Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Sneak attack damage does not work

The extra damage from sneak attack on rogues does not work. Neither having an enemy within 1.5 meters nor being hidden actually adds the sneak attack damage. This can be verified by hovering over the damage in the log with the mouse and the extra d6 damage is never added to the attack (melee or ranged) regardless of being hidden or having a friendly close to the target. Since rogues don't get an extra attack like most other melee classes, the missing sneak attack damage leaves them very gimped and not worth playing atm. Some examples of the damage log not registering the extra d6 of sneak attack damage. The damage shown in the second image is from the killing blow to the enthralled schoolmaster for 6, without the extra d6 damage even though I was both hidden (as you can see in the log from the hiding effect being lost from the attack being made from the rear) and the target having an enemy (my party member) easily within 1.5 meters as she was able to attack him with a melee strike before my turn.

I can confirm I've been having this problem as well.

Sneak attack damage is not automatically added (maybe it should be a toggle like the Warlock's Repelling Blast).
To use Sneak Attack you have to select its action (in your toolbar it's 5 for melee and 6 for ranged).

If you zoom in on the log he posted, you can see he used Sneak Attack (Melee). I reported the same issue a while ago, although I'm fairly positive I've seen literally one sneak attack, although it may have just purely been the a high roll with the 7d6 wyvern poison I was using. Didn't check the log. Definitely going to be swapping out the rogue until later in the EA when this is hopefully adjusted for consistency.

I am not quite sure how all the melee mechanics are working (or should work) atm. Sneak attack has nothing to do with attacking from behind, right? Because afaik this gives you advantage on the roll, for all melee attacks, not sure what exactly this means in the game though. Highest of 2 rolls?
But then there is the backstab mechanic for the rogue, also not sure how it works.

In general I think there should be better visual combat indicators for the stuff that is going on, similar to the text that pops up for criticals; the same should apply for reactions, backstabs, sneak attacks etc.

From what I know, in 5e, the Rogue needs Advantage on a roll in order for Sneak Attack to be added.

That said, if the Rogue is invisible or hiding before the attack, it should have Advantage and cause Sneak damage.

Other example : flanking with an ally should give Advantage and cause Sneak damage.

SUGGESTIONS :
- when hovering or targeting with the Sneak attack icon, an indicator should show if it is relevant (will apply) or not ;
- should be a clearer indicator for Advantage / Disadvantage on a target before attacking (I am pretty sure there is one, I am guessing, but have not spotted it yet honestly). Will look again.

Also for me - sneak attack doesn't work for my rogue

You have to USE the ability to sneak attack, it's on the hotbar on the bottom right of the screen. It won't trigger on its own. If you meet the criterias for sneak attack, then you will get extra damage.

For me, the sneak-attack damage is shown as a different line in the combat log. It does not say it's from sneak-attack, but I attacked once by clicking the sneak-attack skill first, and I got 2 lines for damage dealt. I had 1 dagger equipped.

If you look at the original combat log, it shows "6 Piercing" which he later zoomed in on, and "3 Piercing" 2 lines down (seperated because the initial damage killed the mob).
Zoom in on that, it's the Sneak attack damage.
Not sure how he zoomed the whole thing, and somehow missed it. He's not dual wielding, by the picture, and no "Offhand attack button" so what did he think the extra damage was from?

Yeah, that second line is the sneak attack damage.
The formula for how many sneak attack dice a rogue has is ((Level - 1) / 2) + 1, always rounding down.
So, on levels 1 and 2 you have one sneak attack die, on levels 3 and 4 you have two sneak attack dice and so on...

The problem here, that may be the reason for the confusion, is that the game, instead of rolling the appropriate number of dice, instead rolls only one d6 and then multiplies for the amount of dice (as if they all had landed on the same value).

That's what the second line reads. 4 (1d6 Piercing) means a single roll of a d6, resulting in a 4. then multiplied by the formula to know how many dice.

Sorry if this has already been covered, but what exactly does the 'backstab' mechanic give your character? Not Sneak Attack, but when you are behind an opponent, you get a gree narrow that says "Backstab" but I'm having trouble finding a description for exactly what it grants you (like a +2 to hit or something?)

Thanks!

(BTW -great work so far, looking forward to the continued development and polish over the next few months!)

Sorry for the long post, but got really into figuring what was going with Hiding.

TLDR: Hiding gives you advantage on the attack roll, but isn't granting sneak attack damage as it should. Most other cases I've checked so far are working.

As some have already pointed out, sneak attack damage is shown on a different line, however I've found some cases where it is failing to add the sneak attack damage. After testing awhile, hiding never seems to give you sneak attack damage even though it is giving advantage.
First noticed when I had ranged attack critical while I was hiding, only to deal 6 damage total.



This next pic shows it was at advantage, yet no sneak attack damage was added.




Here's several more, both ranged and melee, same thing. First pic shows what bonuses I had to the attack, second pic is the result.











And to balance this post out, here's example of sneak attack working as it should. If anyone curious about the "Backstab" bonus, it's just advantage if you're directly behind them. Having an ally adjacent isn't needed. Not part of 5e afaik.

Ranged Height Advantage. Not Hiding.






Continued below...

Melee Backstab.




Ally Adjacent. No advantage or disadvantage.









TLDR: Hiding gives you advantage on the attack roll, but isn't granting sneak attack damage as it should. Most other cases I've checked so far are working.

Also as a smaller thing, currently no way to do sneak attack with an offhand weapon if your main hand misses. That's kinda the whole point of dual-wielding as a rogue, so would like to see offhand sneak attack action added please.

In both BG3 and 5e you don't need advantage on the attack roll to get a sneak attack if there is an enemy within 5 feet (1.8m) of your target (i.e. a party member or npc hostile towards your target and within melee range of your target). That being said, I'm all for the idea for some kind of indicator that a sneak attack is possible from current position.

Unlike Divinity, there isn't a backstab mechanic that gives bonus damage, but the sneak attack from rogues that can be melee or ranged (bow, xbow, etc.) that is a d6 of damage, but you get more d6's worth of damage as you progress in the rogue class, with 10d6 bonus damage as a level 20 rogue.

If you bothered to actually read the post and look at the pictures, or even read the responses on this thread, you will see that I did USE the sneak attack ability, as it is listed in the combat log. Someone else already pointed this out on this thread, too.

I agree, you are supposed to be able to chose which hit from dual-wielding procs the sneak attack damage. Hopefully this will be addressed at some point.

I have noticed that the sneak attack damage is in a different line too (in the off chance that it somehow actually works) but I don't get the damage about 90% of the time that I meet the criteria for sneak attack.