Distance = concealment?

[gadren]

Under 3.5/Pathfinder rules, is it possible to gain full concealment by virtue of distance? Like, can a player make a check to hide/stealth out in the open if they are far away enough that the nearest enemy would take at least a -20 distance penalty to spot/perception checks against them?

[Preferred]

I'm sure there is some RAW answer slightly contrary to this, but I'd say yes.

I had to make a judgment call like this last night. A Dragon Turtle was retreating from the party (by diving straight down), and our Magus wanted to finish it off with a Magic Missile.

I was sure the dragon hadn't escaped Medium range in the time since the encounter "ended" and the Magus coming up with this idea. So now, I had to decide if the water granted total cover or total concealment, as anything less would be the difference between the party killing their first dragon or simply surviving it.

In the end, I put it in the player's hands. I asked for a Perception Roll to see if he could still see the Dragon Turtle through the dark blue waters. He couldn't, so no Magic Missile.

That's how I'd play it concealment via distance. If you can't see something because it's too far away, you can't aim at it.

[Duke of Urrel]

I believe total concealment at greater distances is strongly implied by the rules for many types of wilderness terrain, but the distance at which you gain total concealment is randomly generated. For one example, look at this excerpt from the Wilderness section of the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.htm#forestTerrain):


Stealth and Detection in a Forest

In a sparse forest, the maximum distance at which a Spot check for detecting the nearby presence of others can succeed is 3d6×10 feet. In a medium forest, this distance is 2d8×10 feet, and in a dense forest it is 2d6×10 feet.

If there is a "maximum distance" for Spot checks due to terrain, then what should we assume is the visibility at greater than "maximum" distances? I think we can safely assume that the visibility is zero. For example, suppose you are in a medium forest and you come within 2d8×10 feet of an ogre. Suppose the random number generated by the eight-sided dice is nine, so that the randomly generated distance is 90 feet. You are immediately granted a Spot check to determine whether you notice the ogre from 90 feet away, and of course your Spot check adds a penalty of -9. The ogre also gets a chance to spot you. Now suppose you fail to spot each other, but the forest path leads you farther away from the ogre. Do you get another chance to spot the ogre? No, I believe you don't, because as soon as you withdraw farther than 90 feet away from the ogre, I believe he has total concealment from you, just as he did before you approached within 90 feet, and you have total concealment from him.

In terrain covered by dense vegetation, I believe it should usually be possible to get total concealment simply by withdrawing. Moreover, forests are usually full of undergrowth, so that it's possible to make a Hide check almost anywhere even when you lack total concealment. I believe fog works the same way. So do hills and mountains. Explore the Wilderness section of the SRD for details.

[Necroticplague]

Depends on if the plane is flat or not. If it is, no. As long as there's nothing between you and them, you can see them, at least as a speck (assuming no other terrain features). If it's round, then after far enough, you can use the ground as cover to hide.