"Rogue + Haste = 2 Sneak Attacks per round" - How do YOU rule it?

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures

D&D 2024 has been out for a while now - and still I could not find a definitive answer on this question anywhere:

A Rogue with Haste can use the haste action to attack (doing sneak attack damage) and then use their regular action to ready an attack (doing sneak attack damage again outside of their own turn). So far so good - and perfectly fine with RAW.

The tricky bit is dealing with the trigger the player selects.
Here's the relevant rules text:

"You decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction."
"When the trigger occurs you can ... trigger your reaction right after the trigger finishes*." (PHB 2024, p.372)*

So the trigger needs to be perceivable and it needs to finish - as long as those two things are true, the rogue can sneak attack away.

E.g. "I attack as soon as the target starts its turn" or "I attack as soon as I am able to use sneak attack again." won't work because they have no perceivable trigger.

However, things get much fuzzier from here on out. Here are some I would personally not allow:

  • "I attack as soon as the target moves a muscle" - Let's say the target moves its muscles to run away, how far do they get before they finish moving a muscle? If it instead swings its weapon at the rogue, does "moving a musicle" only finish once the attack is finished?
  • "I attack as soon as I see an enemy within range." (while visible enemies are already within range) - Technically, the trigger is perceivable, but it is worded in a way that triggers immediately/automatically.

Here are some I'd allow:

  • "I attack as soon as any (or a specific) target moves into a space within my range where I can leand a sneak attack." - This one is easy to track and circumstances affect whether or not a second sneak attack will occur (not guaranteed to work 100% of the time).
  • "As soon as an enemy within my range fulfills sneak attack conditions and makes an attack, I retalitate." - The monster's attack (the trigger) finishes first - then the sneak attack reaction occurs. Again, this won't work 100% of the time, as the target might not attack that turn, or it might make its attack in a space where sneak attack won't work (e.g. none of the rogue's allies within 5 feet).

A crafty player will no doubt try and optimize their ready action by setting an incredibly elaborate trigger such as "As soon as an enemy moves into a space, becomes visible, makes an attack, casts a spell or uses a special ability, I attack it, if it is within my range and a suitable sneak-attack target."

How do you rule this in your own game - or is there some errata that clears this up?

Posted Oct 20, 2025, 7:34 PM UTC

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