Easy (I hope) Stealth Question

[Caliber]

I DMed my second session of 4E last night (and killed my first PC!) and everything went pretty well. Except, the Rogue had an interesting strategy in mind that I'm not 100% sure works the way he thinks it does.

Essentially, at the start of combat he moves around a corner so that no enemy has LoS to him and makes a Stealth check.

The following round he uses Deft Strike to move out of hiding and attack with CA, gaining his Sneak Attack damage. As a Move action he moves back behind the corner, out of LoS again, and makes another Stealth check.

Rinse, backstab, repeat.

I've read through a few Stealth consolidation threads on this board, trying to make sure I have the rules down pretty well. Still, despite the sense that something is wrong with this strategy, I can't find anything explicitly disallowing it. Is this a viable way to attain stealth every round? (For the record, I don't really think this is overly powerful. It's not like every combat will provide a corner he can dance around in range, nor will he always beat passive Perception.)

 

[Starfox]

This is the basic tactic of the sniper rogue. I have one in my game too, and its a little annoying at first but certainly not a free lunch for the rogue. It is dangerous to both the rogue (who tends to get isolated) and the party (who gets no support), so it clearly has downsides.

If you take a closer look at the stealth and corner rules, you'll find that the rogue often doesn't even have to move - just standing behind a suitable corner gets the job done. Neither does it have to have full cover against every opponent, just the one he wants to backstab.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

That tactic is within the rules.

 

[Caliber]

Alright, awesome. XP to both for the quick help. I'll learn to get used to it (and exploit it to my advantage! ) I'm sure.

 

[Mouseferatu]

That tactic is within the rules.

Yep, the tactic is legit.

But it also means that the rogue is only making at-will attacks, rather than taking advantage of most of his encounter or daily powers. So there's definitely a trade-off.

Remember, too, that for that brief instant after he attacks and before he's finished moving, the foes know where he is. Sooner or later, one of the big nasty monsters is going to lumber around the corner to see where he's gone.

 

[DracoSuave]

It's definately within the rules. A good counter to the tactic is to use a lurker, and get them into position where the rogue is vulnerable to them. It'll shake up the tactic considerably. But, for the most part, let them do it, just keep him in mind when you design encounters.

Also, consider many monsters don't have a use for their minor actions, so perception checks are -very much- a good use of their time when they have spare minors. I for one might take that second or two to keep an eye out for snipers.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

And finally remember that what is good for the goose is good for the gander...

There are plenty of quite stealthy monsters who can pull off basically the same trick. Remember how LOS works, you only need to have LOS from ONE corner of your space, so a monster can have superior cover and still attack. That is important since they mostly don't have something like Deft Strike. What it means is the monster can simply sit in the corner square and snipe with CA, slide back a square (because you have to move to hide) and on the next round slide up and attack with CA again (now he will be revealed for a round, but still has superior cover).

Make the monster a nice stealthy lurker, preferably one with bonus damage for an attack with CA at range, and this can REALLY annoy some players!

 

[Skallgrim]

This is the totally legit bread 'n butter of the sniper rogue.

As some people have pointed out, they are using ONLY an At-Will power, so this does limit their damage output somewhat. In addition, they are not moving around the whole room, so it also means that they are easier to surround or approach.

If, however, it does offend your sensibilities, I would suggest what I did. Each time you repeat the tactic, the perception check of the monsters goes up by 1. It gets slightly easier to spot the rogue if they keep using the exact same approach and tactic over and over. The monsters basically start keeping an eye out for that corner.

I don't use this if the rogue kills the first monster before the second one sees what happened (they aren't telepathic). I don't use it if the rogue does this one turn, goes somewhere else next turn, then returns on the third. However, if the rogue is the crossbow wielding jack-in-a-box, the monster perception ratchets up slowly. Of course, our rogue is so good at Stealth that no monsters have survived long enough to get much of a bonus.

 

[DracoSuave]

Also, a good counter to the tactic is to -go where the rogue is.- Can't stealth against someone who you don't have concealment from.

 

[Saeviomagy]

It's a legit tactic, but chances are your rogue will get tired of it quickly. It's pretty damn boring.