Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General There's something odd with sneak attacks

Currently there's the attack button and the sneak attack button. It's very hard to tell if the conditions for a sneak attack are met (have advantage, ally is within 1.5m). The sneak attack button is available even when it shouldn't. Is the result a regular attack? Why not have only the attack button and if the conditions are met, add the sneak damage? Is there somewhere we can see the damage rolls, I'm never sure if the attack was a sneak attack or not.

Honestly, I think Sneak Attack needs to be automated, not something you activate.

I agree that the sneak attack button should only light up if the conditions are met. But for now you can hover over the enemy you're trying to attack, and if it says you have a bonus to hit from advantage (due to sneaking or height etc) then should tell you if you'll get sneak attack. You can see the damage rolls by hovering over the combat log text on the bottom right of the screen.


Eh, I think it's essential that we have the option to activate it. Sometimes you might want to sneak attack only on the second (i.e., off-hand) attack. Say you want to finish off a 1 hp enemy right next to you and then attack a 10hp enemy behind them. I don't want to waste my sneak attack on the 1hp enemy.

Larian don't overcomplicate things!
Make sneak an auto passive.
Make cursor change shape into a sneak attack looking cursor, so you know that conditions fort SA been meat.
Done.

Agreed with ElComunista

Definitely needs to be automatic. The above suggestion is pretty good. Change the cursor, make it crystal clear when the upcoming attack is going to be a sneak attack.

I would be fine with it being automatic since attacking twice (main hand/offhand) is done automatically. I would just ask that they apply it to crits automatically.

The only thing that could hold them back is player choice when they multiclass. Consider this: Fighter 2/Rogue X who has Action Surge. What if I, as a player crit fishing, don't get it on my first set of attacks, so I use Action Surge to see if I can get it on the second set of attacks? I wouldn't be able to do this because the game would have used my sneak attack during the first set of attacks.

I agree that having it be automated is the way to go - keep it simple. The trick is to make it an automatic effect that triggers on a hit, not an action which is separate from a weapon attack and thus can be exhausted. "The first time you hit with a weapon attack (and the other conditions are met) each turn, deal Xd6 additional damage." That's a little less flexible than in 5e, but ease of use outweighs that tradeoff.

The most important thing is that I don't think we need a separate button for sneak attack, just like we don't need different buttons for "attack" and "attack with bonus damage from Hex" for warlocks.

I´m inclined to agree but there´s one thing about 5e rogues,as already said here: You can only make ONE sneak attack per turn.

So maybe you want to SA with your off-hand weapon or with your next attack (if you multiclass and have several attacks per turn or have action surge) so an automated SA would take away those tactical options, forcing you to SA an enemy maybe you do not want to:
Ej. you have an almost-dead distracted enemy nearby and a full-health shaman few meters away, threatened by one of your allies. You may want to use your first attack without SA to terminate the first one and then move and stab the shaman with a full SA damage using the distraction your companion provides.

I agree it should be automated.
As for those saying that it will take away tactical choice: that is why i think it should be a toggle. Much like they did with the Great Weapon Master Feat. (if you haven't seen that in action yet, it works much like the opportunity attack button, where you can activate and deactivate whether you want it to apply)

I agree

Then, if not automated, there at least needs to be some sort of indication for when Sneak Attack is actually valid.

Isn't it basically automated? Just don't use normal attacks, but sneak attacks, and you crit if you should , you hit if you shouldn't.
Also there is an indicator by the hit chance % sign, which say if you've got advantage.

I would like an easier indicator when we have Advantage and when Sneak Attack will apply. It could be clear when you mouse-over/hover a target.

Currently, I think you need to hold Alt and mouse-over. I need to check/test, as I have only spotted it by "mistake" only a few times.

Maybe I did not understand your post, but I think when you point an enemy it says your hit perc and also if you have bonuses and why: advantage, high ground, etc. I think it´s a toggle, you only have to push once.
They also show the zones with bonuses to sneak in the map or you can also check their stats with the right button. Not really a fan of the latter but you can simply not do that if you do not want to, it´s not always there.

I´m satisfied with the UI so far for an EA, but there is a lot of room for improvement.