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Message: <blockquote data-quote="radmod" data-source="post: 5282258" data-attributes="member: 93008">Technically, by the opposed Listen checks of each guard. Also, technically, you can't "aid another" on a Listen unless someone has already heard. However, you're in the right frame of mind.You've asked one of the most perplexing questions, in my mind, of the game mechanics.This is a case when you get into diminishing returns. Say each guard has a 50/50 chance of hearing the unstealthy thief. That means totally the guards have a 31/32 chance of hearing him. Even if the thief is sneaky and each guard has only a 10% chance to hear that still means the guards have a 41% chance to hear. If you used Aid Another as a general rule (roll once and give +2 for each extra guard) then as your number of guards increases the odds of the thief being heard can dramatically increase (in the above, the 10% chance of being heard becomes 50%)However, you did ask what do we really do. The following sounds complicated but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.I consider a Listen check to be a move action based on the idea that the Quick Reconnoiter Feat gives a PC a free Spot and Listen each round. Yet, if the PCs/NPCs are being cautious, I treat it as a free action. I also tend to favor PCs listening over NPCs listening.So I start with the following circumstances:1) Active Listening: For example, the guards know "something is up." Each person involved rolls a Listen check. 2) Inactive Listening: For example, "who bothers to rob this place?" In this case, the PC rolls his Move Silently.   a) If it's relatively high, I fake rolls and the PC wins.  b) If it's low, everybody rolls.  c) If it's in between, one or two of the nearest guards roll (and I might give the PC a chance to 'freeze.')3) Occasional Listening: Constantly listening can be tiresome, fatiguing and leads to "false positives." Thus, many guards listen every once in a while, every five rounds or more. What's fun is having a too-long actively listening guard get a "false positive" when the thief is trying to sneak by - freaks PCs out.  Slightly different. I'm more interested in the PCs abilities rather than the guards. In this case, EACH PC has to make a Move Silently. (After all, it's kind of hard to 'help' another player move silently.) Then I treat it as above. If a group has a clumsy, heavily armored Cleric in the group they deserve to be heard!BTW, Hide is similar.And you didn't ask it, but it has the same problems: Spot checks.When PCs are inactively spotting (e.g. walking down a road), I tend to give Spot checks only to two or three characters who are closest to something they can spot. I've seen most DMs do it that way.</blockquote>

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