy conditions" is carving out an exception for.

If Ebon Eyes works, it's a 1st level spell found on multiple common lists (Cleric and Sor/Wiz, along with Assassin), so it should be very easy to find a potion or a wand of it.

[Psyren]

Remember that "at night" rarely means pitch blackness, especially if your target is in a city. Is the moon out, or any stars? Are there streetlamps? Will your target have a candle or lantern going in their room as you fire the shot? Low-Light Vision is a lot easier to get extreme ranges on than darkvision, so that might be a useful option.

[emeraldstreak]

No, you have to take the dip. Devil's Sight is, at least, available from Warlock 1.

Devil's Sight's range is 30', isn't it?

[FaerieGodfather]

Devil's Sight's range is 30', isn't it?

No? I am pretty sure that it doesn't have a stated range because you "see in the dark normally".

EDIT 1: You are correct. I might be mistaking it with 5e.

EDIT 2: Swing and a miss-- 5e devil's sight has a range of 120 feet.

[Darrin]

A couple thoughts:

1) Planar Touchstone/Touchstone feat + Baator Domain (Spell Compendium p. 283). Domain power says, "You gain the ability to see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell."

2) Long-range telepathy + Mindsight (Lords of Madness p. 126). I forget exactly what is the best way to pick up telepathy, but I think there's one that gives you telepathy over a mile or so? You can pinpoint your target, which still gets total concealment if you have no other senses to detect them. I'm not quite sure how to get rid of the total concealment, other than a faerie fire effect.

[Gelcur]

There's also the extremely poorly worded Ebon Eyes spell (SpC, pg. 77).
Our groups has already ruled that this spell basically only overcomes magical darkness and that is it.


Remember that "at night" rarely means pitch blackness, especially if your target is in a city. Is the moon out, or any stars? Are there streetlamps? Will your target have a candle or lantern going in their room as you fire the shot? Low-Light Vision is a lot easier to get extreme ranges on than darkvision, so that might be a useful option.
The scenario that I imagine is guarding a Keep, if built properly there would not be any cover for a good distance such that no one can sneak up on the location. I would like to be able to do some real damage to any army trying to march in the dead of night say Orcs or something else with Darkvision. Even if there is illumination from stars/moon I would still have to overcome shadowy illumination concealment to use my Sneak Attack. Dragonsight does grant me 4x Lowlight vision but even with daylight spells near the Keep's walls that would only give me 480' of distance, still better than 0.


Might there be a way to quickly illuminate the target rather than allowing yourself to see in the darkness at that long range? Might take a bit of prep work (I don't have an easy one-and-done way of doing it in the same turn as your sniper shot), but it might end up being easier. Sometimes lateral thinking is appropriate.

If you use shapechanging magic to turn into some kind of baatezu/devil (Polymorph will work, or Alter Self will work if you're already an outsider), you can use the Assume Supernatural Ability feat to gain their See In Darkness (Su) special quality. Probably kind of expensive, but it should work.
So this first idea I like a lot, lateral thinking. Maybe if I spot shadowy movement on the battle field I could fire off a volley of arrows and various ranges with Light cast on them or have some sort of Sunrod arrows. If I use Light each arrow would be a diameter of 80, with a say 5 arrows that is another 400' on top of the previous 480'. Now we are getting much further out.

Changing shape is never top on my list of fun things to do so I'll pass on those. But good catch on creatures with no limit on their ability to see in the dark.


A couple thoughts:

1) Planar Touchstone/Touchstone feat + Baator Domain (Spell Compendium p. 283). Domain power says, "You gain the ability to see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell."

2) Long-range telepathy + Mindsight (Lords of Madness p. 126). I forget exactly what is the best way to pick up telepathy, but I think there's one that gives you telepathy over a mile or so? You can pinpoint your target, which still gets total concealment if you have no other senses to detect them. I'm not quite sure how to get rid of the total concealment, other than a faerie fire effect.
Now we are talking some interesting options. I especially like the Baator Domain via Touchstone, very clear and concise.


perhaps seeking enhancement to ignore any miss chance would fit in here?
So my understanding was by RAW is if the target has a miss chance from concealment even if you ignore that miss chance you still cannot make a Sneak Attack. If you can ignore the concealment then game on. So True Strike vs creature in with partial concealment like shadowy illumination does not allow for Sneak Attack. But Darkvision which prevents the target from having the concealment to begin fixes that problem. If I am mistaken please let me know, I would love to be wrong on this one.


Great ideas, keep them coming.

[Psyren]

Even if there is illumination from stars/moon I would still have to overcome shadowy illumination concealment to use my Sneak Attack.

There wouldn't be any concealment actually:

"Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day."

Presumably you'd be standing in/shooting through "outdoors" to hit them through their lit window from your rooftop/parapet/etc.

[Gelcur]

There wouldn't be any concealment actually:

"Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day."

Honestly ever since the infravision split into lowlight and darkvision in 3.xe we've always focused on the rules for doubling the ranges of light sources when it came to lowlight vision and completely missed that part. I guess we spend a lot more time in dungeons and a lot less outdoors. *sigh* Another random tidbit I need to stash away in my head somewhere.