My sugestion is very simple. Let stealthing in combat be a trained only use of the stealth skill. Let it be an automatic success, but only when it comes to one of the two uses:
Either
you get CA when you have cover or concealment (and +2 on defense)
OR
you get "Hidden" status and can't be targeted unless the potential attacker beats your stealth with an active perception vs Stealth check as a minor action. No checks are made untill an enemy actually spends a minor action or two in order to find you. It will not happen every turn. No free perception checks.
This would mean game balance as all strikers can get their to hit increase and sneak attack on a regular basis. And it helps the tank when there is need for aggro/threat/hate controll and the striker is in a bad spot and he goes "under cover". But you don't get both at once and you don't have to roll perception and stealth checks on a regular basis, only when it really counts.
The only thing one should keep in mind is that every character with stealth should decide if he autmatically uses CA as a default or Hide as a default. This can be changed from turn to turn, but a default is always a good thing.
PS. And no, you can't first attack with CA from one cover square and then move and get Hide status from the next cover square. If you have used CA you can't use Stealth to become untargetable that turn at all and vice versa.
Either
you get CA when you have cover or concealment (and +2 on defense)
OR
you get "Hidden" status and can't be targeted unless the potential attacker beats your stealth with an active perception vs Stealth check as a minor action. No checks are made untill an enemy actually spends a minor action or two in order to find you. It will not happen every turn. No free perception checks.
This would mean game balance as all strikers can get their to hit increase and sneak attack on a regular basis. And it helps the tank when there is need for aggro/threat/hate controll and the striker is in a bad spot and he goes "under cover". But you don't get both at once and you don't have to roll perception and stealth checks on a regular basis, only when it really counts.
The only thing one should keep in mind is that every character with stealth should decide if he autmatically uses CA as a default or Hide as a default. This can be changed from turn to turn, but a default is always a good thing.
PS. And no, you can't first attack with CA from one cover square and then move and get Hide status from the next cover square. If you have used CA you can't use Stealth to become untargetable that turn at all and vice versa.
