Talk:Brutal Sneak Attacker (5e Feat)

Notes

Intent

As touched on in one of my replies here, this feat was originally created as a way to allow my friend's character concept to be both thematically and mechanically viable. Their character was to be based off of Kocia Pierdocia, a character from vanripper's Daystone series of animations. In the animations, this character displays both characteristics of a fighter and rogue thief. This feat was created to bridge and smooth over the mechancial gaps between those two archetypes.

Balance

Rogue's sneak attack is a very strong feature, and I am aware of how carefully the original designers worked to limit ways to buff it. However, limiting it to finesse and ranged weapons feels like a thematic choice, not a balance-oriented one. Dexterity, the "god stat" as it is known, has a lot going for it, and choosing this feat to use weapons that deal higher than a d8 of damage requires one to build a character revolving around Strength, a less useful stat in comparison.

Ideas

A way to incorporate Strength more, to reward non-multiclassed rogues taking this feat. Some ideas:

• A minimum sneak attack damage based on your Strength modifier - Too powerful unless it was limited use. It also isn't very useful if you have a Strength of 13. Same goes for flat damage sneak attack based on Strength.
• Rerolling a number of sneak attack die based off of your Strength modifier - Could be good. Isn't useless at lower levels, still works at higher levels.
• Maximizing the value of a number of sneak attack dice based off of your Strength modifier - Kinda iffy at lower levels, fits nicely at higher levels (+10 str if str is 30, the max possible in game, 10d6 sneak attack dice, 60 guaranteed damage in one attack, anyone?). Would have to be use-limited.
• When you make a sneak attack with an attack that uses dexterity, you get a strength bonus to... damage? When you make a sneak attack with an attack that uses strength, you get a dex bonus... to hit? Maybe?

--ZarHakkar (talk) 19:56, 16 December 2021 (MST), appended 23:16, 5 January 2022 (MST)

Discussion

This idea has been brewing in my mind for a while, so tell me your thoughts, but looking at this feat, I am not sure the name Sneak Attack Expert fits. As it currently stands, I believe this feat is more about utilizing Strength with sneak attack than being a sneak attack expert, hence I believe the feat should be renamed. Perhaps the Brutal Sneak Attacker name would work? --Blobby383b (talk) 12:57, 31 January 2022 (MST)

I've been thinking the same thing for a while. The name originally was just something I thought up quickly to get the content on the wiki, so whatever idea you have for a change, I'm all for. --ZarHakkar (talk) 15:37, 31 January 2022 (MST)

Alright then I won't overthink it and just go for Brutal Sneak Attacker. --Blobby383b (talk) 12:56, 1 February 2022 (MST)