Stealth

Stealth is a skill that characters can learn.

Stealth is the ability to move and act unseen or unnoticed. It involves both sticking to the shadows as well as adapting to one's surroundings to act in a manner that won't draw attention to oneself, effectively hiding in plain sight. For anyone planning on doing any scouting, spying, elusive game hunting or less-than-reputable acts such as burglary, stealth is a must.

Not to be confused with Artifice, which is more about sleight of hand and deception than completely avoiding being seen.

Characters that wish to be more likely to notice stealth actions of others should take up the Perception skill.

Uses

Stealth has the following uses:

• Success chances with the hide command.
• Remaining unseen in a hiding place when others search a room.
• When hidden, moving from room to room unnoticed by others.
• Stalking another character to automatically follow them from hiding if they move, and to potentially set up a better ambush.
• Ambushing (initiating attacks from hiding) to push down the target's defense rolls. (Skill roll limited to (character level * 10) at most.)

Practice

The Stealth skill can be practiced in the following ways:

• While hidden, move between populated rooms. These rooms can be populated by PCs, NPCs, and even NPC background crowds mentioned after the room description (background NPCs count for far less practice). They do not need to be hostile, though hostile characters will grant a small amount of bonus practice.
• Make an ambush attack (initiating an attack from hiding).
• Go hunting for prey animals

Factors

Most stealth actions are affected by the following factors:

• Room lighting
• Room fog
• Room crowd (counting both PCs and NPCs, including background NPCs)
• Room noise
• Weather precipitation (rain, snow, etc.) in outdoor areas