A good question.
If we describe the game state as "The Guard is looking the other way.", then no hide roll is needed to adjudicate the game state. We've described the game state as 'The Guard can't see you'. Provided you don't draw attention to yourself by making noise or otherwise doing something the guard could detect, why worry about a hide check? Perhaps the guard is being successfully distracted or some other factor is insuring the guard doesn't turn around like for example the King is passing in that direction and protocol demands he remain facing that direction at attention and unmoving. Whatever.
The point is that the required rolls are a function of the game state. If we alter the game state and say, "the guard is mostly looking in one direction but occassionally glancing around" then a hide roll opposed by the guards spot is required. We've described the game state as being random, and that's exactly what fortune mechanics exist to resolve. If the guard is distracted by something else so that he's increasingly unlikely to look in the PC's direction, then we apply some sort of penalty to his spot roll. Conversely, if the guard is mostly alert in the PC's direction then we apply a bonus.
And if the guard has orders to watch a corridor and is dutifully doing so, then while the guard is watching it might not be possible to hide in the corridor. In that case, the sneaky PC might have to wait until the game state naturally evolves, and the guard becomes less alert before he can risk sneaking through the corridor. (Unless of course the PC has some extraordinary sneaking ability that lets him hide without cover.) When the game state does change, the PC with the higher hide skill will do better at it, whether this is interpreted as 'the PC chooses his moment better' or 'the PC is almost supernaturally invisible' isn't to me very relevant and I'll choose either interpretation as I feel suits the PC and the campaign.
Absolutely. That requires something of a sneaky player to pull off, and even then every little bit of bluff, sense motive, hide and move silently that his character has will enhance his ability to pull off his goals. But really, when I say that I play 3e with a old school feel, I mean it. In 'old school D&D', particularly the really old school before the Thief class existed, you were sneaky by making sneaky choices and not by throwing the dice. Even in 1e D&D, your thief skills particularly at low levels are very unreliable so - if your good at playing the class - you learn to treat your thief skills like saving throws and to rely on them only when your choices as a player begin to go awry.
I always prefer that player skill is tested along side character skill, both when I'm the DM and when I'm the player. Also one of the upsides of this methodology is that - particularly under the direction of a sneaky PC - the whole party finds it easier to be at least somewhat sneaky.
Good points.
Hoever (perhaps even for the sake of argument), let me say the following...
I believe that Hide as a skill, encompasses more things than just being able to hide behind a crate or in the shadows. It also involves one's ability to blend in with the environment around him, in order not to disturb the static image an observer observes, or to blend in with the motion as not to distort the moving image an observer observes. Furthermore, in contained spaces, other factors come into play. Blocking light sources and reflections can easily give one away. And while coming in the way of a torch's light is obvious, one need not do something so apparent to alter the light/shadow cast on surfaces. Reflections are also very important and not only on shiny surfaces. Light, shadow and reflection in a space, is an interlaced system of elements, that depends on every item/condition of space. The mass of a human body and its textures for example can alter dramatically the above mentioned balance. While we often think that we caught something with "the corner of our eye" in many cases we do not actually see the item/creature itself... but we perceive a change in the image before us... a change caused by something behind us...
Obviously... bringing all the above factors in a table top game would be impossible... Even for a video game that would require a PC-farm so as to resolve all the calculations...
IMO the Hide skill encompasses all the above. The bigger one's Hide skill, the more knowledge/awareness one has of all those factors, and the more he knows how to handle his body so as to cause the minimum alteration possible.
Moreover, the study of a guard's/patrol's "patterns" and "weaknesses", and the ability to fool those, depends on experience and IMO are depicted in the Hide skill as well.
This is not to say that the hide skill (the number) will be the only thing to determine the outcome of a situation.
What is most important, (and above any number), is an adequate and detailed description of the site and the situation by the DM, with all the flavor and suspense so as to put players in the mood, by making them experience the very risks their characters are about to take. Consequently what is equally important., is that the player takes in the most information possible, puts the facts on a balance, and proceeds by describing with equal flavor and detail his Rogue's actions in the given situation...
...Yet somehow, in all this great storytelling, the hiding skill of the Rogue in question has to be reflected in the outcome things...
No matter how well a players deals with the encounter, he can never actually simulate the experience of a Rogue (this obviously counts for all characters)...
Lets take a single player and put him in a similar situation twice. The first time we'll give him a 1st level Rogue, and the second time a 20th level Rogue. And lets assume that the player, by using creatively all the facts given to him, succeeds both times in moving the Rogue past the guard/patrol unnoticed. If we give both the 1st level Rogue and the 20th level Rogue 100% cover (meaning 100% of success, no roll), what is it that distinguishes the difference in experience and skill between the two characters? As far as i can tell, by ruling this way, a first level fighter in full plate, could succeed as easily if he is lucky enough to roll high on his Move silently check... as far as Hide is concerned, he performs equally to a 20th level Rogue! (in the given situation...)
As i said in my earlier post , i'd make my player roll (or even take 10) no matter how easy the task is OR seems, and because i put player decision above all, i'm willing to give big bonuses so as to compensate for their creativity, bonuses that might even give them a near certain success. Even if the chances of failure are so minimal, a roll (or a take 10) is necessary, both because the Hide skill encompasses all the above, and because the relevant experience/skill of a character's level has to be portrayed in the situation somehow.
I'm not a dice freak... quite the contrary actually... Don't forget that i'm talking about a single roll (or a single "take 10") all along... and as far as the old-schoolish way of playing... ican't agree more... i play the game this way as well... even though my old-schoolness goes back to 2e only...
Respect to the old school
