[RPG] ready a sneak attack

pathfinder-1eroguesneak-attack

As a pathfinder Rogue, can I move away from an enemy around a corner using a stealth check to gain stealth then ready an attack for when he pursues me? The trigger is when he is directly in front of me — as opposed to diagonal where he would receive a +4 cover bonus.

The rules state:

If people are observing you using any of their senses (but typically sight), you can't use Stealth. Against most creatures, finding cover or concealment allows you to use Stealth…

Action: Usually none. Normally, you make a Stealth check as part of movement, so it doesn't take a separate action. However, using Stealth immediately after a ranged attack (see Sniping, above) is a move action.

This would imply I cannot stealth at the beginning of my movement as he is watching me, but as soon as i round the corner I have cover which allows me to use a stealth check as 'part of a movement.'

Assuming I beat his perception check I'm basically invisible to him, which would allow me to wait until he is in front of me to use my readied attack gaining sneak attack damage.

Does this sound flawed… or brilliant? That would also imply he is flat footed as he is not aware of his assailant.

Best Answer

Hiding behind a wall

If you have partial cover, you may use Stealth. If you have total cover (wall is taller than you, or floor-to-ceiling, or whatever), you don’t even need Stealth. So you may hide behind a wall.

Readying an attack

You may then ready an attack for when he enters a square next to you, since an Attack Action may be done as a Standard and you are allowed to ready those. Your DM may require that you specify which square; the rules leave it up to the DM how specific you have to be. In any event, if this readied action is triggered, however specific your DM requires it to be, you then attack the target.

Sneak Attack?

The most recent errata gives you Total Concealment until after you make an attack. So what does that give you? Well, it means he doesn’t know what square you’re in and takes a 50% miss chance even if he guesses the right square. Does that let you Sneak Attack?

No. It does not. Sneaking does not actually let you Sneak Attack.

Commentary on this errata seems to indicate that the point of the errata was to allow rogues to Sneak Attack while, ya know, sneaking, but that doesn’t actually seem borne out by the rules.

So the rules don’t actually give you a Sneak Attack, even though you are considered “hidden” for that first attack (the one you readied). If your DM is sane, he’ll allow sneaking to trigger Sneak Attacks, because it’s ridiculous that the rules don’t allow it. Paizo’s lead dev has even stated (if you go digging through the forums) that it’s supposed to work; why he doesn’t just fix the rules is anyone’s guess, but there it is. Ultimately, this is something you’ll have to ask your DM about.

Does this sound flawed...or brilliant?

Considering that it doesn’t work, quite flawed, but even if we assume it’s allowed to work, it’s still pretty poor damage most of the time. Rogues tend to have very little combat presence at mid-to-high levels if they can’t get full attacks with Two-Weapon Fighting to multiply their Sneak Attack damage. At low levels, it could be a useful trick.

Of course, with the various ways that Pathfinder has shafted rogues’ ability to Sneak Attack multiple times in a round, it may be the best you can hope for. Unfortunately, it’s not very good.

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