Stealth Questions (PF)

[MukkTB]

Is there a guide to how stealth works in 3.5 or PF?

I do not understand the stealth system very well. Its a suboptimal situation.

#1 If I start my turn having been spotted by the enemy, can I take a move action through cover, roll stealth, then use my standard action to sneak attack? (If I succeeded the check.)

#2 Can I do this with a 5 foot step?

#3 Can I do this without leaving the square I occupy if I'm in cover?

#4 When does the -20 stealth for attacking go away? End of my turn? Beginning of my next turn? Some other time?

#5 What kind of action is stealth? Is it a move action? A free action attached to a move action? A free action in itself?

#6 If I hide in a bush without moving or doing anything else, and a bunch of guards pass through, spending several rounds near the bush, how many times do I have to roll stealth? How many perception checks would they get? 1/round? Once to see me and thats it?

#7 If I make an attack from a window, and the baddies can't see me, but they know the attacks are coming from a particular window, can I keep sneak attacking them?

#8 How does invisibility interact with detect magic?

#9 If I'm hiding 20 ft away from a creature with scent and it knows I'm there and wants to find me, how would it go about this process?

#10 What methods do playgrounders use to overcome scent monsters when they are sneaking?

#11 If I go invisible without moving squares, how difficult would it be for a monster to reach into my square and find that I'm still there?

#12 If I'm invisible, and I go running through the woods at full speed, how would the monster chasing me go about finding me? What would it be able to do?

#13 How does stealth combine with climb, acrobatics, and swim?

I might think up some more questions, but that's a start.

[Yanisa]

I ain't no expert yet, but I play a rogue myself and I do run in a lot of these (or probably will run into) situations and often the simple answer is: "If the rule don't mention it, yes you can stealth that way."
In general the whole lack of rules even makes it possible to be stealthy in broad daylight and in line of sight, as long as you start your stealth behind cover and no one is specifically looking out for you. I guess stealth is far more then hide and move silent ever was. It also covers your ability to not stand out in a crowd (or even an empty open room with one other guy) and even enables you to hide your scent.

So here's my shot at answering your questions:



#1 If I start my turn having been spotted by the enemy, can I take a move action through cover, roll stealth, then use my standard action to sneak attack? (If I succeeded the check.)

#2 Can I do this with a 5 foot step?

#3 Can I do this without leaving the square I occupy if I'm in cover?

As far as I know, rules don't talk about it, so it seems possible. Also see #5


#4 When does the -20 stealth for attacking go away? End of my turn? Beginning of my next turn? Some other time?

When you make a new stealth check


#5 What kind of action is stealth? Is it a move action? A free action attached to a move action? A free action in itself?

The discription is
Action: Usually none. Normally, you make a Stealth check as part of movement, so it doesn't take a separate action.

Because of the word normally that could also include standing still and five foot steps, but the rules don't say a lot.


#6 If I hide in a bush without moving or doing anything else, and a bunch of guards pass through, spending several rounds near the bush, how many times do I have to roll stealth? How many perception checks would they get? 1/round? Once to see me and thats it?

Just one roll per person. In general you keep your stealth until you try to hide again. The guards would get one opposing perception check per guard.


#7 If I make an attack from a window, and the baddies can't see me, but they know the attacks are coming from a particular window, can I keep sneak attacking them?

I assume you mean it's a ranged attack. In that case if they fail to notice you and don't check the window you can keep making sneak attacks. (But you have a hefty -20 stealth penalty, so beware of that)


#8 How does invisibility interact with detect magic?

It would appear as a magical aura and the caster needs to role a Knowledge: Arcana to identify it.


#9 If I'm hiding 20 ft away from a creature with scent and it knows I'm there and wants to find me, how would it go about this process?

I believe the creature needs to roll a perception with +8 bonus to realize you are near him. Then he needs to spend a movement action to track you down. He can't pinpoint you until he is within 5 feet of you.


#10 What methods do playgrounders use to overcome scent monsters when they are sneaking?

High enough normal stealth works, somehow.

Besides that, there is a Scent Cloak (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services/herbs-oils-other-substances#TOC-Scent-Cloak) that makes the tracking harder


#11 If I go invisible without moving squares, how difficult would it be for a monster to reach into my square and find that I'm still there?

You get a +40 on your stealth while standing still during invisibility, I guess that would make it pretty hard.


#12 If I'm invisible, and I go running through the woods at full speed, how would the monster chasing me go about finding me? What would it be able to do?

Tracking your obvious footprints you leave behind? Other wise hoping their roll high on a perception.


#13 How does stealth combine with climb, acrobatics, and swim?

Again something that isn't brought up in the rules, so I guess you can swim, climb and do acrobatic stuff stealthily.



I hope that clarifies something. Maybe rereading the stealth rules (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/skills/stealth.html) can also help you and I found Stealth Playtest (http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lckz) which is partly outdated by the books, but there is a lot of discussion in the comments below the blog article.

[Keneth]

Please note that the following answersare RAW, and thus have nothing to do with common sense.


#1 If I start my turn having been spotted by the enemy, can I take a move action through cover, roll stealth, then use my standard action to sneak attack? (If I succeeded the check.)
#2 Can I do this with a 5 foot step?
#3 Can I do this without leaving the square I occupy if I'm in cover?

No, using Stealth does not deny your opponent's Dexterity bonus to armor class. Also, as soon as you emerge from stealth, you are in plain view, so I'm not sure how you're planning to pull that off. In combat you are always considered observed, so as soon as you fail to meet any of the conditions, your stealth fails. You can hide as part of any kind of movement though.


#4 When does the -20 stealth for attacking go away? End of my turn? Beginning of my next turn? Some other time?

As soon as you use Stealth again.


#5 What kind of action is stealth? Is it a move action? A free action attached to a move action? A free action in itself?

Stealth is not really an action. It's almost always part of movement, so you can in most cases imagine it as a mode of movement. On some occasions it can also be part of a different action. If you're not sure what kind of action it is, for instance if you're behind cover but you just want to hide, it's generally safe to assume that it's a move action to do so.


#6 If I hide in a bush without moving or doing anything else, and a bunch of guards pass through, spending several rounds near the bush, how many times do I have to roll stealth? How many perception checks would they get? 1/round? Once to see me and thats it?

You only roll Stealth once when you hide. Unless the situation changes, or you perform an action, creatures who can potentially notice you only get one opposed check to do so.


#7 If I make an attack from a window, and the baddies can't see me, but they know the attacks are coming from a particular window, can I keep sneak attacking them?

Strictly by RAW, no. By the current rules, even when sniping, being hidden doesn't give you the benefit of being invisible, so creatures are not denied their Dex bonus, and you can't sneak attack them after the first attack.


#8 How does invisibility interact with detect magic?

Exactly like every other spell (aside from those that specifically fool detection spells). First round, the presence of the aura. Third round, the location and strength of the aura. After three rounds, creatures can also make a DC 17 check to identify the aura as an illusion, and a DC 22 check to identify the effect as invisibility. Simply moving away from the area of effect resets the duration, however.


#9 If I'm hiding 20 ft away from a creature with scent and it knows I'm there and wants to find me, how would it go about this process?

They roll a Perception check at +8 bonus and you get no bonus for being invisible (since it doesn't mask your smell). They can spend a move action to determine the relative direction to your location, and if they move to within 5 feet from you, they automatically realize which space you're in. You're still invisible though.


#10 What methods do playgrounders use to overcome scent monsters when they are sneaking?

The negate aroma spell is the most efficient. You can get a wand if you plan on sneaking around creatures with scent. But for general purposes, you can just sneak past them as normal. Having scent doesn't automatically mean they detect you.


#11 If I go invisible without moving squares, how difficult would it be for a monster to reach into my square and find that I'm still there?

It's a touch attack as a standard action with the standard 50% miss chance to reach into a space and try to find an invisible creature.


#12 If I'm invisible, and I go running through the woods at full speed, how would the monster chasing me go about finding me? What would it be able to do?

It can track you much more easily than chase you. Note that you can't Stealth while running, so noticing you is fairly easy (DC 0 to know you're there, DC 20 to know where exactly), but using Perception in a forest is tricky — there are massive penalties and a maximum distance at which you can even make the check.


#13 How does stealth combine with climb, acrobatics, and swim?

There is nothing preventing you from using Stealth in any of these conditions, as long as you meet the prerequisites, of course.

Also, here (http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lcml) is part two of the Stealth playtest. While this is not gonna be errata'd or FAQ'd for the current system (at least they don't plan on doing so at the moment), it is still a much better implementation compared to the current rules. Among other things, these rules do allow you to sneak attack in combat, as the hidden condition denies an opponent's Dex bonus to AC. I strongly urge you to use these variant rules if Stealth is a thing in your game.

[MukkTB]

Wait. In the middle of combat I can't go hide somewhere and then sneak attack, even if I spend multiple rounds doing this thing?

[Yanisa]

Wait. In the middle of combat I can't go hide somewhere and then sneak attack, even if I spend multiple rounds doing this thing?

I do believe you can stealth in combat by using a bluff check although you have a -10 penalty on stealth. But also normal cover and concealment would work (and without penalty).
But yeah, stealth does not give you the ability to make sneak attacks, attacking from stealth doesn't ignore a targets dex bonus, even if they are unaware of you.
Stealth does give you the chance to start a surprise round in an optimal condition (for example: behind the enemy with your dagger ready) and anyone in combat who hasn't acted yet is flat-footed and thus can be sneak attacked.