I was reading up a section on shadows from the undead revisited book and was looking them up in the bestiary. Now what I'm confused about is, you need cover to use stealth, yet shadows mimic (technically) normal shadows. Don't they have the ability to hide in plain sight? Also, a shadow in the dark can also be seen by dark vision as normal, right? If a player wanted to make use of stealth in a DM created dungeon, should I go ahead and throw stuff around to grant the needed cover? Also, do creatures roll perception if a stealthed person was behind them or off to their side? Perception is an ACTIVELY used skill, or do some things cause a roll to be made automatically?
Plus, I was curious, can a readied action disrupt the actions of another? Say a player was charging a foe and there was another foe hidden behind a nearby corner (for instance). Would the foe be able to ready a charge to hit the player and interrupt the PC's charging action? On that topic, can a foe ready a charge maneuver to intercept another charging character? What about reading a strike from your weapon to also stop the attack from the player?
On a SOMEWHAT related topic, if a creature is getting up from prone and provokes an AoO, he CAN'T be tripped to drop him again, why not? When would an AoO technically land?
(for bonus points, why would a monster have skill ranks in something they'll never use in their short life span, like knowledge for instance? Is it for the rare times when players talk to the creature?)
cmastah wrote: shadows mimic (technically) normal shadows. Don't they have the ability to hide in plain sight? No, they don't. However, they can enter into adjacent walls so finding cover is not hard for them to do. They just have to maintain it to stay stealthed.
cmastah wrote: Also, a shadow in the dark can also be seen by dark vision as normal, right? Yep.
cmastah wrote: If a player wanted to make use of stealth in a DM created dungeon, should I go ahead and throw stuff around to grant the needed cover? I would do this ahead of time. It's good practice. Likewise overland have scrub, trees and the like. Flat, featureless plains should be somewhat rare.
cmastah wrote:
Also, do creatures roll perception if a stealthed person was behind them or off to their side? Perception is an ACTIVELY used skill, or do some things cause a roll to be made automatically?
No, perception is both active and passive depending on the use. They get reactive checks to notice. They can also spend move actions to make active checks.
cmastah wrote:
Plus, I was curious, can a readied action disrupt the actions of another?
Certainly. One player could ready to shoot the first enemy they see casting. One enemy could ready to cast a spell (say magic missile) at the first PC they see casting. Then a PC goes to cast a spell..
cmastah wrote: On that topic, can a foe ready a charge maneuver to intercept another charging character? I would allow it if the foe gives up the rest of his actions (limiting himself to a standard action). It makes no sense to say yes *if* the foe is slowed, staggered or in a surprise round but not if they are more able to act.
cmastah wrote: What about reading a strike from your weapon to also stop the attack from the player?
Why would a strike stop the attack, unless you drop them?
cmastah wrote:
On a SOMEWHAT related topic, if a creature is getting up from prone and provokes an AoO, he CAN'T be tripped to drop him again, why not? When would an AoO technically land?
The AOO finishes and then the action finishes. So the creature provokes, gets hit by the AOO and THEN stands up.
cmastah wrote:
(for bonus points, why would a monster have skill ranks in something they'll never use in their short life span, like knowledge for instance? Is it for the rare times when players talk to the creature?)
The monsters, unlike Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, exist regardless of the PCs. They might need those skills to survive in the wild or in their society, etc. Or they might just want them.
3rd edition and it's offspring are about the monsters being on the same rules as the PCs, and that leads to an immersive choice to build them as if they were real creatures rather than obstacles for the PCs.
Hope all this helps,
-James
I will try my best.
* Don't they have the ability to hide in plain sight? Not unless specified in the bestiary.
* Also, a shadow in the dark can also be seen by dark vision as normal, right? Correct
* If a player wanted to make use of stealth in a DM created dungeon, should I go ahead and throw stuff around to grant the needed cover? Only if logical for the dungeon. (Up to DM on this one, but keep the game fun for all).
* Also, do creatures roll perception if a stealthed person was behind them or off to their side? Perception is an ACTIVELY used skill, or do some things cause a roll to be made automatically? There is no "facing" in Pathfinder. Perception can be a reactive skill. If someone is stealthing near by, they get a perception check to detect it. Same with things like disguises.
* lus, I was curious, can a readied action disrupt the actions of another? Say a player was charging a foe and there was another foe hidden behind a nearby corner (for instance). Would the foe be able to ready a charge to hit the player and interrupt the PC's charging action? Charge is a full round action and cannot normally be "readied", but if the foe could ready a ranged weapon, for example, to shoot the next PC that runs down the hallway. This would interupt the charge, resolve the attack, and then the charging character would continue the charge (if possible).
* On that topic, can a foe ready a charge maneuver to intercept another charging character? Charge is a full round action and cannot normally be readied.
* What about reading a strike from your weapon to also stop the attack from the player? You can, but it would only stop the charging player if you tripped them, knocked them unconscious, killed them, or did something else to stop movement. Otherwise, once the attack was resolved, the character could continue their previous action.
* On a SOMEWHAT related topic, if a creature is getting up from prone and provokes an AoO, he CAN'T be tripped to drop him again, why not? When would an AoO technically land? With standing from the prone condition, the character is either laying down or standing up, there is nothing in between (at least from the rules point of view). the AoO would happen before the character was "standing" and thus still prone. Since the character was already prone, you could not make them "more-prone".
* (for bonus points, why would a monster have skill ranks in something they'll never use in their short life span, like knowledge for instance? Is it for the rare times when players talk to the creature?) Not all encounters are combat, and there are times when the characters may have to try to gather intelligence from a monster (for example, they may capture and question a kobold about possible traps in the dungeon ahead) having skill ranks listed gives the DM more options to flesh out the encounter if the players decide to throw a monkey-wrench in his plans.
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