How does stealth attack work?

[K-Inspector (게임어사)]

So how does stealth work in the game? I made Octavia an archane trickster. How do I use her effectively in combat? Does he have to go on stealth and attack on the intial spell casting? I am a bit lost in stealth mechanic. Can anybody shed some light?

[DodgeyB]

Anytime something is denied their dexterity bonus, you can sneak attack essentially. So if you have 4 guys dog piling on a mob, and octavia fires off a spell it should sneak attack.

[Kommissar K]

Sneak attack in pathfinder occurs whenever the target is denied their dex bonus (usually at the start of combat where you surprised them), or when they are flanked.

In the PC game, flanked is described as when an enemy is being attacked by multiple people.

So for Octavia, as long as she is attacking a common target, she'll get sneak attack. Stealth isn't particularly needed.

Note she has a very poor Con, so survivability may be an issue.

As well, Arcane Trickster only gets sneak attack damage on spells as its pinnacle feature at level 10.

[DodgeyB]

Originally posted by Kommissar Klose:

Sneak attack in pathfinder occurs whenever the target is denied their dex bonus (usually at the start of combat where you surprised them), or when they are flanked.

In the PC game, flanked is described as when an enemy is being attacked by multiple people.

So for Octavia, as long as she is attacking a common target, she'll get sneak attack. Stealth isn't particularly needed.

Note she has a very poor Con, so survivability may be an issue.

As well, Arcane Trickster only gets sneak attack damage on spells as its pinnacle feature at level 10.

I think they changed that feature in the PC version, as my octavia is sneak attacking with scorching ray already and boy howdy does it hurt

That may be because its flagging scorching ray because of the attack roll though, and a bug on the back end

[Naked Granny]

1. Octavia is a woman.

2. The term you are looking for is "Sneak Attack" and it's a technical term referring to a specific mechanic.

3. Targets can be subject to Sneak Attacks for a number of reasons, the most common of which is being Flanked. From the PnP game:

The rogue’s attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.

In this game, there's a subtle but very important difference from the tabletop game's rules I just quoted there: the rogue does not have to be the one to flank her target, all that matters is that the target is flanked...

In this game, "flanking" is not something the attacker actually does by being in the correct position, it's a status inflicted upon a target by the circumstance of being under melee attack by two enemies.

In this game, a combatant is "flanked" if any two of its enemies are attacking it in melee.

So for as long as you have any two of your party members attacking Octavia's target in melee, then Octavia can apply Sneak Attack dice on any of her attack rolls against that target. Octavia herself can be one of those two people, but only if she's using a melee weapon to do it (ill advised).

TL;DR: keep Octavia out of melee, let her use Acid Splash or whatever other cantrip she wants to use so long as it is a Ranged Touch Attack, and have her target a foe which Val and Harrim are both attacking.

[Naked Granny]

Originally posted by Jotunblut:

I think they changed that feature in the PC version, as my octavia is sneak attacking with scorching ray already and boy howdy does it hurt

That may be because its flagging scorching ray because of the attack roll though, and a bug on the back end

No, that's working exactly as intended.

Scorching Ray is a Ranged Touch Attack. If you make an Attack Roll... then you can apply your Sneak Attack die if the victim qualifies as being subject to Sneak Attack...

Welcome to the Arcane Trickster.

What he meant by

Originally posted by Kommissar Klose:

As well, Arcane Trickster only gets sneak attack damage on spells as its pinnacle feature at level 10.

Is that in the PnP game, they could apply Sneak Attack on spells which **didn't** require an Attack Roll (such as Fireball), so long as their targets qualified as subject to Sneak Attacks (for example, if you caught them Flat Footed in a Surprise Round). It was their "capstone" class feature in PnP called "Surprise Spells"[www.d20pfsrd.com]. But before they get that capstone, they still have to make an Attack Roll to get their Sneak Attack dice normally.

[K-Inspector (게임어사)]

Then my question is what is the point of invisibility spell or greater invisibility?

[Hobocop]

Originally posted by Milkyshutter:

Then my question is what is the point of invisibility spell or greater invisibility?

Greater Invisibility is a fantastic short-term defensive buff since it grants the 50% total concealment miss chance like Displacement while also letting you hit flat-footed AC. Normal Invis is good for scouting.

[RoboGerbil]

scouting is quite useful in indoor and underground environments later in the game. invis the rogue and disable all the traps in a room with a big fight beforehand. octavia has great stats for either wis or rogue, so she can really go either way. plus you can give her the accomplished sneak attacker and the teamwork that does the same for massive sneak attacks pretty quick.