Darkness and sneak attack [Archive] - Wizards Community

Darkness and sneak attack [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
relvap
06-16-07, 12:29 PM so the party is in a room talking to someone, it's the dead of night. the Drow assassin is standing outside the window.
then he cast Darkness into the room and starts having fun.

does he get sneak attack? it would take him a round to get in, so it's not the surprise, cause they'll know someone/thing is there with them. assuming he has blind fighting, and he tiptoe to be quiet, while the full plated warrior is blundering in the dark, can we assume they don't see him to get ready for an attack?

i would like to hear your thoughts
Matthew77
06-16-07, 12:49 PM There are actually a lot of rules interactions here, I will do my best.

First, the Darkness. Darkness grants concealment. You cannot sneak attack a target that has concealment. Blind fighting does not remove this restriction. So unless the Drow can see through magical darkness, his own spell will prevent him from getting sneak attack damage.

Now, if the Drow could see through the darkness, he could use the hide and move silently skills to sneak up on his target. He can hide because of the concealment. Once he is hiding, if his target cannot sense him with either a spot check or a listen check, he can make an attack as if he was invisible (+2 to attack roll and opponent loses dex bonus to ac) which meets the requirements for sneak attack.
Unless he is sniping, once he makes one attack, his target is aware of him so he can't get multiple sneak attacks without moving away and rehiding.

So, my advice is: if the Drow can see through magical darkness (darkvision is not enough), he can throw his darkness and use the concealment to hide and get sneak attacks.
If he can't see through magical darkness, he can hide and get +2 to hit, but won't be able to get sneak attacks, so he might be better off using his suprise round to get one good sneak attack in, and then use darkness to cover his retreat.
BroadStreetBully
06-16-07, 01:56 PM the best way (that i've figured out) for doing what you'd like is this: have the drow/rogue/sneak attack guy invest in a Blindfold of True Darkness (from MiC), as well as a few scrolls or a wand of obscuring mist (so long as he can use it, or has decent ranks in use magic device). pop the obscuring mist with your target in the center, enter the mist and slip the blindfold over your eyes. you'll then have total concealment against your target, the blindfold gives you blindsight so you can still pinpoint him and negate concealment, and you'll be effectively invisible for the duration of the obscuring mist spell (i.e., sneak attack away!)
DrMorganes
06-16-07, 05:06 PM Complete Adventurer (or was it Complete Scoundrel?) added a nifty new spell to the Assassin class list. Essentially it's Darkness, but the Aassassin casting it can see normally within the area of effect.

So if your drow is an Assassin, and not just someone hired to kill, check it out.

Without this, however, he's hosed. Never made sense to me...
Eccerion
06-17-07, 10:34 AM Alternativly you could look into the obvious; whats provideing the light in the room?
If its a standard torch or lamp, have the sneaky drow throw his darkness on IT, thus its still as dark in the room but with the noticable differance that the darkness is natural, so the drow's darkvision would allow him to sneak in and stab away to his wicked black hearts content.
After all characters who cant see are denied their dex bonus to AC (sneak attack city folks!:D ), take -2 penalty to AC, have a 50% chanse to miss a target, assumeing they are even striking in the right place, cant run or charge and are hampered in their movement.

Not the kind of situation you want to be in with a rogue with darkvision.

If any of the PC's have darkvision its perfectly concevable the drow knows about it unless they belong ot some real obscure race the drow have never sent to their arenas or had scrub their floors, and those PC's would be high on the rogues hitlist.

Move silently dosnt get any easier due darkness, but he might get a modifier since the room will probably be pretty noisy for a round or two while everyone suddenly in the dark tries to figure out what happened.
Hide gets alot easier in darkness since a spot check will be impossible for most, and the ones with darkvision will probably be distracted.

Have the rogue toss a tanglefoot bag or a bag of caltrops into the mix just to really spice things up.

Bit of a tip though, players quickly get used to drawing their weapons and prepareing for an attack the instant something happens that isnt their doing, so dont be surpraised if the instant the light go out everyone starts yelling "I DRAW/ready my <insert attack capable item or ability here>"
Of course if they are all busy arming up the rogue would have an oppertunity to sneak in (surpraise round maybe).

If you really want to mess with their heads have the rogue toss a globe of gas, use an item with a stinking cloud spell in it, or just set fire to the room, then when everyone starts milling out the door he picks them off one by one:devil:
Sildatorak
06-17-07, 07:41 PM Alternativly you could look into the obvious; whats provideing the light in the room?
If its a standard torch or lamp, have the sneaky drow throw his darkness on IT, thus its still as dark in the room but with the noticable differance that the darkness is naturalThe darkness would still be magical, the torch or lantern would not be extinguished. If the light was provided by a light spell, though, the darkness can be used to dispel it, creating natural darkness in which to go about stabbing like mad.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
relvap 06-16-07, 12:29 PM	so the party is in a room talking to someone, it's the dead of night. the Drow assassin is standing outside the window. then he cast Darkness into the room and starts having fun. does he get sneak attack? it would take him a round to get in, so it's not the surprise, cause they'll know someone/thing is there with them. assuming he has blind fighting, and he tiptoe to be quiet, while the full plated warrior is blundering in the dark, can we assume they don't see him to get ready for an attack? i would like to hear your thoughts
Matthew77 06-16-07, 12:49 PM	There are actually a lot of rules interactions here, I will do my best. First, the Darkness. Darkness grants concealment. You cannot sneak attack a target that has concealment. Blind fighting does not remove this restriction. So unless the Drow can see through magical darkness, his own spell will prevent him from getting sneak attack damage. Now, if the Drow could see through the darkness, he could use the hide and move silently skills to sneak up on his target. He can hide because of the concealment. Once he is hiding, if his target cannot sense him with either a spot check or a listen check, he can make an attack as if he was invisible (+2 to attack roll and opponent loses dex bonus to ac) which meets the requirements for sneak attack. Unless he is sniping, once he makes one attack, his target is aware of him so he can't get multiple sneak attacks without moving away and rehiding. So, my advice is: if the Drow can see through magical darkness (darkvision is not enough), he can throw his darkness and use the concealment to hide and get sneak attacks. If he can't see through magical darkness, he can hide and get +2 to hit, but won't be able to get sneak attacks, so he might be better off using his suprise round to get one good sneak attack in, and then use darkness to cover his retreat.
BroadStreetBully 06-16-07, 01:56 PM	the best way (that i've figured out) for doing what you'd like is this: have the drow/rogue/sneak attack guy invest in a Blindfold of True Darkness (from MiC), as well as a few scrolls or a wand of obscuring mist (so long as he can use it, or has decent ranks in use magic device). pop the obscuring mist with your target in the center, enter the mist and slip the blindfold over your eyes. you'll then have total concealment against your target, the blindfold gives you blindsight so you can still pinpoint him and negate concealment, and you'll be effectively invisible for the duration of the obscuring mist spell (i.e., sneak attack away!)
DrMorganes 06-16-07, 05:06 PM	Complete Adventurer (or was it Complete Scoundrel?) added a nifty new spell to the Assassin class list. Essentially it's Darkness, but the Aassassin casting it can see normally within the area of effect. So if your drow is an Assassin, and not just someone hired to kill, check it out. Without this, however, he's hosed. Never made sense to me...
Eccerion 06-17-07, 10:34 AM	Alternativly you could look into the obvious; whats provideing the light in the room? If its a standard torch or lamp, have the sneaky drow throw his darkness on IT, thus its still as dark in the room but with the noticable differance that the darkness is natural, so the drow's darkvision would allow him to sneak in and stab away to his wicked black hearts content. After all characters who cant see are denied their dex bonus to AC (sneak attack city folks!:D ), take -2 penalty to AC, have a 50% chanse to miss a target, assumeing they are even striking in the right place, cant run or charge and are hampered in their movement. Not the kind of situation you want to be in with a rogue with darkvision. If any of the PC's have darkvision its perfectly concevable the drow knows about it unless they belong ot some real obscure race the drow have never sent to their arenas or had scrub their floors, and those PC's would be high on the rogues hitlist. Move silently dosnt get any easier due darkness, but he might get a modifier since the room will probably be pretty noisy for a round or two while everyone suddenly in the dark tries to figure out what happened. Hide gets alot easier in darkness since a spot check will be impossible for most, and the ones with darkvision will probably be distracted. Have the rogue toss a tanglefoot bag or a bag of caltrops into the mix just to really spice things up. Bit of a tip though, players quickly get used to drawing their weapons and prepareing for an attack the instant something happens that isnt their doing, so dont be surpraised if the instant the light go out everyone starts yelling "I DRAW/ready my <insert attack capable item or ability here>" Of course if they are all busy arming up the rogue would have an oppertunity to sneak in (surpraise round maybe). If you really want to mess with their heads have the rogue toss a globe of gas, use an item with a stinking cloud spell in it, or just set fire to the room, then when everyone starts milling out the door he picks them off one by one:devil:
Sildatorak 06-17-07, 07:41 PM	Alternativly you could look into the obvious; whats provideing the light in the room? If its a standard torch or lamp, have the sneaky drow throw his darkness on IT, thus its still as dark in the room but with the noticable differance that the darkness is naturalThe darkness would still be magical, the torch or lantern would not be extinguished. If the light was provided by a light spell, though, the darkness can be used to dispel it, creating natural darkness in which to go about stabbing like mad.