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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EP" data-source="post: 5536360" data-attributes="member: 41744">B&E Preview #2: Neither Seen Nor HeardTrue stealth is not just about light and shadow; only an amateur with a pre-paid tombstone believes that. Feigned invisibility relies on your whole environment. You can stand directly over top your target and he will never know you’re there… until you whistle and pounce when he looks up.Providing options for all characters - particularly the dexterously challenged - was an essential element in the design work for B&E’s stealth encounters. Stealth encounters have to work with or without a rogue or bard (or anyone else trained in Stealth for that matter). Many of our playtests required the PCs to split up and take out specific individuals simultaneously and some of them needed as much assistance as they could get. For them, there are additional environmental boons beyond cover and concealment.Being Hidden“Hidden” is a word frequented throughout the 4e core rules, generally used to state that a character remains unseen by any or a particular set of opponents. In regular combat, being hidden means you’re tucked out of sight and not in any means of engaging an enemy. During a stealth encounter, being hidden is the first step to taking down a guardian.To make stealth work as it was intended, “hidden” had to be more than just a identifier - it had to become a condition. Voila!FROM BREAK & ENTER BOOK I:HIDDEN (New Condition)You have not been detected by an active or passive Perception check.You don’t provoke opportunity attacks from enemies.You are still vulnerable to any area, blast, or burst attacks by targeting the square you stand on.You treat all enemies as unaware. If you kill an unaware guardian, you can make a Stealth check as a free action.When you make a successful skill check while hidden, you can make a Stealth check as a free action.You are no longer hidden when an enemy makes a successful active Perception check against you or you move clearly within their line of sight.The beauty of using “hidden” as a condition is that the 4e core rules already use this word frequently. The hidden condition can easily be applied to any game, even those who would never touch a stealth encounter to save their lives (and it very well could).Hidden vs. Invisible: There’s a significant difference between being hidden and invisible. Hidden characters do not arouse any suspicion from guardians because no one knows they are in the area; this can apply to a single character during a fight or the entire party shortly before a party of guardians is suddenly pulled into the bushes and never heard from again. Once a guardian catches a flash of movement from the corner of his eye and becomes suspicious, you are no longer hidden… but you are invisible to the guardian until you’re caught. More importantly, being hidden allows you the chance to make an immediate Stealth check after killing a guardian and remaining hidden as you slide over to take down the next one.This is the true power of the hidden condition and why it was necessary to create it. Building a condition into the game (or this version of it, at least) prevents the one significant flaw in stealth: provoking opportunity attacks from movement. There are times where you’ll need to sneak past a guardian without getting into a confrontation. If you move behind a guardian, Stealth check or not, without being hidden, that guardian gets to turn and whomp your sorry ass. Take that ability away from them, so long as you hold up your skill checks, and you can act like the Master Thief you’ve always wanted.The hidden condition only relates to the intruder; in order to be truly effective, the target needs his own condition.Ignorance is DeathLast week, I talked about “unaware hit points” and how they allow you the opportunity to take down a guardian with just one good hit. Well, you can only use a target’s unaware hit points when they have the unaware condition, but it’s so much more important than that.Unaware is the complete ignorance to your presence and intrusion. When you first arrive at the scene, a handful of successful Stealth checks in hand, all guardians stand at their post and continue on with the dull job of watching a door or hallway - they are unaware. This condition relegates the guardians to obstacles while you move yourself into position to strike. In a sense, without the unaware condition, the stealth encounter will likely remain nothing more than a theory.FROM BREAK & ENTER BOOK I:UNAWARE (New Condition)You grant combat advantage.You cannot make active Perception checks outside of your active alertness range.You can’t see any target (your targets have superior cover or total concealment or are invisible) and cannot make opportunity attacks.Guardians use their unaware hit point total. Once they become aware, they convert to their full hit points at the start of their next turn.This condition also allows the rogue to continue shining. (Don’t worry, little buddy, we didn’t forget about you.) By granting combat advantage, the rogue remains the dominant character in a stealth encounter and it makes sense. It also avoids the need for rogues to “act first” and whatnot, especially as many guardians walk a perimeter and this technically counts as a move action. This is what they’ve trained to do since they were an urchin on the street, taking a blood oath to the local guild. It simultaneously grants those untrained in the shadow arts to compensate for their lesser stats with a +2 bonus to the killing blow.Noise Is a Thief’s Second Best FriendConsider darkness as a thief’s true love; it understands the thief and work with him to remain concealed from those who would prevent him from achieving his goal (of stealing stuff, but that’s neither here nor there). Darkness embraces the thief and loves him for who he is. So does noise.FROM BREAK & ENTER BOOK I:NOISEMinor Noise (+2 Bonus to Stealth Checks): There is significant noise around you to mask any sounds you might make through movement. A single object making minor noise does so to a maximum burst of 5 squares; you can only gain this bonus while moving within this burst.Full Noise (+5 Bonus to Stealth Checks): The entire area you are standing in emits enough noise to conceal all but the loudest sounds you make. A single object making full noise does so to a maximum burst of 20 squares; you can only gain this bonus while moving within this burst.This is one of those true playtester moments and why this upcoming book owes so much to those who tried to break it. During one of the first stealth encounters, the party had to sneak across a cobblestone road at night and break the window of a butcher’s shop on the other side… and there were no rogues available. With only a +6 as the highest Stealth bonus around, one of the players asked “Do the church bells go off at midnight?” They wanted to use the sound of the massive gongs to mask their approach as they cross the street and broke the glass. And so rules for noise were created.(Ad)Vantage PointsFinally, there’s elevation. As 4e has progressed, flat terrains are a thing of the past, particular as you go up in level. Some characters learn to fly, teleport, jump without limits, and so do some monsters. Creating rules for a stealthy bastard to climb onto a high ledge and peer down at his targets was just too tempting.FROM BREAK & ENTER BOOK I:ELEVATIONElevated: You stand, hover, or remain suspended at least 10′ over the target and gain concealment.Highly Elevated: You stand, hover, or remain suspended at least 30′ over the target and gain total concealment.In Our Next Installment……we’ll break down the basics of trials, those pesky little hindrances holding you back from claiming your XP rewards. Until then, stay hidden.</blockquote>

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