how does Blend into Shadows work?

[Alcopop]

Blend into Shadows(DotU, p47) gives you a swift action hide in plain sight.

How does this work with other actions? for example, if I used my swift action at the start of the round would I remain hidden? What breaks hide in plain sight?

[Need_A_Life]

How does this work with other actions?Excepting other swift actions? Fine.


If I used my swift action at the start of the round would I remain hidden?Yep. Just as if you had concealment and made your Hide/Move Silently/Stealth roll; this just lets you skip the part about the terrain having appropriate cover and/or concealment to try.


What breaks hide in plain sight?Strictly speaking? Nothing breaks HiPS. Of course, a successful Spot/Listen/Perception check will render it moot, as you've been spotted (though creating a diversion to hide again is ever so hilarious and the best fun a Shadowdancer can get).
Melee attacks, I believe, automatically break HiPS and ranged attacks gives a massive penalty to staying hidden.

[Alcopop]

Well on that note do enemies gain spot checks in reaction to you hiding or only when actively looking?

And just to clarify, I can hide as a swift, move, cast and remain hidden, so long as I am 10ft from darkness?

Oh and thanks for the reply.

[Andezzar]

Melee attacks, I believe, automatically break HiPS and ranged attacks gives a massive penalty to staying hidden.Staying hidden during melee and ranged attacks is equally difficult:
It’s practically impossible (-20 penalty) to hide while attacking, running or charging.
The sniping rules are actually worse than the general attack rule: You are unconcealed during the attack i.e. you can be hit with a readied action.

[Alcopop]

Well i'm making a Master of Shrouds with my dip level in Warlock so I can take Blend into Shadows. So I don't need to worry about attacking so much as summoning shadows and casting support spells.

To reiterate:

Do enemies gain spot checks in reaction to you hiding or only when actively looking?

&

To clarify, I can hide as a swift, move, cast and remain hidden, legally?

[Alcopop]

I figured bumping was better then creating another thread. Does anyone have any answers to the mechanics of hide, spot, move silently and listen?

If I blend into shadows, do people gain a reactive spot? what about the next round? Can they try to spot you re-actively, and with a move action and a standard? How does listen fit into this?

[Phelix-Mu]

I figured bumping was better then creating another thread. Does anyone have any answers to the mechanics of hide, spot, move silently and listen?

If I blend into shadows, do people gain a reactive spot? what about the next round? Can they try to spot you re-actively, and with a move action and a standard? How does listen fit into this?

I believe that the whole issue is rather mucky.

Quoth the SRD for Spot:

Action

Varies. Every time you have a chance to spot something in a reactive manner you can make a Spot check without using an action. Trying to spot something you failed to see previously is a move action. To read lips, you must concentrate for a full minute before making a Spot check, and you can’t perform any other action (other than moving at up to half speed) during this minute.

Alright, so here is my reading for this.

1.) Enemies can make reactive checks, providing they are aware that someone is hiding. If they are entirely ignorant of your presence, then they don't know to look, and the language is "can," implying a level of intention, intention that the enemy can't have if they don't know there is something to look for.

2.) If the enemy saw you earlier, obviously they will be wary and looking out (assuming they knew that you were an enemy...not always true). This is doubly true if you've taken any offensive actions.

3.) The line beginning "trying to spot something you failed to see earlier..." is a terrible piece of writing. By RAW, this seems to mean that an enemy only gets one non-action reactive check to the character disappearing. Later spotting after a failed reactive check takes effort. Now, if you do something else (like attacking or otherwise indicating your presence in some way...like verbal components), then this later action may provoke a second reactive Spot check. Spot checks taking effort are actions, and seem to be move actions (meaning up to two per round, I believe), but depriving your enemy of combat actions is highly valuable, even if they spot your character.

In my experience, there is a very, very large amount of DM adjudication involved in this whole matter. Some DMs will have the enemy make one Spot check, and if they mess it up, you are hidden until you do something really obvious. On the other hand, some DMs will have pretty much any action provoke another Spot check.

If this character is going to see action, try to nail down how your DM is going to police this bit of RAW ahead of time. Asking the DM directly is usually the best approach; since this is an important mechanic for your character, it's entirely appropriate to expect to know just how it's going to work (if at all), at least in theory.