Move Silently while Tumbling?

[NPC]

Can you move silently while tumbling? If so, what's the penalty to the Move Silent skill check?

Our party rogue wanted to do this and only suffer the -5 penalty for moving more than half his speed.

We (and the DM) thought that the move silent penalty should be much stiffer, say -10 for moving silent while tumbling, and -5 for moving more than half his speed, for a total penalty of -15.

Is this covered in the rules? If so, where? How would you have ruled?

 

[Shard O'Glase]

no rule for it, but I would of stuck with the -5. Tumbling doesn't have to be high impact stuff, every flip could end in a relatively silent roll for example. But hey I just like the idea of silent tumbles.....

 

[Thanee]

You need to watch more ninja movies!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

I would give a -5 for it. Stiff, but not killer. If you want more, you could always double the penalty to move silent for the speed you travel, wether Tumbling or not..

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Give him an extra -2 to his Move Silently check, and give the Listen check of his opponents a +2 bonus. That's a total of -7 to his check, and a +2 to his opponent's check.

 

[Triumph]

I'm sorry "NPC" (if that is indeed your real name, but somehow I doubt it), but with a post count of under 6, I just can't take you seriously.

 

[NPC]

I'm sorry "NPC" (if that is indeed your real name, but somehow I doubt it), but with a post count of under 6, I just can't take you seriously.

That's your perogative I guess, Triumph.

Thanks for all the input, everyone. Though I have to say that the some of the rulings posted so far seem a bit lenient to me.

Personally, I think a rogue should have a heavy penalty to move silently while tumbling, at least a -5. You've got weapons and equipment banging around, along with the fact that you're hitting the ground and rolling. If moving more than half your movement is -5, then tumbling should at least be a -5, IMO.

I need to think about it some more.

Thanks for all the responses folks.

 

[bret]

That's your perogative I guess, Triumph.

Thanks for all the input, everyone. Though I have to say that the some of the rulings posted so far seem a bit lenient to me.

Personally, I think a rogue should have a heavy penalty to move silently while tumbling, at least a -5. You've got weapons and equipment banging around, along with the fact that you're hitting the ground and rolling. If moving more than half your movement is -5, then tumbling should at least be a -5, IMO.

I need to think about it some more.

Thanks for all the responses folks.

Any rogue with a decent number of Ranks in Move Silently is going to have his equipment set up so it doesn't clank. They know that banging equipment against something can give their position away.

I would give a penalty of somewhere around -3 or so. I do not know of any specific rules or examples in the book to cover this though.

 

[Greybar]

For what it's worth, -4 seems to be a good, serious negative circumstance modifier in the guidelines in the book. But consider what our tumbler is tumbling along:

Nightingale floors would be worse.
Tumbling on grass closer to no penalty at all.
Tumbling on a spread of autumn leaves would be disastrous!

John

 

[mmu1]

I'd suggest -5, same as trying to move at full speed, simply because of balance considerations.

If you look through the PHB or DMG, you'll see that -10 penalties are generally reserved for very tricky situations. Something like balancing on a slippery angled surface, for example... Or trying to tumble directly through someone, instead of around them. Trying to tumble silently just isn't in the same category.

As far as the "clanking equipment" issue is concerned, remember that that's already handled by the rules by having the armor check penalty apply to the skill and requiring the character to carry no more than a normal load.

Oh yeah, and just because I'm feeling picky today: In most circumstances, you either give a penalty to one of the opposed rolls or a bonus to the other, depending on which is appropriate - not both. A guard doesn't temporarily develop keener hearing just because you're about to try something noisy - you get a penalty to your Move Silently check. If something happened previously to make the guard wary - a nearly botched attempt, his superior letting him to know to specificall keep his ears open for something - then he'd get a bonus, and the character would still get his penalty. However, that's not what happens under most circumstances, so no silly stuff like "-5 penalty and a +2 bonus". It's wrong, and unnecessarily complicated.