Sneak and perception checks

[dob]

If a defender is actively alert, watching a specific area, doing nothing else, would it be fair to waive the roll and say they're taking 20? I've got an extremely sneaky scout in my party and am looking for ways for defenses to keep her honest.

What's a reasonable bonus for someone using the cover and concealment granted by a hunter's blind to hide?

Has anyone come up with any fixes for spot and listen that account for distance more accurately?

[Ernir]

Answering from a 3.5 standpoint, but a casual check didn't reveal any rules changes.


If a defender is actively alert, watching a specific area, doing nothing else, would it be fair to waive the roll and say they're taking 20? I've got an extremely sneaky scout in my party and am looking for ways for defenses to keep her honest.

In the Disguise rules, it is said that a suspicious guard is generally taking 10 on his Perception checks. This isn't repeated in either the Perception skill description itself or the Sneak skill description, but gives a reasonable precedent, if you don't want to roll.

If the scout is high enough level to be effortlessly sneaking past mundane guards, she's probably at a level where mundane guards aren't an effective means of defense, TBH. Try magical alarms, traps, and mages with divinations.


What's a reasonable bonus for someone using the cover and concealment granted by a hunter's blind to hide?

Unless you are using facing rules (there are some on the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/combatFacing.htm)), there is no cover or concealment. The guard is watching in all directions equally.
If the player manages to do something actually clever, I might give the DM's helper of +2?


Has anyone come up with any fixes for spot and listen that account for distance more accurately?

Curmudgeon posted such a thing (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235702) just today. It's a few replies down.

[Flickerdart]

Taking 20 would mean the guard would take 20 times as long to make each check, letting any burglars just waltz by while he's examining the bushes with a magnifying glass or what have you.