Stealth

2D + Awareness + Bonuses

Stealth refers to any aspect that is influenced by, or influences, a character's awareness. It is important that a referee knows what each character is aware of, because this will significantly affect their effectiveness and survival, and is not limited to combat.

There are several stealth abilities: Sneak, Hide, Prestidigitationr, and Locate. The first three involve avoiding the awareness of others, and the last increases awareness to help detect the other three.

SNEAKing is the action of moving carefully, using shadows, cover and blind spots, so that the being is undetected. Unfortunately, when using Sneak, either Movement is halved (to represent the extra care taken) or the effective Sneak total is halved.

HIDE is much the same as sneak, except that it does not allow for movement. The advantage of hiding is that it can be done to another being or object, while sneaking cannot.

SWIPE STUFF involves sleight of hand, especially doing something to another being without their knowledge. This includes secretly manipulating items, placing or removing items without others noticing, or simply making things seemingly appear and disappear.

LOCATE uses all of a being's senses to extend their awareness. This may allow a being to "watch" without using their eyes.

To attempt any of the above abilities, a character rolls two dice and adds their awareness and any bonus they may have for the ability. If the beings they are using the stealth on are paying attention than they also roll 2 dice, and add their awareness (plus bonuses if they have them); otherwise inattentive beings only get to use their awareness with no bonuses or dice. The higher total prevails; ties signifying uncertainty, and double-sixes counting as automatic success.

Characters have a normal level of awareness, as indicated by their statistic of the same name, but there are factors that can affect this. A character must state that they are attempting to locate in order receive that bonus, if they have one. The surroundings may affect the ability for stealth (if the referee wants to bother); an open street is usually neutral, a featureless hallway with a good echo makes stealth virtually impossible (-10 for sneaking/hiding), and a lush and noisy jungle makes stealth much easier (+5 for sneaking/hiding). A being may also be distracted using Willpower, allowing other beings a bonus up to +5 for sneaking/hiding/pilfering : one group member points and says, "Hey, your laces are untied!" while the rest of his friends sneak past.