Shadowdancer Hide in Plain Sight

[moritheil]

Right. It's an interesting discussion. Magical gear representing placement of character special abilties is very similar to a game system that has no magical gear and instead has these abilities subsumed into the development of the character. The bonus of having subsumed character abilities is that they cannot be taken away, but they are rather permanent. The downside for having these character special abilities extracted from the character as magical gear is that they can be taken away or lost, on the upside the gear can be interchanged and swapped out for other gear that provides different special abilities.

The net results are the same for characters in the two different game systems. Both have a +4 to Strength for example, but one has it as a permanent special ability that cannot be taken away and the other has it as magical gear that can be lost but can also be exchanged for another special ability. Both have their plus and minus sides and accomplish the same thing, just in a slightly different way.

This is the tradeoff of VoP - you aren't as good as the others in your group, but you never have to worry about your stuff being destroyed or taken away. You're just about as effective naked as you are normally, because the only difference is whether or not you're wearing a plain cotton robe.

 

[Abraxas]

SD(1) runs up to target X and hits then runs a bit (spring attack) (SD2) can she hide for no penalties as the SD isnt attacking anymore? Hide while moving.

Yes.

Also could the SD hide first, hit, spring attack, then hide again?

The SD could hide, move up while still being hidden, attack while making a hide check at -20 (if the check was successful its a sneak attack and the SD is still hidden), and spring away (making another hide check with only penalties for how fast the SD is moving) and the target will be standing there holding his kidney saying "What just hit me?"

 

[mikebr99]

The SD could hide, move up while still being hidden, attack while making a hide check at -20 (if the check was successful its a sneak attack and the SD is still hidden), and spring away (making another hide check with only penalties for how fast the SD is moving) and the target will be standing there holding his kidney saying "What just hit me?"

Assuming that the above is taking a min of 2 rounds to accomplish... then I agree with you. Except that both part of the spring attack movement would require a -20 DC hide check to remain hidden for the entire round.


Mike

 

[Abraxas]

Assuming that the above is taking a min of 2 rounds to accomplish... then I agree with you. Except that both part of the spring attack movement would require a -20 DC hide check to remain hidden for the entire round.

Not if the SD has spring attack, and no, only remaining hidden while making the actual attack requires the -20 penalty.

From the FAQ - using a Ranger's HiPS ability for an example and a character with spring attack.

1. The character begins his turn hidden (as long as he’s in natural terrain, he doesn’t even need cover or concealment).
2. He moves up to a foe across natural terrain and makes an attack (making a Hide check with a –20 penalty to be considered hiding when he attacks).
3. He then moves back from the foe and makes a new Hide check to disappear from view (again, he doesn’t need cover or concealment while in natural terrain).

The -20 penalty is only used during the actual attack.


Andy Collins and Skip Williams apparently have different play styles and interpret the rules in different ways. The fact that both can interpret the same rule in different ways shows how ambiguous some of the rules are written (or it shows how much they want their houserules to be the rules). In 3.0 I would say your interpretation was correct. In 3.5 I'm certain mine is correct.