Ranged Sneak Attack

[expirement10K14]

For a character concept I have been trying I am making an assassin that specializes in ranged attacks, which gives me the problem- can I use sneak attack for attacks farther away than 30ft.

Is there a feat or prestige class that would allow this, or is ranged assassin going to take some more work?

[Da King]

There is a Feat in PHB2 which called Crossbow Sniper which allows you to increase SA range to 60ft as well as adding half your DEX mod to damage when attacking with a crossbow.

[UglyPanda]

Crossbow Sniper from PHB II changes it to 60 ft for crossbows and lets you add half your DEX modifier to damage. The downside is it only works for crossbows. Crossbows aren't exactly the best weapon.

[dman11235]

Order of the Bow Initiate does it, but I'd advise not taking the class, since you spend 9 levels getting nothing to get that last level. Deepwood Sniper I believe does it (Masters of the Wild), and maybe Peerless Archer. Something you may want to look into is the scout variant for sniping, rather than moving and getting a boost to AC and damage within 30', you get a boost to damage for greater than 30' and staying still. Check it out on Crystal Keep. Another option is to use Fly By Attack and stay away from the battle and the move in to within 30' to fire off a greater many shot, using the movement afterwards to hide again. Must be able to fly to do this, I suggest raptorans. You can do the same thing with spring attack, but you can't use manyshot without a house rule with spring attack.

[Kurald Galain]

It's way easier than that.

The spell Sniper's Shot from the Complete Adventurer allows sneak attacking at any range. It's on the assassin's spell list.

[dman11235]

And that would be a spell. So it's another option. Personally, I think 30' is plenty of space. So i don't look into ways to increase it further. I make that 30' seem like 100. Besides, raptorans are my favorite race of all time.

[Curmudgeon]

The Telling Blow feat (Players Handbook II) lets you add sneak attack or skirmish damage on any critical hit, melee or ranged. There's no requirement that you move at least 10' for skirmish, or that you be within 30' for sneak attack. The problem is that most missile weapons don't have a large threat range. A light or heavy crossbow threatens on 19-20. However, a great crossbow (Races of Stone) threatens on 18-20, though it's an exotic weapon. It might be worth the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat to use a keen great crossbow with Telling Blow.

[Aquillion]

Remember that Manyshot only lets you apply sneak attack damage once, no matter how many hits you get with it.

Crossbow Sniper from PHB II changes it to 60 ft for crossbows and lets you add half your DEX modifier to damage. The downside is it only works for crossbows. Crossbows aren't exactly the best weapon.

You also need Weapon Focus with the crossbow in question to use it.

There's another feat, Rapid Reload, that lets you reload crossbows faster and makes them suck a bit less... but at that point you're probably wasting too many feats.

[dman11235]

Greater Manyshot, XPH/SRD. It's not psionic so no problems even if your DM hates psionics.

[Draz74]

I don't see how or why Greater Manyshot would allow Sneak Attack's range to improve, unfortunately.

[Chronos]

Greater Manyshot was in answer to a different question. It's for allowing precision damage on every attack, not for increasing the range.

[Curmudgeon]

There's another feat, Rapid Reload, that lets you reload crossbows faster and makes them suck a bit less... but at that point you're probably wasting too many feats.

Yes, Players Handbook II has made crossbows more versatile for sneak attack, but going that route tends to be feat-intensive. Crossbow Sniper requires Weapon Focus (your type of crossbow); Telling Blow needs a large threat range so you'll probably want Exotic Weapon Proficiency (great crossbow). But beyond that you can often substitute money for feats. Obviously keen works as a replacement for Improved Critical. But quick loading (Magic Item Compendium) can be used instead of Rapid Reload for light crossbows. Heck, you can throw everything into crossbow sneak attack, including quick loading and self-loading (Arms and Equipment Guide) to allow free action reloading, and all the feats. You'll be making a major investment, of course:

• masterwork great crossbow
• +1 (minimum) weapon enhancement
• keen (+1 enhancement cost)
• quick loading (+1 enhancement cost)
• self-loading (10,000 gp cost IIRC)
• Exotic Weapon Proficiency (great crossbow) feat
• Weapon Focus (great crossbow) feat
• Crossbow Sniper feat
• Telling Blow feat

This qualifies you for sneak attack damage within 60':

• if the target is denied its DEX bonus to AC, or
• on a confirmed critical hit (threat range 15-20).

Beyond 60' you'll need a confirmed critical hit.

There's one additional gotcha: your DM needs to permit applying Crossbow Sniper to great crossbows. Since great crossbows were added to the game in a racial supplement (Races of Stone) and largely ignored thereafter, it's probably fine -- at least, all the DMs I've played with have been OK with this.