in another group I am in, people are making the argument that the statement in the rogue's sneak attack ability once "Once per turn...." means on all players turns and all NPCs turns.... so essentially when ever you want to..... a few of us believe that it is only possible once per round on the rogue's turn. Who is right?
Can a rogue use Sneak Attack more than once per round?
The Sneak Attack description specifies that you can use the feature once per turn, but it’s not limited to your turn. The feature also doesn’t limit the number of times you can use it in a round.
You sometimes get a chance to use Sneak Attack on someone else’s turn. The most common way for this to happen is when a foe provokes an opportunity attack from you. If the requirements for Sneak Attack are met, your opportunity attack can benefit from that feature. Similarly, a fighter could use Commander’s Strike to grant you an attack on the fighter’s turn, and if the attack qualifies, it can use Sneak Attack. Both of those options rely on the use of your reaction, so you could do only one of them in a round.
Because you get only one reaction per round, you’re unlikely to use Sneak Attack more than twice in a round: once with your action and once with your reaction.
Yes, you are incorrect but honestly, it’s not that bad because there are very few opportunities for a rogue to use his sneak attack out of his turn, as pointed out just above, usually only one because of a reaction and that one is certainly not automatic. It can only be as a reaction, the rogue only gets one per round, and the only ones that usually apply are for a ready action, in which case the rogue probably did not even use his sneak attack on his turn, or for an opportunity attack, which is perfectly well summarised above, don’t turn your back to a rogue and walk away or, more precisely, don’t be the first one to do it in a round, the second one is usually safe. :)
Sentinel’s secondary ability is actually more useful in this regard for rogues. Anyone attacking an ally of yours will be taking those sneak attacks. It’s the perfect rogue tank feat that draws aggro like crazy.
See the difference between a Turn and a Round. A turn is just your turn, a round is *everyone's* turn. Once per Turn means on your turn and any other turn that you can use it on. If it said once per Round then once you used sneak attack, you wouldn't be able to use it again until the next time you went.
Yes, you are incorrect but honestly, it’s not that bad because there are very few opportunities for a rogue to use his sneak attack out of his turn, as pointed out just above, usually only one because of a reaction and that one is certainly not automatic. It can only be as a reaction, the rogue only gets one per round, and the only ones that usually apply are for a ready action, in which case the rogue probably did not even use his sneak attack on his turn, or for an opportunity attack, which is perfectly well summarised above, don’t turn your back to a rogue and walk away or, more precisely, don’t be the first one to do it in a round, the second one is usually safe. :)
Sentinel’s secondary ability is actually more useful in this regard for rogues. Anyone attacking an ally of yours will be taking those sneak attacks. It’s the perfect rogue tank feat that draws aggro like crazy.
It's a good concept, the only question is how suited is the rogue to survive drawing that much aggro... :D
Because a dead tank draws no aggro... ;)
However, it is a role where the barbarian/rogue mutliclass can shine :)
in another group I am in, people are making the argument that the statement in the rogue's sneak attack ability once "Once per turn...." means on all players turns and all NPCs turns.... so essentially when ever you want to..... a few of us believe that it is only possible once per round on the rogue's turn. Who is right?
Keep in mind that it is not "whenever you want to" ... characters only have one reaction for each round. Making an attack outside of your turn usually costs your reaction and as a result the rogue is usually limited to at most one sneak attack ON their turn and one sneak attack during the rest of the round.
Here are some ways to get a rogue a second sneak attack ...
Haste - rogue uses the haste attack action for one attack and uses their regular action to Ready an attack action. Both the haste attack and the Ready attack can qualify for sneak attack.
Battlemaster fighter can use commander's strike to give up one of their attacks to enable the rogue to make an attack on the fighter's turn that can also qualify for sneak attack.
Opportunity attacks - moving away from a rogue can trigger an op attack which can also be eligible for sneak attack. Sentinel makes this work even if the creature takes the disengage action. Sentinel can also trigger an attack if a creature attacks an adjacent ally. If for some reason the rogue also has PAM - this can trigger an op attack when a creature moves adjacent - but this combination rarely works for rogues since PAM isn't usually a good use of a feat for a rogue.
If you are using the UA Tunnel Fighter fighting style that allows for multiple op attacks without costing a reaction then a fighter/rogue might be able to qualify for up to one sneak attack on each turn but UA isn't really balanced content in the first place.
Yes, you are incorrect but honestly, it’s not that bad because there are very few opportunities for a rogue to use his sneak attack out of his turn, as pointed out just above, usually only one because of a reaction and that one is certainly not automatic. It can only be as a reaction, the rogue only gets one per round, and the only ones that usually apply are for a ready action, in which case the rogue probably did not even use his sneak attack on his turn, or for an opportunity attack, which is perfectly well summarised above, don’t turn your back to a rogue and walk away or, more precisely, don’t be the first one to do it in a round, the second one is usually safe. :)
Sentinel’s secondary ability is actually more useful in this regard for rogues. Anyone attacking an ally of yours will be taking those sneak attacks. It’s the perfect rogue tank feat that draws aggro like crazy.
It's a good concept, the only question is how suited is the rogue to survive drawing that much aggro... :D
Because a dead tank draws no aggro... ;)
However, it is a role where the barbarian/rogue mutliclass can shine :)
Very very true.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
in another group I am in, people are making the argument that the statement in the rogue's sneak attack ability once "Once per turn...." means on all players turns and all NPCs turns.... so essentially when ever you want to..... a few of us believe that it is only possible once per round on the rogue's turn. Who is right?
This is from Sage Advice Compendium. You are incorrect.
Yep, never turn your back and try to walk away from a rogue.
They do have to meet the requirements of sneak attack (making an attack with a finesse weapon while having advantage or flanking, etc).
Usually you can at best get 2 per round because of limited reactions. And this is very much intentional.
Sentinel’s secondary ability is actually more useful in this regard for rogues. Anyone attacking an ally of yours will be taking those sneak attacks. It’s the perfect rogue tank feat that draws aggro like crazy.
See the difference between a Turn and a Round. A turn is just your turn, a round is *everyone's* turn. Once per Turn means on your turn and any other turn that you can use it on. If it said once per Round then once you used sneak attack, you wouldn't be able to use it again until the next time you went.
However, it is a role where the barbarian/rogue mutliclass can shine :)
Keep in mind that it is not "whenever you want to" ... characters only have one reaction for each round. Making an attack outside of your turn usually costs your reaction and as a result the rogue is usually limited to at most one sneak attack ON their turn and one sneak attack during the rest of the round.
Here are some ways to get a rogue a second sneak attack ...
Haste - rogue uses the haste attack action for one attack and uses their regular action to Ready an attack action. Both the haste attack and the Ready attack can qualify for sneak attack.
Battlemaster fighter can use commander's strike to give up one of their attacks to enable the rogue to make an attack on the fighter's turn that can also qualify for sneak attack.
Opportunity attacks - moving away from a rogue can trigger an op attack which can also be eligible for sneak attack. Sentinel makes this work even if the creature takes the disengage action. Sentinel can also trigger an attack if a creature attacks an adjacent ally. If for some reason the rogue also has PAM - this can trigger an op attack when a creature moves adjacent - but this combination rarely works for rogues since PAM isn't usually a good use of a feat for a rogue.
If you are using the UA Tunnel Fighter fighting style that allows for multiple op attacks without costing a reaction then a fighter/rogue might be able to qualify for up to one sneak attack on each turn but UA isn't really balanced content in the first place.
Very very true.