Attacking while Hiding?

[Shadeus]

Is it possible to attack while hiding? Obvious melee attacks would be impossible, but can you hide and shoot an arrow at someone in the forest? I thought I remembered there being a -20 penalty, but I can't find that anywhere.

 

[hong]

Is it possible to attack while hiding? Obvious melee attacks would be impossible, but can you hide and shoot an arrow at someone in the forest? I thought I remembered there being a -20 penalty, but I can't find that anywhere.

Yes, you can hide and shoot. Why shouldn't you be able to? At worst, you're simply no longer hidden.

 

[Shadeus]

Well, what I really want to know is if you can attack and remain hidden. So your ranger shoots an arrow at a group of orcs nearby while hiding. Can he remain hidden after he's attacked?

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Well, what I really want to know is if you can attack and remain hidden. So your ranger shoots an arrow at a group of orcs nearby while hiding. Can he remain hidden after he's attacked?

Strictly speaking, the rules do not say one way or the other.

I am inclined to say no, because is simpler and prevents some pretty horrific potential abuses.

Note that even under my "house interpretation" the Ranger could loose a single arrow, thereby revealing his location, then move out of sight, say, behind a large bush, and hide again. It is possible to continuously evade the orcs, but it is not easy and possibly very time consuming.

 

[IceBear]

I think the -20 rule that was mentioned earlier was something suggested by the Sage as a penalty for attempting to re-hide after taking the attack.

Example, rogue shoots an arrow at the party. Rogue can try to hide again with a -20 penalty.

IceBear

 

[Oracular Vision]

Its funny, I was just thinking about this today, except using the exotic weapon blowgun. Blowguns, unlike all other weapons, do not use any throwing or movement to use, so they would not give away your position like bows and thrown axes and so on. I think a -10 Hide check might be fairer when using a blowgun.

 

[Christian]

The rule you're thinking of is from Song & Silence. Re-hiding after firing a missile weapon is a move-equivalent action and incurs a -20 penalty to the Hide check. (Long-distance snipers should remember that the counter Spot check suffers a -1 per 10 feet of distance, so the -20 won't make much difference if you have a good Hide skill and are firing your composite longbow from 300 feet away. ) Because it's move-equivalent, you can't take advantage of your iterative attacks to get a bunch of shots off before hiding again, either.

I think this would apply to a blowgun as well, actually. You need a clear line of sight from the weapon to your target to get the shot off, after all ...

 

[IceBear]

Yeah, The Sage made the -20 ruling Loooooooong before Song and Silence came out (I still haven't found the time to read it), so I guess they made his impromptu ruling offical.

IceBear

 

[Mahali]

More likely they were already working on S&S and that's what he intended it to be all along.

 

[IceBear]

Possibly. I think that he made this ruling over a year ago, but S&S was probably in development then.

IceBear