Stealth is a notoriously difficult skill to make work 100% of the time. Scouting is often considered Russian Roulette: Its only a matter of time before your luck runs out.
A couple things I've noticed:
1.) spells (like invisibility) help a lot, but do not ensure success.
2.) Thus, Stealth as a class skill is a must, as well as perception, for the obvious recon applications.
IS there any other ability I ought to have to make this concept work?
Anyone have any builds that work exceptionally well in this capacity?
Thanks everyone!
Its much more fair to a degree. depending on the level of the NPCs they will most all be passing their "Aid another" checks, but if you were assuming they all passed, 10 NPCs = a +18 to that perception check aswell as whatever perception modifier the original guy had. What i do with my characters is i tell them to stealth and move forward. If they are behind total cover and not moving they can assume that they won't be found unless line of sight is given. If they are moving while behind total cover they get a +8 to their stealth check (only their footsteps can be heard). Also you have to remember that if the person you are sneaking up on isn't a guard they have a -5 to their perception because they are distracted. Hearing a sound through a door gives another -5 so i tell my players if you want to crack open an unlocked door they will still get the -5 perception.
Also, if you fail a stealth check it doesn't mean OH LOOK THERES SOMEONE its "The NPC heard a sound, and is going to check it out" or "The NPC saw something as you ran behind cover and is going to investigate" This gives the players that excitement as well as gives the player another chance to hide. Now if it was a guard, he might notice something- This is when you just gotta be good at bluff checks or running away.
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Darkvision is good for underground scouting, the enhanced darkvision feats (increasing it to 120') is well worth it if you are looking at extended underdark campaigns. I've debated on playing a changeling (or half orc) rogue with those feats.*
If you're using a tiefling, the fiendish sight is even better (120' darkvision *and* low light vision, and see through darkness after that.)
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Lots of other skills help, also. (Especially if your GM is more into the creative side of things )
Climb and the tools for it are great. Climbing a tree can get you a good vantage point, and also be a great hiding place.
Mirrors for looking around corners.
Knowing a good number of languages will help you eavesdrop.
Acrobatics and /or escape artist to help make quick getaways. Escape artist could also be useful for squeezing through tiny gaps to hide.
you should really get the ability to take 10, otherwise it's just a matter of time until you roll 1 and an ennemy rolls 20, and it's unlikely you can make up for such a difference with you skillpoints and invisibility.
Without help of the GM, a scout is very difficult to do. I would go with ninja and take skill mastery as advanced rogue talent at lvl 10.
Actually sometimes spells hinder you, detect magic will make you flare up, even if it takes time to know exactly what spell it is. Even magic items might betray you.
And don't get me started on all those divinations spells.
The only good scout/recon is a lvl 20 ninja, even the gods themselves can't see him.
Another thing you can do as the GM is make all rolls privately and just tell the player what is happening. he doesn't need to know if he fails, but if he did miss the check by 4-8 points tell him that the guard is walking towards him. it is MUCH more fun this way.
I like monks for this reason. Increased movement speed, perception, acrobatics, stealth. Acrobatics is good because if you ARE discovered, you can tumble out of a group and make a run for it. As well as other circumstantial bonii: like hiding in trees and such.
Druid makes a good scout, too.
You'll need a trait for stealth, but wild shape does wonders.
Perception as a class skill, probable good wisdom, size mods for stealth, extra senses, and ,to repeat, wildshape.
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As a Gm, I usually handle my NPC guards as 'Taking 10" on their perception checks. If your a guard on a 4 hour shift, chances are your not actively staring out into the unknown all the time. If the player character somehow alerts the guards, then they go into active mode and spend their next action actually roll their perception checks.
I roll the PC's stealth checks behind the screen. Same with Perception checks for traps. Makes the game much more suspenseful and allows for better narration on my part.
As for making a stealthy character, druids are also a decent option, as the ability to turn yourself into various harmless animals can be quite effective. Who's going to notice the rat in the dockside warehouse, or the sparrow in the tree at the edge of camp? Also certain spells allow you to turn into trees or meld into stone, all useful as camouflage.
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Invisibility helps. Nondetection will interfere with see invisibility, too, since it's a divination spell. Invisibility + mind blank is even better. Ring of invisibility + amulet of proof against detection and location is a particularly good combo for scouting.
Gaseous form + invisibility works great and allows you to silently bypass doors you encounter while scouting. Gaseous form's upgrade, wind walk, is even better since you can move much faster and shift in and out of gaseous form.
Etherealness is the gold standard for in-person scouting: you're not only invisible to sight, but also undetectable by hearing, blindsight, blindsense, tremorsense, scent, and the like. Combine with mind blank and you're the proverbial mouse fart in a hurricane.
If you are outside in fairly open terrain, level 2 ranger spell Eagle Eye is as good as a crystal ball.
If you don't have mid-to-high-level magic available, you can just pump Stealth. As long as you aren't in combat, you can usually take 10 on Stealth checks even without skill mastery. Things like cloak of elvenkind, ring of chameleon power, and shadow armor all help even mid-level characters be able to achieve take 10 Stealth checks in the 40s. Scent is the biggest problem, but Negate Aroma fixes that. If the GM is rolling Perception for every single NPC that might detect you, then also ask him to please enforce distance modifiers to Perception and keep a little standoff distance. Chameleon Stride gives you a Stealth bonus and concealment from anybody more than 5 feet away, which incidentally allows you to Stealth even under adverse conditions.
Part of being a good scout is seeing the enemy before the enemy sees you. So you must also pump Perception. Half-elves make great scouts since they get keen senses and a bonus Skill Focus--which naturally should go into Perception, the most useful skill in the game. Eyes of the eagle are an inexpensive way to pump Perception. Acute Senses gives you a +10 or better bonus to Perception that stacks with eyes of the eagle. Aspect of the Falcon gives you a small Perception bonus. Bloodhound gives you scent. Perceive Cues gives you a smaller bonus than Acute Senses, but it lasts longer. Darkvision by racial ability, spell, or magic item is also a must.
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I am playing the scout in the party right now and I am doing a few things very differently to gain information.
I still use Stealth and Perception but I also use Bluff and Disguise. It helps that I have a Hat of Disguise, and I use spells like Vocal Alteration to further the disguise. I typically chose disguises that are ignored or accepted easily. I ran around looking like a pugwampi in a gnoll camp for a while in one of my scouting trips and that was almost as good as being invisible. My character is a ratfolk, so the disguise was on the large size for pugwampi, but the gnolls didn't seem to notice.
I don't walk into danger though, as walking up to an enemy and saying hi is a sure fire way to be stabbed. Instead I keep my distance. The disguise is just in case someone notices me and wants to find out what I am doing. Disguised as someone who belongs there, I am almost never attacked outright (there was an incident with a dire bat,) and I can use Bluff to talk my way out of it. If that doesn't work, Charm Person does.
While I am sneaking around I use Detect Thoughts to scan the area for information. If I find a guard or someone I think would easily fail Will saves I hit them with Sow Thought first and then use Detect Thoughts. This allows me to direct the thoughts towards a specific subject I want to learn about.
Also, stuff that gives you distractions can be useful. Mage hand and ghost sound can be great ways to direct guards away from where you want them to go.
Its much more fair to a degree. depending on the level of the NPCs they will most all be passing their "Aid another" checks, but if you were assuming they all passed, 10 NPCs = a +18 to that perception check aswell as whatever perception modifier the original guy had. What i do with my characters is i tell them to stealth and move forward. If they are behind total cover and not moving they can assume that they won't be found unless line of sight is given. If they are moving while behind total cover they get a +8 to their stealth check (only their footsteps can be heard). Also you have to remember that if the person you are sneaking up on isn't a guard they have a -5 to their perception because they are distracted. Hearing a sound through a door gives another -5 so i tell my players if you want to crack open an unlocked door they will still get the -5 perception.
I thought for Aid Another, you could only have 2 people "Aiding" for a potential of a +4 max?