D'oh! I was talking about this also over on my most usual stomping grounds of RPGnet, and discussion there actually convinced me that the conclusion here was wrong!
A user there said that there were two rates of Stealthy movement - a Stealth Walk, which can be maintained forever, and a Stealth Hustle, which can only be maintained an hour.
He pointed out that a Stealth Hustle, even though it's going at normal walking speed for the character, is a lot more demanding - the character isn't moving fast physically, but their brain and body are working overtime to avoid making noise/being seen while moving at pace. As soon as he said this it all fell into place and I realised the rules are all in fact correct, in both examples even (not clear, but correct).
It is an oddity of the system that you can Stealth Hustle and have your stealthiness be just as effective as when you Stealth Walk (that is, there's no penalty to Hide or Move Silently for Hustling).
So, to sum up, for a dude with Speed 30 ft., we have:
- Normal Walking Speed: 30 ft./round (can maintain indefinitely)
- Hustle Speed: 60 ft./round (get fatigue after an hour)
- Normal Stealthy Walking Speed: 15 ft./round (can maintain indefinitely)
- Stealth Hustle Speed: 30 ft./round (get fatigue after an hour)
So in a situation where a character has a specific bit of stealth to do - like, say, sneak through a network of caves - they can Stealth Hustle the whole way and unless they take more than an hour, no problem.
But in a situation where a character has to be stealthy for ages and ages - like, say, crossing miles and miles of terrain behind enemy lines - they will use Normal Stealthy Walking Speed.
So I now consider this the best explanation of what is in the books. Sheesh, I feel kinda weird about making two big threads about this tiny tiny point on two boards, but it really was bugging the heck out of me. Thanks for your patience!
