How does 'hide' work

[Craig234]

I notice my (pure) rogue, with maxed hide for his (low) level, is seen pretty frequently, even when a ways from the monsters.

How does hide work: simply a check for whether a D20 roll every so often hides? Does it take into account distance (within aggro range, of course)? Obstacles?

Is hide designed to be used for much more than getting to backstab once per battle, and to remove the fog of war for range attacks?

[mr_sir]

i use hide to scout ahead usually and sometimes to backstab then run and lead them into an ambush. you need both hide and move quietly to be able to do it effectively. i think it decides it on a dice roll, but not sure about that.

[silverdragon72]

.

it's more or less the rogues equivalent to invisibility

"hide" is the chance to get "invisible"

!move silent! the chance how long you stay "invisible" - and therefore more important...

...but it does matter if it's day or night / dungeon...


with a high DEX rogue and maxed *both* skills you are more or less invisible at night / in dungeons!

in some battles starting with a dialogue these skills doesn't work!

.

[Craig234]

Hiding

My rogue has very bad luck with stealth.

For example last night, he hid and approached a station with orc archers, and from far away, they started shooting him.

As I write this, I'm suspecting that I may be doing it wrong: while his move silently is also maxed, I might need to activate it in addition to hide.

I'd just hit hide, as if it meant 'stealth'. That may explain it.

[mr_sir]

you hit hide and thats all you need to do, it automatically uses both your hide skill and move silently skill. however, keep an eye on the feedback bar as sometimes the hide fails when you first activate it and then you might not realise it deactivated. if you are still having trouble, do you have a mage with improved invisibility in your party? i quite often don't bother with the stealth button and just cast improved invisibility on my rogue. that way, even after they have attacked they are still partially invisible, giving them a little more protection.

another thing, does the area get a lot lighter where you fail than where you went into hide. i'm not sure, but i think the brightness of an area makes a difference to how hard it is to hide and move quietly without detection (for example, you would have more chance of success in a shadowy area than by a torchlit area)

another thing, just cos hide and move silently are maxed, it does not guarentee a high success rate, as how high your ability is when maxed depends on your level too (for example, say your character has maxed out hide if it is at 4, when you level up the max is now 5 say. so a level 12 rogue for example with maxed out hide and move silently is less likely to be seen than a maxed out level 4 rogue). it could just be that you don't have a high enough skill, even when maxed, to have a high stealth success rate which is why it is failing a lot.

[Crucis]

Craig234, I'm assuming that you're still in chapter one, and it sounds like you're outside of the Guthma's fortress. If so, if you intend to make heavy use of stealth, it's best to do so at night, not during the full light of day. Your stealth rolls will be far, far more likely to succeed.

Night + max Hide/Move Silently == one very happy rogue.

[JJComo]

Hiding in Shadows

The ability is actually called hide in shadows. Therefore hide in the shadows. Your success shall be great young pondskipper

J