Hide and Blur

[MarknDC]

So blur conveys concealment and in order to use the hide skill you need cover or concealment. So does that mean that you could essentially hide anywhere if you are under the effect of a blur spell?

Perhaps not in plain sight like the class abilities of assassins and shadows dancers but if someone isn't observing you?

I expect someone to tell me (yes or no) that I'm dumb for not understanding this basic rule but having trouble being sure.

 

[irdeggman]

Youneed cofer or concealment in order to attempt to hide but also:

"If someone is observing you, even casually, you can't hide."

So would it fall under this restriction?

IMO - yes because you have concealment (as in they can't get a good bead on you and suffer the miss chance) but they "know" you are there and can always narrow it down to where you are (as in the square itself).

I would rule this way because the ramifications of the other are pretty great. If you are successfully hidden you are treated as invisible with respect to that person.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Youneed cofer or concealment in order to attempt to hide but also:

"If someone is observing you, even casually, you can't hide."

Right - so you'd need to make a Bluff check to distract them. By the time they look back, you've already hidden, so they can see the Blur effect, but they can't see you any more. Like you say, they know which square you're in (as if they had Tremorsense, say), but you're still effectively invisible and have a 50% miss chance instead of a 20% miss chance, deny Dex bonus, etc.

-Hyp.

 

[MarknDC]

I'm not trying to hide while being observed...more hide and move through a space that has no cover.

 

[Patlin]

I think hiding with a blur spell is similar in effect to uprooting some shrubbery and carring it with you for cover as you sneak around. Even if you are hidden, the shrubbery itself may attract unwanted attention... or someone may wonder what the blurry object moving across the open area is, even if they can't make out it is you.

 

[MarknDC]

Well what I'm shooting for here is something slightly less effective that invisibility. I'd prefer a chameleon type power, that would allow you to use your hide skill to move through an area without much/any cover.

 

[Patlin]

As an aside, I've never found the 'hide requires cover or concealment' rule entirely satisfactory. If it was a penalty, rather than a prohibition, then a spell like camouflage (see the Spell Compendium, I think) might help you overcome it. Perhaps you could work something out with your DM?

 

[MarknDC]

As an aside, I've never found the 'hide requires cover or concealment' rule entirely satisfactory. If it was a penalty, rather than a prohibition, then a spell like camouflage (see the Spell Compendium, I think) might help you overcome it. Perhaps you could work something out with your DM?

Camouflage (which I don't the book but I'll look into it) sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Do you know whose spell list the spell would be in?

 

[Mistwell]

As an aside, I've never found the 'hide requires cover or concealment' rule entirely satisfactory. If it was a penalty, rather than a prohibition, then a spell like camouflage (see the Spell Compendium, I think) might help you overcome it. Perhaps you could work something out with your DM?

Well, it essentially is a penalty now, according to how the Rules Compendium works it out. For every space you move through without that cover or concealment, you take a penalty to your hide check (until the penalty gets so high that it is impossible to hide, or your target is no longer observing you, usually because you just stuck a dagger in that opponents back and they are no longer seeing anyone).

 

[irdeggman]

I'm not trying to hide while being observed...more hide and move through a space that has no cover.

I think that only works if the entire square is within the efffect of concealment - which blur doesn't do.

You can move from a place of concealment to another one, but that isn't the case here.