Stealth (Apath)

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Interpretation, News, Rewrite

The stealth rules are pretty unclear. Every time I talk with someone, it seems there is a new interpretations. Do you need cover and distraction, or just one of them? What constitutes a distraction? How often do you roll out of combat? Can you even use Stealth in combat? I decided to try and straighten out some of these question-marks.

Much of this article is merely recapitulation and interpretation; I explain the Stealth rules as I understand them. But certain parts are either new or rewritten.

State of alertness, group stealth, and taking 10 are new rules.

Invisibility has been made to confirm more closely to the normal Stealth rules. Rather than having its own rule for when a character is pinpointed or merely spotted, it uses the general state of alertness rule.

You are skilled at avoiding detection, allowing you to slip past foes or strike from an unseen position. This skill covers hiding and moving silently.

Hiding

Your Stealth check is opposed by the Perception check of anyone who might notice you. As soon as you attack or do something to draw attention to yourself, you exit stealth. For exceptions see sniping below.

You are usually either hidden against all enemies or not hidden at all; as long as your enemies communicate, they are able to point out your location to each other if any of them know where they are. Sometimes this can be to your advantage; an enemy who reports your location to its allies might make sounds which can reveal its own location.

If you are successfully using Stealth and attack another creature, you gain a +2 bonus on the attack roll, and the opponent cannot apply its Dexterity bonus to armor class. This allows you to use the sneak attack ability rogues and some other characters have. Only your first attack in a round gains this benefit.

Attackers don't know where you are, and must guess at a square to attack in. Even if they do pick the right square, they still suffer 50% miss chance due to total concealment.

Stealth Check Modifiers

Creature using Stealth is... Stealth modifier
Absolutely still (not moving, not taking any actions) +10
Moving at more than half speed, gesturing (sign language, somatic components), or whispering (talking to a creature within 5 ft.) –5
Working (standard or full-round action) or talking (verbal components) –10
Running or attacking –20

Perception Check Modifiers

These Perception check modifiers typically apply to perceive someone using Stealth.

Circumstance Perception
modifier
Distance -1 per 10 feet
Listening with ear against a conducting surface (door, floor) +2
Behind an obstacle (corner, closed door) -5
Against improved cover -10
Against total concealment (invisible, full cover) -20
Observer is distracted (busy, in melee) -5
Observer is asleep -10

The -20 modifier for total concealment assumes a situation with a fair amount of distractions, like a city street or busy room. In a quiet setting or when another sense could reveal the character this modifier is reduced to -10, or even less in an absolute quiet.

Conditions For Going Into Stealth

To hide using stealth, you need to satisfy two conditions, you need to be under cover or concealment, and all observers need to be distracted.

Distraction

An observer is distracted if one of the following applies:

  • The creature has a visible enemy (typically one of your allies) closer than you are.
  • The creatures is being distracted by a Bluff check.
  • You have total cover or total concealment against the creature.

Note that a distraction is only required to hide when you are currently being seen. If an opponent can't see you or you are currently hidden, you don't need a distraction.

Cover or Concealment

In order to hide, you need to have cover or concealment against all hostile observers.

Moving From Cover to Cover

When you start your turn using Stealth, you can leave cover or concealment and remain unobserved as long as you succeed at a Stealth check and end your turn in cover or concealment. Remember to apply movement modifiers to the rounds Stealth check.

Being Discovered

You roll Stealth checks to hide on your own turn, but sometimes you can be discovered by enemies during their turns. Creatures can spend a move action to make a Perception check opposed to your Stealth to spot you. All Perception modifiers apply, but situation modifiers to Stealth are ignored.

When an enemy moves in a way that negates your cover and/or concealment, and when an enemy moves adjacent to you or into your space, that enemy is allowed an opposed Perception check to spot you as a free action.

If you are attacked while in Stealth, you must make an opposed Stealth check as a free action to remain hidden; apply any hit point damage you took from the attack as a penalty on your Stealth check.

States of Alertness

Potential observers can be either be unaware or alert. Typically creatures start an encounter unaware and become alert due to failed Perception checks. This makes failing Stealth a two-tier process; the situation begins as fairly routine with unaware opponents and escalates on the first failed Perception check.

A creature that is unaware takes 10 on Perception checks, and is often distracted as well. If a Stealth check fails to overcome the Perception of an unaware creature, it becomes alert. It will alert nearby allies, but will not generally raise a general alarm unless there is reason to be extra careful.

An alert observer rolls Perception checks each time another character tries to use Stealth and may take move actions to use Perception to spot hidden enemies on its own turn. A creature that sees a plausible explanation for what created the disturbance that made them alert (often the result of a successful Bluff check) returns to being unaware, otherwise it remains alert for 1 minute. An alert observer that succeeds at an opposed Perception vs. Stealth check spots the sneaking character.

Creatures in combat are always alert. If an alarm is raised, creatures will become alert and remain alert for a time. Make a Fortitude save for a creature that tries to remain alert as long as it can, adding any bonuses on long-term stamina (such as +4 for the Endurance feat), the result is the number of minutes the creature can remain alert, thereafter alertness is spotty and the same check (DC 20) can be used to see if it is attentive at any given time. A creature immune to Fortitude effects, such as an undead or construct, can remain alert indefinitely.

It is easier to maintain alertness when moving; no checks required, but this reduces your speed to half. Moving at normal speed and being alert is as tiring as moving at a hustle.

Camouflage and Hiding Objects

A creature can use Stealth to try and hide an object or even another creature. This is a full-round action for each 5 ft. square to be camouflaged, and uses the size modifiers of the creature or object to be hidden. All normal conditions for Stealth must be fulfilled. Use the stealth bonus of the creature that did the hiding rather than that of the hidden creature, making checks as required when observers could see through the camouflage. If the object or creature moves or is moved, this use of Stealth ends. Camouflage netting is useful in this situation.

Group Stealth

When a group tries to move stealthily the following procedure can be used. Do not use this rule in combat or against aware opponents; it is intended for groups trying to avoid combat.

Each character makes a Stealth check. Use the best result. Each character beyond the character with the best roll penalizes the main character's Stealth check by -4. If a character's Stealth check was 10 or more the penalty for that character is reduced to -2. This is a variant of the Aid Other action.

Characters can hang back to lessen the impact they have on the main character's Stealth check. Being 50 ft. behind a door or corner allows a character to not roll Stealth and always provide a -2 penalty. If the distance is 100 ft. or more, the character doesn't count at all.

Shadowing

In a setting that regularly provides concealment or cover, such as a forest or crowded street, Stealth can be used to unobtrusively follow another creature. This is handled with an opposed roll of Stealth vs. Perception, and targets generally begin unaware.

The shadow needs to stay close to not lose sight of his quarry, but also remain behind cover at all times. Range penalties do not apply, instead the distance between shadow and quarry varies from moment to moment. At any given time, the distance is 2d6 x 10 ft., or 1d6 x 10 ft. in very tight terrain or dense crowds.

Sniping

If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth as a move action without becoming visible in between. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location. If you pass this check, you were never visible, and targets have no idea where you are.

Note that if sniping fails, you can take a 5 ft. step and fulfill the conditions on entering Stealth at the beginning of a round. This grants the attack advantages of Stealth and avoids all circumstance penalties due to your actions in the previous round. You will end your turn visible.

Special Cases

Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sight

Rangers and some other characters gain improved stealth abilities. Camouflage means you always have concealment for the purpose of Stealth. Hide in plain sight means you can always have cover and all observers are considered distracted. These benefits only apply to the use of Stealth; they offer no other advantages.

Invisibility

Invisibility denies all observers a line-of-sight and thus normally imposes a -20 penalty on Perception checks as above. Invisibility provides both distraction and concealment. If an observer can perceive the invisible character with another sense, such as blindsight, invisibility, or clear tracks in sand or snow, the invisibility is downgraded to normal concealment or entirely negated, as the GM decides.

Senses Other Than Sight

Most creatures rely on sight for penetrating stealth, but there are some special cases.

Darkvision and low-light vision allows creatures to ignore concealment in conditions of poor light, but it is still possible to use contrasting shadows against such vision. Thus, it can actually become easier to hide against creatures with darkvision by introducing a light source, and thus shadows.

Alternate Primary Senses: There are some senses that penetrate most cover and concealment. See blindsense, blindsight, and tremorsense. Even in this case you can still hide if you manage to somehow conceal yourself against the sense in question, such as masking your scent against scent-based blindsight or not touch the ground against tremorsense. Camouflage is a great asset here.

Secondary Senses: Secondary senses can penetrate Stealth but are more vulnerable to distractions. This is where the variable modifier for total concealment comes from; with less distraction there is more opportunity for secondary senses to work.

A character that has one or more secondary senses put out of action suffer a -4 penalty on Perception checks, see the deafened condition.

Action

Usually none. Normally, you make a Stealth check as part of movement, so it doesn't take a separate action. You can use stealth as part of a 5 ft. step. You can only make one attempt at Stealth per round.

Taking 10 or 20

Once you are successfully hidden and are aware of all potential observers, you can take 10 on Stealth checks. Since unaware observers generally take 10 on their Perception checks and are often distracted as well, it is possible to remain in Stealth indefinitely unless something untoward happens, such as new creatures entering the scene. You cannot take 20 on Stealth checks.

Size and Stealth

Creatures gain a bonus or penalty on Stealth checks based on their size: Fine +16, Diminutive +12, Tiny +8, Small +4, Large –4, Huge –8, Gargantuan –12, Colossal -16. This changes the basic skill check modifier for Stealth; it is not a situational modifier.

External Links

Discussion Sources

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