I believe i got this right. If I attack a creature that haven't take turn yet, I get advantage on the roll (assassinate) so I can sneak attack that creature. right? also How the crit will work with sneak attack. do I double the attack and the sneak attack or just the attack.
You can use sneak attack when you have advantage or if an ally is within 5ft of your target (unless you have disadvantage). As an assassin, you get advantage on creatures that have not yet taken a turn (as you said) so yes you would be able to roll sneak attack damage. This attack is only a crit if you are surprising the target or, of course, if you roll a nat 20.
When you crit with sneak attack, yes, you would double both weapon and sneak attack dice. For example, at level 3 your sneak attack gives you 2d6 damage. If you crit with a 1d8 longbow, you would roll a total of 2d8 + 4d6 + DEX for damage.
One thing to note is that by the Rules as Written, you also have to go before the target you're assassinating in order to automatically critically hit. It's a really stupid thing though and you should disregard this.
If I understand correctly, if you're using assassinate, you auto-crit only when the target is surprised, and if the target is surprised, they haven't gone in combat because they forfeit their turn even if their initiative is higher during that surprise round. So surprise rounds are your friend.
Yes, surprise rounds are your friend. A creature that is surprised cannot act on their first turn. They still do technically have a first turn though. A creature or player stops being surprised after their first turn. So if you go after them, they're not technically surprised anymore and the assassin cannot automatically critical if they hit. Again, dumb rule.
As stated above, going first in the initiative is almost mandatory. Having 2 levels in Bard and the Alert feat will often make this a non-issue.
Slap on High Elf for free Booming Blade and possibly Elven Accuracy to make your damage skyrocket. At level 5, you can expect to have an initiative bonus of +8 and do about 42 (4d8+6d6+3) damage to your target, almost (if not completely) deleting it from an encounter.
Also an issue with the assassin is that the rest of their features are best if you have a lot of time devoted to you at the table. This will generally annoy the shit out of your party if they spend a lot of time listening to your adventure in assassination. I honestly think this subclass was fairly poorly thought out. You'll have to work with your DM and party to figure out how best to use these features if you use them at all.
You only get advantage against enemies that haven't taken a turn yet, however in the basic players handbook if you hit a creature that is surprised, its automatically a crit. So I'm sorry to say but your wrong about that. Pay attention to the punctuation when reading D&D rules.
You only get advantage against enemies that haven't taken a turn yet, however in the basic players handbook if you hit a creature that is surprised, its automatically a crit. So I'm sorry to say but your wrong about that. Pay attention to the punctuation when reading D&D rules.
One thing to note is that by the Rules as Written, you also have to go before the target you're assassinating in order to automatically critically hit. It's a really stupid thing though and you should disregard this.
You only get advantage against enemies that haven't taken a turn yet, however in the basic players handbook if you hit a creature that is surprised, its automatically a crit. So I'm sorry to say but your wrong about that. Pay attention to the punctuation when reading D&D rules.
One thing to note is that by the Rules as Written, you also have to go before the target you're assassinating in order to automatically critically hit. It's a really stupid thing though and you should disregard this.
By the rules, a surprised creature still gets a turn in the first round. It just can’t do anything on its turn, due to being surprised. However, surprise ends at the end of that first turn, not at the start of its second one.
So, let’s say it’s Andy Assassin vs Izzy Initiative. Andy manages to surprise Izzy and rolls a 15 initiative. Izzy rolls 16 initiative. Izzy gets his turn first, but can’t do anything with it since he’s surprised. This means that when Andy takes his turn, Izzy has had a turn and isn’t surprised anymore (no auto-crit for Andy), but has not taken a turn (auto-advantage for Andy). This is how it goes according to Sage Advice. I wouldn’t hold it against you if you handled it differently, but that’s the RAW.
You only get advantage against enemies that haven't taken a turn yet, however in the basic players handbook if you hit a creature that is surprised, its automatically a crit. So I'm sorry to say but your wrong about that. Pay attention to the punctuation when reading D&D rules.
One thing to note is that by the Rules as Written, you also have to go before the target you're assassinating in order to automatically critically hit. It's a really stupid thing though and you should disregard this.
Assassination is really DM & party dependent. Although a very good ability to dish out serious damage, you’ll not have an opportunity to surprise every enemy all the time, therefore I consider this as a situational feature and Assassin a really poor subclass.
I rather like the mechanics of the Gloomstalker ability called Dread Ambusher for instance, which incentivizes your character to position well, grants Initiative bonus and gives you a very good feature at the start of every combat without requiring opponents to be surprised or to have worst initiative.
I agree. There is just so much that has to go right for it to be useful. You and your party need to roll well on stealth checks in order to surprise at least one enemy, and then the assassin rogue needs to roll well enough on initiative to go before a surprised enemy.
Gloomstalker is almost required for an assassin. With gloomstalker, you get access to Pass Without Trace to help your party actually be stealthy enough to get surprise and also gives you a boost to initiative equal to your wisdom modifier. That extra attack is also nice for some more added damage and another chance to get sneak attack. You might want to go variant human to also grab the Alert feat for another +5 to initiative. All that, just to get one critical sneak attack.
Or just ignore that part and if an enemy is surprised have them stay surprised until the end of the first round.
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I believe i got this right. If I attack a creature that haven't take turn yet, I get advantage on the roll (assassinate) so I can sneak attack that creature. right? also How the crit will work with sneak attack. do I double the attack and the sneak attack or just the attack.
You can use sneak attack when you have advantage or if an ally is within 5ft of your target (unless you have disadvantage). As an assassin, you get advantage on creatures that have not yet taken a turn (as you said) so yes you would be able to roll sneak attack damage. This attack is only a crit if you are surprising the target or, of course, if you roll a nat 20.
When you crit with sneak attack, yes, you would double both weapon and sneak attack dice. For example, at level 3 your sneak attack gives you 2d6 damage. If you crit with a 1d8 longbow, you would roll a total of 2d8 + 4d6 + DEX for damage.
Thanks, that is what I was thinking.
One thing to note is that by the Rules as Written, you also have to go before the target you're assassinating in order to automatically critically hit. It's a really stupid thing though and you should disregard this.
If I understand correctly, if you're using assassinate, you auto-crit only when the target is surprised, and if the target is surprised, they haven't gone in combat because they forfeit their turn even if their initiative is higher during that surprise round. So surprise rounds are your friend.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
Yes, surprise rounds are your friend. A creature that is surprised cannot act on their first turn. They still do technically have a first turn though. A creature or player stops being surprised after their first turn. So if you go after them, they're not technically surprised anymore and the assassin cannot automatically critical if they hit. Again, dumb rule.
Source: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/10/14/do-surprise-ends-for-a-combatant-at-the-end-of-their-first-turn/
As stated above, going first in the initiative is almost mandatory. Having 2 levels in Bard and the Alert feat will often make this a non-issue.
Slap on High Elf for free Booming Blade and possibly Elven Accuracy to make your damage skyrocket. At level 5, you can expect to have an initiative bonus of +8 and do about 42 (4d8+6d6+3) damage to your target, almost (if not completely) deleting it from an encounter.
Also an issue with the assassin is that the rest of their features are best if you have a lot of time devoted to you at the table. This will generally annoy the shit out of your party if they spend a lot of time listening to your adventure in assassination. I honestly think this subclass was fairly poorly thought out. You'll have to work with your DM and party to figure out how best to use these features if you use them at all.
Oh yeah, wow, that's super dumb.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
You only get advantage against enemies that haven't taken a turn yet, however in the basic players handbook if you hit a creature that is surprised, its automatically a crit. So I'm sorry to say but your wrong about that. Pay attention to the punctuation when reading D&D rules.
By the rules, a surprised creature still gets a turn in the first round. It just can’t do anything on its turn, due to being surprised. However, surprise ends at the end of that first turn, not at the start of its second one.
So, let’s say it’s Andy Assassin vs Izzy Initiative. Andy manages to surprise Izzy and rolls a 15 initiative. Izzy rolls 16 initiative. Izzy gets his turn first, but can’t do anything with it since he’s surprised. This means that when Andy takes his turn, Izzy has had a turn and isn’t surprised anymore (no auto-crit for Andy), but has not taken a turn (auto-advantage for Andy). This is how it goes according to Sage Advice. I wouldn’t hold it against you if you handled it differently, but that’s the RAW.
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Assassination is really DM & party dependent. Although a very good ability to dish out serious damage, you’ll not have an opportunity to surprise every enemy all the time, therefore I consider this as a situational feature and Assassin a really poor subclass.
I rather like the mechanics of the Gloomstalker ability called Dread Ambusher for instance, which incentivizes your character to position well, grants Initiative bonus and gives you a very good feature at the start of every combat without requiring opponents to be surprised or to have worst initiative.
I agree. There is just so much that has to go right for it to be useful. You and your party need to roll well on stealth checks in order to surprise at least one enemy, and then the assassin rogue needs to roll well enough on initiative to go before a surprised enemy.
Gloomstalker is almost required for an assassin. With gloomstalker, you get access to Pass Without Trace to help your party actually be stealthy enough to get surprise and also gives you a boost to initiative equal to your wisdom modifier. That extra attack is also nice for some more added damage and another chance to get sneak attack. You might want to go variant human to also grab the Alert feat for another +5 to initiative. All that, just to get one critical sneak attack.
Or just ignore that part and if an enemy is surprised have them stay surprised until the end of the first round.