You didn’t imagine it; you did see the shadow in the corner of your eye move.
Rogues in Dungeons & Dragons are often generalized as silent killers who sneak up behind enemies, steal their gold, and put a dagger in their backs. While there are many subclasses and personality flairs for rogues, they all often share the same basic traits. Ranging from charismatic charmers to stone-cold entities, they are all still trained with the same set of skills.
The sneak attack ability, one of the most infamous class features, is a staple to the rogue family. Being able to deal additional damage under specific conditions makes the rogue class so devastating regarding accuracy and damage.
What Is The Sneak Attack Ability?
Like the second wind ability for fighters or the inspiration ability for bards, the sneak attack ability is one only rogues can use in Dungeons & Dragons.
Sneak attack allows a rogue to deal additional damage when certain criteria are met during an attack. The damage starts at 1d6, scaling all the way to 10d6 when they reach twentieth level.
There is no specific type of damage that sneak attack deals , so it does not fall under vulnerability or resistance rules.
To use sneak attack, you must attack with a ranged weapon or a weapon that has the finesse trait. Additionally, at least one of the following criteria must be met:
- You have advantage on your attack roll.
- Another enemy of the target is within five feet of the target, the target isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on your attack roll.
While one of the conditions involves having “another enemy of the target” within five feet of them, that does not specify if it is an ally of you. For example, if you are fighting in a cave and a swarm of bats fly past the target, they are technically an enemy of the target and can be considered for sneak attack.
What Makes Sneak Attack So Special?
Damage is everything for the rogue class. Since they do not have much protection for themselves, rogues are glass cannons that are meant to deal massive amounts of damage in a short amount of time.
Sneak attack makes up that difference by giving rogues a boost in combat for doing precisely what they are meant to do. This ability essentially incentivizes rogues to calculate and sneak up on their target.
When playing as a rogue, consider openings and possibilities that will give you advantage on your attack roll, effectively activating sneak attack straight away.
If you happen to pick the assassin subclass for rogues, at third level, you unlock the Assassinate ability, which will give advantage against enemies that have not had a turn in combat yet. This can save the trouble of worrying about whether you will have advantage or not against a target that has already seen you.
While sneak attack is fantastic when fighting on your own, being able to use it with your party is what makes it shine. Effectively using your fellow party members as distractions to get the upper hand, you can continue to deal additional damage on top of what you already hit with your weapon of choice.
Some rogues may even go into battle with a short bow to quickly make ranged attacks while their party is to a target. This, under the second condition listed, will allow them to use sneak attack for every shot without directly being in the heat of battle.
There are endless ways that sneak attack can be utilized. Considering the rogue class is all about being cunning and sneaky, all it takes is a bit of creativity to wipe out your enemies before they even know what hit them.
