Jourei Bengoshi

[Doji Tsukaede]

The Art of Stealth and Ambush

Part I: The Art of Stealth
The Art of Stealth

Each time a character performs an action while trying to hide or remain hidden requires a follow up Agility/Stealth (Sneaking) roll as a Complex Action to avoid being detected. Thus, a stealthed character would spend a Simple Action to move half his movement and use his Complex Action to hide / remain hidden for that movement. This means that by the rules, a character has to use a Complex Action each time he moves or performs an action in order to remain hidden. Failing to do so will result in anyone in range of the basic noise, visual or other clues of the character's presence will notice the character. Also, if a character attacks, he has to use a Complex Action in order to rehide or else he betrays his position. This generally requires spending two Void for an Extra Action that Turn.

The Stealth skill Mastery Abilities and some other effects allow characters to sneak better:
*The Stealth Rank 5 Mastery Ability lets you sneak and move up to one third your movement allowance as a single Simple Action. This means that you could sneak slowly and hide as a Simple Action while still performing other actions.
*The Stealth Rank 10 Mastery Ability (and other abilities that say that Stealth no longer hinders movement such as the Shinobi Rank 3 Tech) allows you to sneak and move your full normal movement as a Move Action and up to half your movement allowance as a Simple Action.

A character can look for suspected hidden characters as a Complex Action is his own regard. A glance would have a TN of the last Stealth roll of the hidden character. A truly active search of the area might require the hidden character to roll a new reactive Agility/Stealth (Sneaking) roll versus the searcher's Perception/Investigation (Notice).

Out of combat this can be quite daunting to have a character roll a Stealth roll ever time he moves 10' every 6 seconds while also having NPC guards roll Perception/Investigation (Notice) each every 6 seconds and can quickly lead to the "roll until you fail" syndrome.

There are several options that a GM can use to avoid these problems:

*Have one stealth roll be an encompassing obstacle in it's own right for the location. Set general TNs for the sneaking character to beat for each location or area based on the guards' skill, diligence,and numbers. Assuming the guards are doing normal duty, a GM could assume the guards are "taking 10" in d20 terms and just have a static average roll for passive Investigation (Notice) rolls set a TN based on that average. The Roll and Keep probability chart in the PDF link thread is useful for figuring out such average rolls. You can also add bonus or penalties to these rolls for more or less guards (each doubling adding about 5 to the roll based on the Cumulative Skill Roll rules), for tired or alert guards, for lighting (penalty for darkness or bonus for light), ect.

*Roll a ton of rolls in advance for Agility/Stealth (Sneaking) and Perception/Investigation (Notice) for the characters and just RP the movements and use the table of rolls near by for quick checking. This keeps the pace fast while still keeping the tension of failure. This also prevents characters from metagaming when they are asked to make Perception/Investigation (Notice) rolls while alone.

*Assume that skilled assassins and scouts don't fail against mooks. A character with an average of 15 or more the NPC's average means the NPC will only succeed 6% of the time thus the NPC will mostly fail. Only have the character roll against named / important NPCs where there is desired dramatic chance of failure.

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It is important that GMs not let Stealth simply be used as a sort of an "Invisibility Skill". Stealth uses, misdirections, distractions, timing, but most importantly cover. GMs should also feel free to award free raises for hiding in areas with poor visibility or noise while giving bonuses to investigators for good visibility or silence . Vigilance can be simulated as a "Full Attack Posture" that gives the guard 2x Free Raises on the Investigation (Notice) roll, but -15 on other skill rolls while he is guarding.

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Part II: The Art of Ambush

If you want to jump someone, and combat hasn’t started, you have two options depending if the opponent is aware of you.

If the opponent cannot perceive your presence, then you make an Agility/Stealth (Ambush) roll versus everyone else’s Perception/ Investigation (Notice) or Perception/Battle (Skirmish). Anyone who did not roll equal to or higher then your roll suffers a -20 penalty to their initiative roll from being Surprised.

If the opponent can see you, then you make an Awareness/Deceit (Lying) versus everyone else’s Perception/ Investigation (Notice) or their Perception/Battle (Skirmish). Anyone who did not roll equal to or higher then your roll suffers a -20 penalty to their initiative roll from being Surprised.

You may even do both if you suspect some people can see you while other cannot. The GM may allow the defender's Perception/Investigation (Notice) roll or Perception/Battle (Skirmish) roll contest both of your ambush rolls.

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This is different then being Unaware. You are unaware if you cannot perceive you opponent. If you cannot perceive your opponent, your Reflexes is 1 when determining your TNtbH. If you hear, but not see your opponent, you have +20 TN penalties to attack that opponent and your TNtbH is reduced by 15. If you are cannot hear an opponent, your TN is reduced by 5 against any enemy flanking you or standing behind you.

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Assuming you DID successfully Ambush your opponent and they cannot see you:

You can make a Range Attack Action and they will be unaware of you, but this breaks your stealth after you make this action.

You can make a melee attack action if you are standing next to them, but this breaks your stealth after you make this action.

If you have to move to get next to the opponent, you have to either break stealth for the movement during your simple move or break stealth during the movement part of your Melee Attack Action. Doing so will make them aware of you.

If you wish to move and maintain stealth before your attack, you either need to move as a Complex Action using Stealth by spending two Void points and then perform Melee Attack Action OR you can increase your Stealth Rank and benefit from the Mastery abilities to move and sneak at the same time.

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During a character's first Turn of Combat, the character is just as aware of the combat as the character whom detected the ambush. He knows an ambush is happening even if he cannot see the attackers, just as a character can detect an ambush without seeing the attackers.

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You may use Combat Reflexes on a character whom you are unaware as when you use it since you need not know the current initiative order or even the other character's initiative scores to use CR.