buzz said:
This may depend on the DM. Your example seems a bit egregious to me. The first three Move Silenlty and two Hide checks should each be one, IMO, as the distance sounds roughly within a double move (though there'd be a -5 on them for moving more than half speed). Opening the lock and entering would be a second Move Silently and Hide check (at no penalty).
It's actually about right. Climbing over a wall that's, shall we say 10 feet tall will require a full round for a character who doesn't have at least a 40 foot movement. A successful climb check moves you 1/4 speed, so two climb checks will be necessary for a 20' or 30' move character to top the 10' wall. Assuming that the character can jump down with the remaining 5' of movement he would be entitled to from climbing, that is: one hide check and one move silently at one check per round or one hide check and two move silently checks at one check per move action.
On the next round the character spends two move actions to cross the 20' of open space without hiding at speed.
Then he has to hide while he opens the lock. Opening a lock takes several rounds, but in this example, since he's not moving I'm letting him do it with one hide check.
Then the character has to hide and move silently while he opens the door and moves in.
And this set of circumstances is fairly generous to the rogue--there's no open space outside the wall that he needs some mechanism to cross unseen (which, as a minimum would take more hide and move silently checks).
In combat, sure. Out of combat, it will depend on the situation and the DM. If a DM were to call for a roll for every 20-ft. when my PC was moving over a hundred yards of moor (barring a new listener standing at each 20-ft. interval), I'd be looking for a new DM.
That all depends on what the situation is. If you're exploring a dungeon corridor ahead of the party, you make one hide and move silently check and I roll against it. If you beat the monsters, you get a chance to notice them before they notice you. You can take that opportunity to either grab a surprise round or to try to sneak up closer and get a better position for your surprise round. If you're trying to sneak up closer, you can bet it's going to take a new check for every move action.
The same thing is true on the moor. (Though hiding is much harder because you generally need cover to hide and moors tend to be barren). If you want to sneak up to the castle on the moor, you'll be moving from cover to cover and the bad guys will start rolling once they have a chance to beat you. If all you're doing is scouting ahead hidden, you make one check and if you win, you have your choice of going into a surprise round by immediately attacking, trying to avoid the encounter, or trying to sneak up closer.
My experience is that this method makes stealth more fun because there is a good deal of tension in the choice to sneak up closer or to back off each time instead of just making a single roll and saying "I'm there, let's open up with the combat." It also tends to counter the dramatic imbalance between stealth and detection skills in D&D. If you just roll once, even a first or second level ranger or rogue will usually get the drop on anyone without spot and listen as a class skill from anywhere they want. "You blew your spot check, so they got to within 5 feet of you." If, on the other hand, you require rolls every round detection is possible, moderate stealth will only close the distance and it requires really good stealth to sneak up right next to a PC (or NPC). In that case, the various magic items that make hiding and moving silently easier don't obviate the need for actually spending ranks in the skills.
