Shadow's Shroud


Rules Questions


Can someone tell me, based on the rules of Ultimate Intrigue, if you were standing in a brightly lit corridor, right next to an enemy or say even 5 feet away from an enemy, could you use this feat to enter stealth eventhough the enemy is observing you with vision? Let's assume it's only vision for this scenario.

I am a bit puzzled with how this works, as this only kinda covers yourself in shifting, camouflaging shadows, but not the area around you, so if they already see you....would they be able to continue seeing you or could you roll a high stealth and suddenly you're basically invisible, eventhough you're a patch of shadow in a bright corridor?

I understand that if you started in cover or somewhere out of sight, you could technically continue stealthing with this without further cover as long as you need, but if you're already been seen, do you need cover/distraction first to break their vision, or can you just whoop, turn on feat and stealth?

Any sort of input would be invaluable, thanks:)


Benefit: As a swift action, you can shroud yourself in shifting, camouflaging shadow. While shrouded in this fashion, you can attempt Stealth checks as though you had concealment, even in areas of normal or bright light. Creatures that can see normally in supernatural darkness can still see you normally.

The feat specifically states you can attempt Stealth checks as if you had concealment. Even the description of stealth states finding cover or concealment allows you to use stealth.


So the fact that the player in question was standing near the enemy and was being observed clearly has no relevance?

The Exchange

Daermoth wrote:
So the fact that the player in question was standing near the enemy and was being observed clearly has no relevance?

No relevance.

The feat allows the player to create shadows around him, which in turn counts as concealment and therefore allows him to make stealth checks to hide. It's a more localized version of the party wizard casting deeper darkness. If that happened, the player would be able to make stealth checks.

However, there's still plenty the enemy could do. Since the shadows are just around the player, the enemy knows exactly which square he is in. (Unless he gets to actual cover or concealment before the end of his turn.) The player is going to get the benefits of being in stealth (like being able to sneak attack) but the enemy can still attack that square (with a 50% miss chance). Or, if she's magically knowledgeable, she can figure out what happened and use some anti-planar travel magic of her own to make it go away. Or just glitterdust the area. Sure he's got concealment, but he's also got a -40 on future stealth checks.

Also, bear in mind the normal rules for the stealth skill. Stealth checks are normally made "as part of movement" or "as a move action" when sniping and I don't see anything in Shadow's Shroud that lets you make the check as a free action. As soon as he makes his first attack stealth breaks. So, barring other abilities: he uses Shadow's Shroud as a swift action, stealths (with or without moving) as a move action, then attacks as a standard, which breaks the stealth. Even if he waits a round to full-attack, he still only counts as being in stealth for the first attack.

If you are the GM and feel this feat is too powerful or disruptive, you may want to talk to the player about taking a different feat. The conduit feats are from Planar Adventures and is thematically tied to PCs that do a lot of plane-hopping or otherwise have a strong affinity for a particular plane. Unless of course it is a PFS campaign, in which case the feat is legal.


Concealment and Stealth Checks: You can use concealment to make a Stealth check. Without concealment, you usually need cover to make a Stealth check

The feat gives you concealment which means they are not being directly observed. If the observer can see in magical darkness it would not grant concealment for that observer. What the observer sees is a mass of shadows not the character attempting stealth. They know which square he is in, but cannot actually see the character. The other rules for stealth still apply, but the character can make a stealth roll to hide.

This feat is considered a magical effect so can do things that are not normal. The feat also has a limited duration based on how many ranks the character has in KS planes. Unless the character moves to a square with normal concealment or cover they need to keep spending those rounds to remain hidden, and even then it is obvious which square they are in.

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