Pathfinder 1E Solo Stealth Missions

[Fauchard1520]

You're a rogue. As the resident stealthy guy it's your job to scout ahead and collect intel. So in the interest of no rolling up a new dude, how do you go about improving your odds of survival? When you’re running a stealth operation, what are your favorite strategies? Any especially good tools or tactics for the rest of us black pajama wearing Solid Snake wannabes? Or do you just straight up refuse the assignment, hum a few bars of "Never Split the Party," and refuse to do the scouting thing?

Comic for illustrative purposes.

 

[!DWolf]

Some random advice:

Scout ahead only a little bit, secure the area, and let your party move up. Repeat. Never move so far that you can’t get back to them in a round.

Invisibility potions/wands are your friends.

Spell-like ability’s don’t require components and can be cast without moving or speaking. You can get true strike with rogue abilities. If you must eliminate sentries - use it. You can also use it for combat maneuvers.

Longbows and crossbows have massive range. Especially for sniper slayers and those with far shot or the correct magical enhancements. Have them cover you from beyond detection range.

Multi class hunter (feral hunter) to pick up some really useful abilities. For spells “cheetah’s sprint” is good.

GMs: invisible thief true strikes into a steal against the party then moves through a door. On the other side is a) a compatriot who closes and bars it as a readied action, b) an ambush, c) a trap, or d) more than one of the other options. Your players will hate you.

 

[concerro]

Depending on how fragile the party scout is, and other factors, my advice will change. I like to stay at least 60 feet ahead so that the party essentially gets a +6 to their stealth check due to distance.

Disclaimer: I understand the +6 is really applied to the perception DC, not to the stealth check.


What are these other factors I hinted at above?

How stealthy are you? If bad guys likely need a 15 or better to notice you if you roll a 10 I'd say that's good.
If you're not that stealthy I'd drop the distance back to 30 feet unless you feel like you're not easy to take down.

How good is your perception? If you don't have really good perception I'd stay within 30 feet so you don't get ambushed and killed while the party is trying to catchup to you.

I know you mentioned rogues, but slayers, monks, rangers, and so on can also be stealthy. So I'd also look at how good your AC is, and how much punishment you can take. If you're fragile stay within 30 feet.

My current scout has a good(not great perception), but I have pretty good stealth, good AC, and I can take a hit before falling over.

PS: This assumes long hall ways. I would never suggest entering a room by yourself.

This also assumes that your GM has no qualms about allowing you to you suffer for your decisions. If he's the type to softball things then you can take more risk.

 

[Fauchard1520]

This also assumes that your GM has no qualms about allowing you to you suffer for your decisions. If he's the type to softball things then you can take more risk.

You're right that the assumptions of play change things up wildly. The difference between dungeoneering and open-world adventure is a big deal too. Whether or not your party (read: rescue party) has line of sight to you in case you get in trouble another one of those "it depends on campaign style" issues.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

Have a Potion of Invisibility handy if you need a quick getaway. Or better yet, be an Arcane Trickster. I'm running a PF1e campaign now, and one PC has achieved two levels in the Arcane Trickster PrC. He has a huge amount of options at his fingertips. But his character still spends a fair amount of time skulking in the shadows.

 

[Ancalagon]

I'm the party scout in the PF1 game and I'm... a dex-built magus. Am I as sneaky as a devoted rogue? I don't know. But I have a lot of magic to back me up and I hit like a tank. (level 9)

Caster supremacy right? :/

 

[aco175]

When our last scout did this we ended up getting some sending stones to communicate. The scout mostly stays a round or two ahead of the rest of the PCs and hides a lot. The sounds of battle will draw the rest of the party along or he can get the drop on 2nd line monsters.

A long time ago a thief in the party liked to scout and circle the monsters to steal the loot from the party. This led to a long list of parties that never scouted.