Sneak attacks? I just don't get these mechanics...

[jamesc70]

1. Hiding means stealth yes? Why two separate words for this? Are there mechanics of hiding that are different than stealth?

2. Stealth melee/ranged attacks say the prerequisite is 'advantage, another char within 1.5m, and not have disadvantage'... so is stealth/hiding actually needed to use these attacks? They are not greyed out when I'm not hiding, but I thought that might be a bug.

3. Stealth ranged attack says 1d6+3+1d6 piercing, so to me that means a minimum of 1+1+3 = 5 damage, yet out of 4 attacks where I was hiding and had advantage as shown in the bottom left, I never did more than 4 damage. Shouldn't the range of values of damage look like 5-15?

Thanks for any replies, this is confusing...

[Skailon]

I think sneak attack is when you attack enemy before the battle. So you can hide, sneak to an enemy and stab him. so you will have advantage in battle. Or shot him with the spell from a distance,

[Mosey]

1. Yes
2. No
3. Some things, such as imps specifically, have physical resist.

[Ard Feainn]

A sneak attack occurs when you either have advantage on the Attack roll, or the enemy is engaged in melee by an ally and you don't have disadvantage.

Being stealthed and undetected gives you an advantage on attack rolls.

[Laiders72]

Sneak attacks in DnD 5th are a mechanic rogues use to out-DPS other physical damage classes if certain conditions are met. In 3.5 and 2nd those conditions were a little stricter, though did not mandate stealth. In 5th the conditions are more liberal. It is a common and serious problem that inexperienced 5th Ed DMs unduly restrict sneak attacks.

Sneak attacks are allowed on any attack you have advantage with (this would include attacks on unaware enemies) and on any attacks were another enemy of the target is within 5ft and you do not have disadvantage.

Rogues should get sneak attacks on most of their attacks. This should be possible even if they never make a single stealth check.

Back to BG 3. I only just got access to the rogue companion (playing a tiefling warlock myself) but my brief read of the tootips leads me to believe Larian have implemented the above pretty accurately. Your rogue should be getting sneak attacks most of the time and you do not need to use stealth to get them. As rogues get to hide in combat using your bonus action (Cunning Action has been gutted in BG and allows you to do a lot more in 5th), you can use stealth as a source of advantage. You do not need to.

Finally yes 2d6 + 3 has a damage range of 5 - 15. If we half this damage range, we get 2.5 - 7.5. The average roll being around a 5. If you were fighting imps, you would expect to get 4s (25%) and 5s (30.56%). Imps have resistance to mundane (ie not magically enchanted or coated in silver) slashing, piercing and bludgeoning weapons.

I mean to be honest imps in tabletop 5th have resistance or immunity to most common damage types. They also have advantage on saving against magic effects and built in invisibility for free every turn. Plus a fairly brutal poison attack. Yeah imps in 5th are no joke. 1 imp should take ~ 4 1st level PCs to kill. Luckily Larian tuned down the tutorial imps.

[Edstyles]

Sneak attacks sometimes dont work from what ive seen cause at the moment you launch an attack you are detected. In other words you are standing in the cone of vision. No idea if its ment to be like that or not, but its what ive experienced. Suposedly there is to be a roll to know if you passed the stealth check, but im guessing its not there and fails everytime instead.

1 easy way to get sneak attack from what ive seen is from using height advantage and shoot arrows.

I think also threatened can work with meele, but mostly tested ranged attacks so far.

[Laiders72]

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Sneak attacks sometimes dont work from what ive seen cause at the moment you launch an attack you are detected. In other words you are standing in the cone of vision. No idea if its ment to be like that or not, but its what ive experienced. Suposedly there is to be a roll to know if you passed the stealth check, but im guessing its not there and fails everytime instead.

1 easy way to get sneak attack from what ive seen is from using height advantage and shoot arrows.

I think also threatened can work with meele, but mostly tested ranged attacks so far.

On stealth checks, you can open the roll log by clicking a small arrow about halfway up on the right side of the screen. You can check whether you are making stealth checks or not.

The easiest way to get sneak attacks should just be to have a frontliner. Otherwise, literally any source of advantage will do.

[Meowella]

I have found sneak attack is not working properly. Essentially if you hide in front of an enemy, then shoot them with advantage, you don't get the sneak damage while if you do the same thing from behind, aka the 2nd edition style backstab, then you get it.

So as of right now Sneak Attack has to be assumed to be not working properly until Larian clarify it.

[jamesc70]

I did notice the term 'backstab' show up when I was behind an enemy, but haven't checked the logs... I'll try using that to see if I can figure it out.

[jffrspuk]

Originally posted by Phill:

I have found sneak attack is not working properly. Essentially if you hide in front of an enemy, then shoot them with advantage, you don't get the sneak damage while if you do the same thing from behind, aka the 2nd edition style backstab, then you get it.

So as of right now Sneak Attack has to be assumed to be not working properly until Larian clarify it.

I don't know if that is a case of we have to call it and use the sneak attack options. However, I did notice that the sneak attack dice are not escalating on level progression. (An extra D6 on every odd level)

[PapaGiorgio]

Originally posted by Phill:

I have found sneak attack is not working properly. Essentially if you hide in front of an enemy, then shoot them with advantage, you don't get the sneak damage while if you do the same thing from behind, aka the 2nd edition style backstab, then you get it.

So as of right now Sneak Attack has to be assumed to be not working properly until Larian clarify it.

Are you certain you actually successfully hid and had advantage when attacking from the front?

Enemies have a vision cone in front of them, and as far as I can tell, you cannot hide in an enemy's vision cone (which jives with the tabletop, you can't successfully hide if an opponent can see you, no vanishing in plain sight). If you are behind the enemy you won't be in the vision cone and can easily hide (which is a bit different than the tabletop since it normally assumes 360 degree vision in combat, although there are optional facing rules)

[BirdDinosaur]

a blinded creature also allows advantage thus sneak attack and attacking a prone creature with a melee attack has advantage too so sneak attack

[tempest.of.emptiness]

Originally posted by jamesc70:

1. Hiding means stealth yes? Why two separate words for this? Are there mechanics of hiding that are different than stealth?

Stealth is a skill. Hiding is something that you might use that skill to do. When you try to hide, you use your Stealth to attempt to remain hidden and other creatures use their Perception to attempt to detect you. If a creature fails to detect you then you are hidden from that creature, but if they succeed at detecting you then you are no longer hidden. You can attempt to hide again, but to have any chance of success you will probably have to break line-of-sight by moving behind that creature or behind a large obstruction like a boulder or a wall. If the creature is not alone then this can become even more difficult, because you may need to break line-of-sight to not only that creature but also all of its allies.

Sometimes there can be some confusion between the terms "stealth" and "hiding". For example, you might say "I attack from stealth" or "I attack from hiding", both meaning the same thing: that the target is unaware of your presence at the time of your attack. Once you understand the relationship between Stealth and hiding it will be easier to understand these cases.

Originally posted by jamesc70:

2. Stealth melee/ranged attacks say the prerequisite is 'advantage, another char within 1.5m, and not have disadvantage'... so is stealth/hiding actually needed to use these attacks? They are not greyed out when I'm not hiding, but I thought that might be a bug.

I assume you are referring to the action buttons "Sneak Attack (Melee)" and "Sneak Attack (Ranged)". It is important to use the right terms, because "Sneak Attack" does not mean the same thing as "Stealth", although attacking from hiding is one possible way to qualify for a sneak attack.

Further confusing the issue is the fact that these buttons can be used even when one does not qualify for a sneak attack. That's why you are not seeing the buttons grey out; they never do. If you use one of those buttons to make an attack and you do not qualify for a sneak attack then you just do a regular attack and do not get the bonus damage from sneak attack.

It may be a bug that they don't grey out when you can't make a sneak attack, but it isn't necessarily a bug that they don't grey out when you aren't hiding. That is because it is possible to make a sneak attack without hiding. There are other ways to qualify for a sneak attack.
Other posters before me have explained this, so I won't repeat it.

Originally posted by Skailon:

I think sneak attack is when you attack enemy before the battle. So you can hide, sneak to an enemy and stab him. so you will have advantage in battle. Or shot him with the spell from a distance,

Sneak attacks do not have to occur before a battle; you can sneak attack in combat if you qualify for it. Attacking from surprise is something that would happen before combat starts, and surprise is one way to get advantage which would then allow you to sneak attack. Any other form of advantage will also do, so if your Wizard uses Ray of Frost and knocks an enemy prone then your Rogue can move into melee and attack them with advantage because they are prone, and so qualify for sneak attack (in this case without needing to be hidden).

In the right circumstances you might even be able to literally jump behind and enemy and then hide, and then attack with advantage because you are hidden from them, allowing your attack to do sneak attack damage.

Originally posted by jamesc70:

I did notice the term 'backstab' show up when I was behind an enemy, but haven't checked the logs... I'll try using that to see if I can figure it out.

In previous editions of D&D, backstab was a thing. Essentially, Thieves got a damage multiplier when they attacked an enemy from behind. This mechanic was phased out in favor of sneak attack, which gives bonus dice instead of a damage multiplier and has different requirements to be used.

I am not sure why Larian has introduced a mechanic called "Backstab" in Baldur's Gate III. To my knowledge, 5e D&D does not include this mechanic. Also, it is potentially confusing to older D&D players, because they may assume that there is a connection to the older "Backstab" ability of Thieves, or that it is related to "Sneak Attack"... neither of which is true.

As best as I can tell, in BG3 anyone who attacks someone from behind receives a backstab modifier to their chance to hit. The modifier is a bonus to their chance to hit. In other words, if you attack someone from behind then you are more likely to hit them. That's all it is. There's no connection between sneak attack and backstab (although, knowing how backstab works, you are better off if you perform your sneak attack from behind your target because backstab will make your attack more likely to hit the target).

It is also important to realize that anyone can qualify for backstab, not just Rogues. I've started having Lae'Zel jump behind her target before she swings at them, which improves her accuracy considerably.