Who needs Stealth?

[Tech]

In the 5th ed book, there are penalties listed for walking casually, walking slowly and walking carefully (don't have the book in front of me), ranging from -1 to -3 to the rolls. The skill Stealth, by it's nature, includes such things as being quiet when walking, among other things. Really, you can almost ignore buying Stealth and get a freebie -1 to -3 to opponents hearing PER roll just by being quiet when walking. Now, to be fair, having a Stealth roll of, say 13 or less can allow up to a -10, assuming a perfect 3 (but then I might say the opponent simply couldn't hear you - period!). If you use Stealth, do these roll minues get added in addition to Stealth (made Stealth by 3 and being quiet -3 = -6 to rolls). Yet, this seems redundant as Stealth takes this into consideration. Has anyone else run into this seeming contridiction?

[Aroooo]

My take would be that Stealth allows you to be quiet while walking over stuff other than a carpeted floor in soft shoes. Think about sneaking up on someone in a forest in the fall with all those leaves on the ground. Or cowboys who always seem to be stealthy walking in boots on creaky wooden floors. Stealth also covers the ability to hide in cover - although there is another area of overlap (with Concealment) - or maybe its interpreted as using common objects like crowds or dress racks for cover.

 

Personally, we just use the mods for Stealth, and limit the 'walking quietly' mod to at most -1 (okay, -2 if you are in soft shoes on carpet ).

 

Aroooo

[BlackCobra]

Actually, in my campaigns anyway, there's a HUGE difference (a GULF) between someone having a high natural stat and actually having the skill in question. I'd allow someone who actually has the skill to do a whole lot more with it.

 

In the case of stealth, I'd let them not only move quietly, but avoid the arc of the automatic cameras, move upwind of the gaurd dogs and know instinctively how to move behind someone so they don't notice they're there (as some examples).

 

Someone without Stealth could try the same things, but they're going to have to make a much harder roll and they're going to have to do lesser versions of things.

[Captain Obvious]

If you're walking carefully and using stealth, you get the penalty of your skill roll (however much you made the roll by) AND a -3 penalty to apply against whoever you're sneaking past. Doesn't it make sense when sneaking up on someone regardless of your skill to move slowly rather than sprint?