I am playing a Vampire rogue (the race is from the Plane Shift: Ixalan supplement, p. 14). I'm intrigued by the many uses of the Bloodthirst ability. Can you apply Sneak Attack to the bite?
[RPG] Does the Ixalan vampire race’s Bloodthirst attack qualify for Sneak Attack
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Best Answer
RAW, it's unclear, but most likely nope.
Sneak attack:
The Bite from the Ixalan Vampire is a "melee attack", without any specification about being a Finesse weapon attack. The "default" is that weapons do not have the finesse property, unless specified.
The Bloodthirst Feature states
The emphasized part is the only part that indicates something about the nature of the attack (i.e. it's melee). We are left to wonder about everything else - which led to this question. It's clear that it is not a ranged weapon. As it's similar to a Bite attack, it depends on whether the DM considers the fangs a "finesse weapon" or not. As I said, the default is that they are not, as it is not specified.
Note that the Plane Shift: Ixalan article has the disclaimer
similar to Unearthed Arcana (though with different purposes - UA is supposed to be playtested by the other tables). This means the writing is indeed inconsistent and most of the ruling and interpretation ends up to DM fiat.