Help with Sneak Attacks
Aquilla
Member Posts: 4
Hello! I'm currently having some difficulty tracking down information around how Sneak Attack works in relation to custom classes. Sneak Attack features do not seem to be listed under the hardcoded feats of related classes in the NWN:EE wiki; however, when I try to track down relevant forum threads, all I can find is an early thread from the EE development stages indicating that Sneak Attack is hardcoded, and that it would be difficult or impossible to unhardcode it. So I'm unsure what the current state of the game is, and whether what I would like to do is possible or feasible.
The two particular points I am interested in are:
1. Is it possible to create classes with (stacking) sneak attack progression? Blackguard is the obvious point of comparison for NWN:EE, and Arcane Trickster in NWN2.
2. Is it possible to make "variant" sneak attacks which have some, but not all, of the same requirements as the basic sneak attack? E.g. in 3e you have the Scout's Skirmish ability, which shares some sneak attack limitations (sneak-attack-immune creatures are unaffected, must be within 30 feet), lacks others (no requirement for the target to be flat-footed), and adds other new restrictions (must be in medium or lighter armour, must have moved at least 10 feet in the turn).
In theory, I know that at least (2) should be possible, as I believe the PRC has a Scout class (although I've also read there are some issues with e.g. not getting the Skirmish benefit on ranged attacks even when within 30 feet).
What I don't know is what the scripting requirements would be to pull of either (1) or (2), especially as digging around the 2das and internal script files I can't seem to find a sneak attack script already in the toolset (though I could easily have overlooked it as I was just guessing for names to search for). Has anyone who's done something like this before got any advice to help point me in the right direction?
The two particular points I am interested in are:
1. Is it possible to create classes with (stacking) sneak attack progression? Blackguard is the obvious point of comparison for NWN:EE, and Arcane Trickster in NWN2.
2. Is it possible to make "variant" sneak attacks which have some, but not all, of the same requirements as the basic sneak attack? E.g. in 3e you have the Scout's Skirmish ability, which shares some sneak attack limitations (sneak-attack-immune creatures are unaffected, must be within 30 feet), lacks others (no requirement for the target to be flat-footed), and adds other new restrictions (must be in medium or lighter armour, must have moved at least 10 feet in the turn).
In theory, I know that at least (2) should be possible, as I believe the PRC has a Scout class (although I've also read there are some issues with e.g. not getting the Skirmish benefit on ranged attacks even when within 30 feet).
What I don't know is what the scripting requirements would be to pull of either (1) or (2), especially as digging around the 2das and internal script files I can't seem to find a sneak attack script already in the toolset (though I could easily have overlooked it as I was just guessing for names to search for). Has anyone who's done something like this before got any advice to help point me in the right direction?
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Comments
I've made hacky stuff by applying an OnHit CastSpell to weapons in the OnEquip scripts (tagging the effect for easy removal), then editing the spell script to do what I want. It isn't the greatest implementation and has its shortcomings, but you can do quite a bit with it.
Hmm, OK. Thanks for the tip on the hacky approach - I'll have a see if that can get me where I want to go!