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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrSpunj" data-source="post: 1391640" data-attributes="member: 994">Well, yes and no. I believe anyone pumping a lot into the Hide skill would defeat these with a good roll (reference: Arnold coming out of the mud and attacking the Predator despite the latter's Infravision) and I haven't seen a lot in the rules to support or refute that, so that's currently my interpretation. Otherwise Hide becomes essentially a useless skill after just a few levels. YMMV.Furthermore, while they are nearly automatic area detectors, they are not automatic square/space detectors. So a Dog or Snake (or whatever) "knows" something is within 30' of them as soon as they come within range. Big deal! It's 30'! How much closer do you need to be before you spring your ambush or surprise on someone? By spending a MEA they can pinpoint the current direction of whomever they're scenting. Only by moving within 5' can they pinpoint the actual square/space. That's 2-3 turns of trying to track down "whoever's out there", and all they have to is move more than 5' away (if invisible) and it practically starts all over again.Are you going to House Rule Tieran's new Bat Familiar's Blindsight as well? Tremorsense?The various senses may seem redundant but I don't think they are overly cumbersome, personally. You just have to be clear about what trumps what.Invisibility trumps Sight (unless an epic Spot check is involved)Scent trumps InvisibilityIMO, a good Hide roll trumps Scent (this way Invisibility is better for those with a good Hide skill, which makes sense to me), though I use the standard +4 Scent bonus to the creature's Spot check for this like they get with Survival while Trackingetc.Everything in the game has a possible counter, except a very few absolutes like that Deflect Arrows thingy!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":mad:" title="Mad    :mad:"  data-smilie="4"data-shortname=":mad:" /> But I do agree with simplifying things a bit because a couple sets of skills seem redundant. I like how Monte combined Hide & Move Silently into a single skill, Sneak, for instance. Otherwise anyone trying to sneak around gets FOUR chances to get caught: a poor Hide check, a poor Move Silently check, a good Spot check or a good Listen check. I'm surprised anyone is able to move stealthily at all after 4 rolls!I already use Sneak IMC and I'm probably going to combine Listen & Spot into Awareness or Perception next time around. That simplifies sneaking around into a single, simple opposed roll like you find nearly everywhere else in the game.I'm not sure either, I just don't like how it seems arbitrary and/or random. If you can take the time to coalesce your thoughts into a House Rule I'd be a lot less worried/upset by it. Until then it honestly just seems like you nerf an ability that rears its head in the middle of your DM plans with an extra modified dice roll or two. That's why that quote of yours made me chuckle when I read it yesterday.Absolutely! It's just changes like that are best done, IMO, away from the game table, between sessions. The Scent thing has come up time and again for the last year we've been gaming together and still isn't clear to me. It's very frustrating as a player, as I'm sure you're aware, to feel like the rules don't matter or are only used when convenient. When you make a House Rule that all of us can read and agree on it's not a big deal. Until then all we have are bad feelings on both sides.So, to summarize, I don't mind if you want to House Rule stuff; that's absolutely your prerogative as the DM, but as a player in your game I'd like to know what's been changed and I'd like to have it uploaded to the document you've got on the board, and preferably before it becomes relevant at the gaming table. Monsters are yours alone, but the abilities our familiars, companions and magic duplicate/share mean those rules affect us directly as well.Thanks.DrSpunj</blockquote>

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