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The feat Dimensional Agility (Ultimate Combat, page 95) has the prereq of "Ability to use the abundant step class feature or cast dimension door."

If a wizard takes the Teleportation school (Advanced Players Guide, page 147), giving him the ability to teleport as if using dimension door, does this fulfill the prereq to allow the wizard to take the Dimensional Agility feat?

Well, thank you again everyone who contributed, thank you especially to Cpt_kirstov for the specific errata quote and link, question answered.

/thread

Yes! Finally! This is the something that I've been looking for. Thank you, thank you very much! A direct rule (well, errata, but I can live with that) specifying that a hidden creature denies its targets its Dex bonus.

Hidden: You are difficult to detect but you not invisible. A hidden creature gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls against sighted opponents, and ignores its opponents' Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). You do not have line of sight to a creature or object that is hidden from you.

This is what I've been after this whole time. Thank you.

Okay, time to start quoting.

Core Rulebook, page 178:

Unaware Combatants: Combatants who are unaware at the start of battle don’t get to act in the surprise round. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.

Core Rulebook, page 567:
Flat footed: A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity.

This was not the situation though. Everyone involved, including the rogue, had already acted in combat. Therefore the targets were not flat footed unless the rogue hiding caused them to become flat footed.

I'm sure by now everyone thinks I'm being overly pedantic, but I want someone to actually point out the rules that I can reference, rather than make assumptions about how things should work.

Hardly helpful

Okay, to summarize the thread and everything that has been said.

Simply put, in the specific example where:

IF:
1: During combat when everyone has already acted (thus not being caught surprised and as such flat-footed),
2: A rogue has made a successful stealth check (whether by cover or concealment),

THEN:
3: The target of their ranged attack should be either caught flat footed or denied their dexterity bonus to their AC, thus granting the rogue sneak attack damage (assuming they are within 30 ft).

HOWEVER:
4: There is no specific rule that explicitly says so.

As such, it would have to be an accepted house rule or you get rules lawyers (like me) pointing out that there is not rule that allows for it. If there is a rule that says so, please directly quote it. It would have to include the phrase "catches target flat-footed" or "denies them their dexterity bonus to AC".
Once Paizo actually erratas or releases an official patch for those rules, great, but until then, its surprisingly grey as opposed to black and white.

The big problem we've run into is the immediate assumption of: Being stealthed = Catches target flat footed OR Being Stealthed = Denies target Dex bonus to AC.
While I agree that this is a natural assumption, there's no rules that specifically says so. There are a lot that come close or you could say "well, it works for x so it should work for y" but nothing definitive.

3. If you are surprised by your opponent or unable to see him he is effectively invisible to you and can take his attack with you being flat footed or denied your dex. Sneak attack tells us this.

I hate to harp on about this, but the problem is that nowhere in any of the rules that I've found does it explicitly state this. Yes it's assumed, but its doesn't actually say so.

Okay, but what rule(s) explicitly states that? Can you please provide a quote or a page reference?

Question 1 is where we're coming untied, so I'll go for 2 and three first.

2: Yes, the rogue was attacking with a bow.
3: Yes, the rogue was attacking from 20 feet away.

1: This is what we can't verify. If the defender is unaware of the exact location of the attacker, is the defender denied the dexterity bonus to AC? What in the rules explicitly says so?

Yes, the rogue followed the stealth rules for sniping (at least 10 feet away, -20 on stealth roll), but we're trying to find out if he should have gotten sneak attack for being hidden and attacking us while we were unaware of his exact location.

We're having some trouble in our game regarding whether or not a rogue who is hidden (using the stealth skill) catches their opponents at range either flat footed or denies them their Dex bonus to AC (as is needed for a sneak attack).

I know there are various abilities that do allow for this such as:
* Attacker is invisible
* Target is blinded

But we can't find where, if it all, it says that a rogue who hides in the middle of combat is then able to sneak attack from range. The specific situation that brought this about was:

We are in combat, have been for several rounds now. We see a rogue run to a building and enter it through a 20 foot hole in the wall. After we defeat the melee combatants we pause and turn to the hole, ready to go after the rogue. Then our cleric gets shot, the arrow coming from out of the hole in the wall, taking sneak attack damage. I (Paladin, sword and board) raise my shield and advance towards the hole in the wall. I then get shot, taking sneak attack damage with the GM saying that as I was unaware of the exact location of the rogue, he was catching me flat footed.
What rules support/contradict this?

In the Core Rulebook the rules on Improvised Weapons are specified as being: "...an improvised weapon in combat is considered to be non-proficient with it and takes a –4 penalty on attack rolls made with that object. To determine the size category and appropriate damage for an improvised weapon, compare its relative size and damage potential to the weapon list to find a reasonable match. An improvised weapon scores a threat on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a critical hit. An improvised thrown weapon has a range increment of 10 feet."

Can improvised weapons have other qualities depending on the object?
eg:
* A particularly long improvised item, such as a ladder, having reach
* An item with a hook or curved area having trip
* An item that is flexible or has prongs having disarm
etc.