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Rangers got a very cool feat called Warded Step that allows them to Avoid Notice and confer the benefit of that exploration activity to their allies, presumably letting said allies use other tactics. But I have questions on how this interacts with skill feats.
1) Does Swift Sneak allow the whole party to move at full speed, assuming no one else uses a tactic that requires half speed? Gonna guess yes here, as no special action is required from the party.
2) Can you use Foil Senses to shield your entire party from weird senses? Again, I think it would, but I don't have the best handle on how Foil Senses works in practice for a lone character, much less this trick.
3) Can your allies gain the benefit of "Follow the Expert" to their Stealth checks? By RAW, I'm not sure they can, but that seems exceptionally weird given the flavor of the feat.
4) Can your party gain the benefits of Quiet Allies? Seems like this might come down to where we land on Follow the Expert in the previous question.
Gonna give this a bump.
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First, it's WARDEN’S STEP: I was having a lot of trouble as there is no Warded Step.
#1 Avoid Notice says "If you have the Swift Sneak feat" as such, YOU could move faster but you leave the party behind. Warden's step just lets them take the activity and not access to feats you may have.
#2 Same as #1, Warden's step doesn't confer other feats to the party.
#3 They can but that defeats the purpose of the Warden's step feat, not taking an action to avoid notice, as they are using an action to avoid notice: they might as well just use "Follow the Expert" and have the ranger save a feat.
#4 Sure thing, as long as you use follow the expert and ignore the Warden's step feat.
Basically, warden's step JUST allows your "allies to gain the benefits as if they were using that activity" and that's "You attempt a Stealth check to avoid notice while traveling at half speed" without using an action. They use their own skill and 1/2 their own speed with the major benefit not needing an action.
You're probably right, but that's a real bummer. I feel like Warden's Step is basically just "hey, y'all want to have ass Avoiding Notice?" I might let it apply Following the Expert, at least, so feats like Quiet Allies aren't mutually exclusive with it and they can still get that circumstance bonus. Foil Senses is probably a bridge too far, but I'd probably apply Swift Sneak too. It often won't matter anyway because if folks use other tactics you'll all be moving at half speed anyway.
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I wouldn't completely count it out. Not everyone will be bad at avoiding notice. Even having 1 or 2 members of your party who are good at sneaking having that benefit for free and allowing them to use other actions can be huge....the hulking barbarian may still want to follow the expert during a stealth mission though.
Yeah, I think Graystone is probably correct.
Though I think you should be able to combine Follow the Expert and Warden's Step.
Grayson is 100% correct, it just allows people to be engaging in the activity.
Still a great feat.
3) Can your allies gain the benefit of "Follow the Expert" to their Stealth checks? By RAW, I'm not sure they can, but that seems exceptionally weird given the flavor of the feat.Note : "follow the expert" has the auditory trait. I have no idea how it works with stealth. I guess it means a character may use auditory actions like singing or using a power word without breaking from stealth? Whatever, who cares.
I am assuming that it covers small noises and whispered communication -shrugs- it is a general rule applied to a specific circumstance, one which the rules example directly calls out.
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Hmm. I just realized this feat doesn't actually make sense as written. "When you Sneak during exploration in natural terrain, you can designate any number of your allies to gain the benefits as if they were using that activity during that exploration. This requires no action on their part."
You don't generally SNEAK in exploration mode, which is not an activity but an action. You AVOID NOTICE, which is an activity. This is clearly a holdover from the playtest, which used Sneak as both an action and a exploration tactic. Seems like it needs some errata. I'm hoping we get a little more paizo commentary to how this feat works at that point, both mechanically and in fiction. What is the Warden DOING, exactly?
I think Sneak still works: Avoid Notice mentions Swift Sneak/Legendary Sneak [feat that modifying sneak] works with it and your roll is states "based on their Perception DCs, as normal for Sneak" so it seems that Avoid Notice is the Sneak of exploration mode. [it's move 1/2 speed and make a stealth checkin either mode]
Should it be changed from "Sneak during exploration" to Avoid Notice? Sure, but I think it passable as is.