Sneak Attack damage from feints

[Evilschemer]

Sneak Attack damage can be applied whenever the target cannot apply its Dodge or Parry bonus to their Defense, or when the target is flanked.

Is this an editing mistake or an actual change to the d20 SRD rules?

In the d20 SRD, it says that Sneak Attack deals extra damage any time 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.

I just noticed this difference last night. I've been allowing Sneak Attack damage to flat-footed targets and the subjects of feints. Both are denied their DEX bonus to their Defense. Reading the Conan rule above makes it sound like Sneak Attack damage wouldn't be applied to flat-footed or feinted targets.

I can see it being taken out for flat-footed and feinted targets. The thief in our party is one of the deadliest of all the fighters. He just feints and STAB! Does over 20 points in sneak attack damage, the target fails its FORT save, dead target. One shot one kill. The Soldiers in the group can't even duplicate that!

Official ruling? Other GM experiences or comments?

 

[Anonymous]

From the AE:

A sneak attack can only be made against a character who is unable to use Dodge Defence or Parry Defence to defend himself, or who is being flanked. A character who is blinded, flat-footed, stunned, helpless, the victim of a successful feint, pinned or being attacked by an invisible opponent can thus be sneak attacked.

If a character is able to defend himself with either Dodge Defence or Parry Defence (such as a character with the Reflexive Parry feat who is attacked when flat-footed) then he is not susceptible to a sneak attack, unless the sneak attack is of a kind that the chosen defence cannot help against. For example, a flat-footed character with Reflexive Parry could still be sneak attacked by a character using a ranged weapon, because ranged attacks cannot be parried.

 

[sbarrie]

I can see it being taken out for flat-footed and feinted targets. The thief in our party is one of the deadliest of all the fighters. He just feints and STAB! Does over 20 points in sneak attack damage, the target fails its FORT save, dead target. One shot one kill. The Soldiers in the group can't even duplicate that!

Remember that a feint requires a standard action to perform, so to do it regularly requires the Improved Feint feat. Even then the thief could only make a 5' step, feint and attack each round.

Also, the defender gets a roll based on Sense Motive plus base attack bonus. That makes mooks easy to feint, but higher level opponents very difficult.

A soldier will likely be better protected and hit more reliably than the thief. If your soldiers can't inflict 20 points with one hit, give them some bardiches and ask whether they're using the Power Attack feat.