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pasko77
2008-01-16, 09:50 AM
Greetings!
I'm a newbie of third edition and i wish to know how to have my bard (currently level 5) start being able to do Sneak attacks. I guess i have to find some obscure prestige class :) (no, not Dashing Swordsman) :)
The only requisites are: 1)no rogue levels and 2) true neutral alignment, i think i could change alignment though.

Thanks for the advice,
Pasko

mikeejimbo
2008-01-16, 10:19 AM
The Arcane Trickster Prestige Class grants improved spell levels and improved sneak attack, but requires you have some sneak attack already. Why no Rogue levels?

Telonius
2008-01-16, 11:15 AM
It's not very obscure, but the Duelist PrC gives Precise Strike. It's not exactly Sneak Attack, and is pretty weak, but it's a similar concept.

If the character is an Elf, the Darkwood Stalker PrC from Complete Warrior will give you Sneak Attack.

The following PrC's also grant Sneak Attack without first requiring it:

Divine Seeker (Players' Guide to Faerun)
Ghost-Faced Killer (Complete Adventurer)
Invisible Blade (Complete Warrior)
Justicar (CWar)
Order of the Bow Initiate (CWar)
Ronin (CWar)
Shadow Thief of Amn (PGF)
Stonedeath Assassin (Races of Stone - must be Goblinoid)
Temple Raider of Olidammara (Complete Divine)
Zhentarim Spy (PGF)

marjan
2008-01-16, 11:22 AM
Unseen seer from Complete Mage grants sneak attack and as bard you don't need to multiclass to meet requirements.

Theli
2008-01-16, 11:24 AM
And I feel obligated to mention that there's always the possibility of homebrew, pending DM approval of course.

Telonius
2008-01-16, 11:24 AM
Spellthief is a base class that also grants Sneak Attack. It's found in Complete Adventurer.

Riffington
2008-01-16, 01:10 PM
Why no Rogue levels?

Yeah. I mean, rogue is the tofu of D&D. It can be flavored however you want, and doesn't break any character concepts except "totally unskilled".

RukiTanuki
2008-01-16, 02:38 PM
Easiest non-rogue way I can think of is to take two Tome of Battle feats:

Martial Study (Cloak of Deception): Prerequisite for Martial Stance. Choosing Cloak of Deception lets you use greater invisibility until the end of your turn as a swift action; quite useful for sneak attacks. As a non-martial adept, you'd be able to use it once an encounter.

Martial Stance (Assassin's Stance): Grants +2d6 sneak attack.

Once you spend one swift action once to initiate the stance, it's active permanently. It stays on out of combat, and you won't ever leave the stance unless you intentionally drop out of it or shift to another stance. As such, you permanently have 2d6 sneak attack.

The downside: Cloak of Deception requires an initiator level of 3 (which you could do as a Bard 6) and Assassin's Stance requires an initiator level of 5 (Bard 10). As such, you wouldn't have sneak attack until you chose a feat at level 12.

Telonius
2008-01-16, 02:43 PM
Oh! How did I forget this one ... Master of Masks PrC from Complete Scoundrel, "Assassin" mask. Bards can easily qualify.

Pauwel
2008-01-16, 03:02 PM
You can also use a certain Fighter variant from http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm.


Fighter

Some fighters prefer stealth and cunning over martial skill. This variant can also be combined with the thug variant.

Gain

Sneak attack (as rogue).

Lose

Bonus feats.

You should probably use the thug variant from the same page as well; makes you lose proficiency in medium/heavy armour (which you couldn't use without having to cope with Arcane Spell Failure anyway) but gets you more skills.

pasko77
2008-01-16, 07:05 PM
Thanks everybody for the answers. Now i have to study all these prcs (and ask the dm what is allowed) :)


Why no Rogue levels?

Because I want something that keeps enhancing in magic (yes i forgot to say this) and i thought that something like bard 5 / rogue 5 would be totally useless.
It is unlikely that my character will get over level 10.