| 5 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the errata. |
Stealth Rules Excerpt: You can move up to half your normal speed and use Stealth at no penalty. When moving at a speed greater than half but less than your normal speed, you take a –5 penalty.
Say I'm a halfling. If I move ten feet in a move action then I take no penalty to my Stealth check. If I move 15 feet in a move action, then I take a -5 penalty to my Stealth check. But what if I move my full speed of 20 feet? What penalty do I take then?
The qualifier "but less than your normal speed" specifically excludes moving one's full speed from the stealth penalty.
So...what penalty should someone moving at their full speed take exactly?
This is definitley a blatant inconsistancy and may very well have been a result of some changes made between 3.5 and PF which never got a final smooth over.
There is a gap between what happens at just over half speed all the way to Attacking, Running, and Charging which currently your group and DM will have to fill yourselves.
Personally, the way it is written, I think the smoothest way is to say no penalty for Stealth up to half your speed, -5 penalty to Stealth when moving more than half speed up to and including full speed, and impossible to use Stealth when moving more than full speed. (Although I agree with StabbittyDoom that a heavy penalty is better than impossible and a house-rule along those lines might suit your game play.)
There is also the Bluff / Stealth maneuver in the "if people are observing you" peragraph to consider. The idea being that you use your Standard Action to perform a Bluff and then use your Move Action to get to Cover/Concealment at which point if your Bluff succeeded you may roll for Stealth and if that succeeds you have disappeared from sight. However, this Stealth check is rolled at a -10 penalty because you are moving quickly and presumably up to your "full speed" to get to Cover/Concealment. With that in mind you could decide to scale the penalties as such: No penalty for moving with Stealth up to half speed, -5 penalty to move with Stealth above half speed but below full speed, -10 penalty to use Stealth at full speed (or when performing the Bluff/Stealth maneuver), and impossible to go faster than full speed while using Stealth.
I will be linking this thread to the Consolidated Stalth thread for FAQ purposes. I still have hope that some of these things will eventually get the attention needed to clear up issues.
::EDIT:: Of course the Fast Stealth Rogue talent would eliminate this completely as it states - "Fast Stealth (Ex): This ability allows a rogue to move at full speed using the Stealth skill without penalty.
What I use to make things clear in terms of running while stealthing is from the APG. Silent Hunter, an elven trait, gives you the ability to run while stealthed at a -20 penalty. So sure you can run and stealth as an elf.
Both stealthing traits Silent Hunter and Swift as Shadows make stealth extremely confusing. Both state: This racial trait reduces the penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5. Now does this reduce ALL associated moving while stealthed as stated?
Stealth: -0(0)
Faster Stealth: -0(5)
Bluff Stealth: -5?(10)
What I use to make things clear in terms of running while stealthing is from the APG. Silent Hunter, an elven trait, gives you the ability to run while stealthed at a -20 penalty. So sure you can run and stealth as an elf.
Both stealthing traits Silent Hunter and Swift as Shadows make stealth extremely confusing. Both state: This racial trait reduces the penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5. Now does this reduce ALL associated moving while stealthed as stated?
Stealth: -0(0)
Faster Stealth: -0(5)
Bluff Stealth: -5?(10)
I am not familiar with either trait. I don’t have the APG yet if that is where they both come from. But it sounds like you have it right.