Goblin Squad Member
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This may be the simplest feature I'm ever going to propose.
This would be an advanced skill. By advanced I mean it would have prerequisites and possibly higher XP cost per level than many other skills. Prerequisites would be stealth, a small amount of architecture, and if they have it survival skill.
When you have this skill you can choose to build a foxhole. Initiating an action timer after which your character disappears from the map, simulating that you have created and hidden yourself in a covered foxhole.
If another player perceives you they see you as a glowing patch on the ground that gives the information they would normally see when viewing your character.
Foxholes are perceptible from 5 meters away if the player's foxhole construction is equal to your perception. Perception / foxhole construction imbalances can change that range from 10 to 1 meters.
The point of foxholes is both for their obvious tactical usage in ambushes, but also to allow players who need to go afk momentarily to make their characters a bit harder to find.
You can attack from a foxhole but doing so immediately ends the hidden condition, as does moving.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Beyond the really cool tactical uses for this feature I think it really helps with the whole logout discussion. For two big reasons:
1. If logout anywhere and log back in in that same location did make it into the game the primary use would be off-lining a few fighters and letting one person ( probably an unaffiliated alt) spot for you until the time comes to log in and ambush a target.
2. If logouts move you to some location you don't want to be, people needing to quickly deal with the dog / their kids or who need to make a bathroom break won't want to log out.
With issue 1, foxholes allow you to spot for yourself and launch the attack more easily when the target appears. It discourages people from exploiting by offering good in-game alternatives.
With issue 2, a lot off people are going to run over a bit out of the way, start a foxhole construction action and then afk within the relative safety of a foxhole. It makes things a lot easier on people dealing with real life issues that may call them away from the game.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think there's probably lots of reasons armies didn't use foxholes before the advent of rapid-fire firearms. As a crusty old combat engineer, I'll just deal with the work and camouflage aspects. I'll leave the details of sword-fighting from the bottom of a hole to others.
For time and work estimating, figure a person can hand dig 1/3 cy per hour.
A hole 5 foot deep and 2 1/2 feet in diameter is 24.5 cuft. Say 1 cy. So a simple hole of that size takes 3 hours to dig. That assumes every person in the hiding party has a good shovel or spade in their kit.
If I dig a hidey-hole and leave a pile of dirt next to it, it doesn't matter what the other guy's perception is - he'll spot it from 50 yards away. So I have to take that yard of dirt and spread it around a good area. (No, I can't just dig a hole to bury the spare dirt).
And foliage to cover the hole. I'll have to carefully pick that over a wide area as well, so that the first elf, druid or ranger that comes along doesn't alert his party because there's freshly cut plants. And the foliage will dry out over time, so my spider hole has a definite expiry date.
So 3+ hours to go invisible. If GW wants invisibility in the game, I hope they let me use a potion or spell instead.
(Digging a spider hole in mountain/rocky/barren terrain could be harder if not impossible. Same with swampy terrain.)
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I think you got it backwards ,you want your enemy to be down in a hole that they have to climb out of , you don't want to be the one in hole when combat begins. Or are we able to jump 10 ft straight up , that would put you up on the ground from inside a hole.
I'd say the current jump height is probably around 10 feet as is, being able to jump 20-30% higher than a given PC stands and land on their head is a big thing round here, and you dont even need high ground or a running start.