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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Smeelbo" data-source="post: 4689449" data-attributes="member: 81898">My two favorite classes to play are Ranger and Rogue, so I've been giving a lot of thought to Stealth and multi-classing lately. Upon careful reading of the Rogue powers, it appears to me that Shadow Stride makes Fleeting Ghost pretty much useless.This is generally interpreted as giving you an At-Will Move Action that is an exception to Keeping Still, although a minority intepret it as allowing you to Become Hidden with ordinary Cover or Concealment. Let's assume the majority interpretation for now.This allows the character to "Panzerbush," that is, dart from cover to cover while remaining hidden, even if the terrain in between is clear. However, if I understand correctly, this ability obseletes Fleeting Ghost. Upon obtaining Shadow Stride, one would immediately retrain Fleeting Ghost. At first glance, they appear to pertain to two different situations. However, the requirement that "you must be hiding to use [Shadow Stride]" is not in practice more restrictive than Fleeting Ghost. Either the character begins movement hidden, in which case Shadow Stride is simply better than Fleeting Ghost, or the character begins exposed, in which case they must be moving to Total Concealment or Superior Cover in order to become hidden. In the latter case, Fleeting Ghost gives a slight edge, as it eliminates the movement penalty to the initial Stealth check, but once hidden, the first case obtains, and Shadow Stride becomes superior. In other words, compared to Shadow Stride, Fleeting Ghost, as currently interpretted, is only useful when attempting to Become Hidden. All other times, when you are already hidden, Shadow Stride is better. So how useful is this? On the next turn after you've hidden, you move and make another Stealth check anyway, it might as well be a Shadow Stride. Also, on rereading, the paragon tier feat Shadow Stride appears to be poorly written: "You do not incur penalties to your Stealth checks if you move your full speed while hiding or sneaking. You still take the full penalty if you run." As written, it applies only when you move your full speed, and so does not apply if you are moving less than that, i.e., you are climbing a wall, walking a tight rope, shifting, moving more than 2 squares but less than your speed. In any case, Skill Focus: Stealth is a heroic tier feat, and appears better than than the epic feat Secret Stride. Smeelbo</blockquote>

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