Hide/Sneak question..../

[garhkal]

By the book, hide is for masking equipment and objects, while sneak is for masking oneself, whether while moving or while stationary.

Do you feel hide should take over from sneak when you are motionless?
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[Soniv]

Personally, I would say no.

Hiding a static, immobile, nonsentient object is far different from trying to remain quiet and motionless yourself, in my opinion. The basic principles of sneaking still apply, such as masking breath, heart rate, keeping calm, etc.

But that's just how I would see it. There's likely someone out there who can think up a good reason to use hide instead.

[Endwyn]

Now that I think about it, it seems to make more sense the way it's written in the book. For years I played under a house rule that used hide for a non-moving person too. As someone who did use the rule the way you ask, I would prefer it being per the book.

Now that I said that.....someone will give a great explination for it being the "house rule" way.
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[Tahlorn]

For using hide to mask oneself while still:

Sneak is the ability to move silently and the like for getting past or up to something. Quiet footsteps, looking inconspicuous, etcetra.

Hide is the abitlity to make something blend in with other objects, to not seem out of the ordinary, or to know where to tuck something away without being seen. One does not need quiet feet or an inconspicuous whistle while hunching behind a crate or holding still in a shadow as someone walks by.

Hide and Sneak do work under the same principle, but also require a different set of abilities. Sure, someone who is stealthy is more likely to be able to dissapear in the shadows, but a really good smuggler still might walk with heavy feet.

If Sneak was isntead called Stealth (as it is in my other system), I don't think there would be much to argue here. Sneaking can involve darting from shadow to shadow (which if they stayed for a long time in the shadows it would call for a Hide roll), but hiding does not cover darting behind a new crate as the previous crate is bein g moved (such a situation would require a sneak roll, so as to not be heard / seen).

[Loc Taal]

I prefer to follow the guidelines in the book, just because it makes it easier as you don't have to switch back and forth between different skills for doing basically the same thing. If my sneak skill is higher than my hide skill, I'm never going to stop moving, I'll just keep sneaking around and never hide...
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[Phalanks Balas]

I think you have to feel the spirit of the skill and not it name. Because a caracter sheet is not in a poster format, name of the skills have to be short.
To Hide can means a lot of thing. In SWRPG it means "hide something". Basicaly an item on your caracter.

Sneak in SWRPG means be insignifient / invisible to the eyes of someone. It's not only to walk silently in the shadow, but also to disappear in a crowd or to walk throught a room without been noticed.
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[TarlSS]

Yes. You can make endless garbage flavor text if you purely go by the name of the skill, but the description of what the book says the skill is has priority. The description of the skill determines what effect it has.

The fact is, anyone can make up a name and supply a reason. You could call the hide skill Mable's Law and it would do the same thing. If a simple textual transposition does the job, then just do it and get on with the game.

[garhkal]

Also, as another rules thing i use for sneak, is i limit movement for those sneaking, to half their movement listed... so someone with a 10 speed is only gonig 5 each round he sneaks..
Is that ok??
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[Darius]

Half move sounds good but you can always penalise the character if they wish to move faster. Especially on that noisy deck plating...
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[KageRyu]

Yes, I agree, half move to remain truly quiet, then for each doubling of the move, grant those making a perception roll a bonus D. So a character moving at full pace while sneaking grants possible sentries +1D, while a character running quietly grants a full +2D. That can quickly defeat the Hide/Sneak.

Also, environment should have an effect too.
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[garhkal]

Yup. Lost the disk that had it, but a former gm of mine, had a great chart of bonuses/penalties to sneak/hide from the environ. Those i remember..

Dark (like being in an area with only 10% of the available lighting on) +3d
Well lit (80% or more of the lighting on) -2d
Dry leaves on the floor -2d
wet floor -1d...
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[garhkal]

[Volar the Healer]

I always considered sneak to be what you did when you moved or remained still to avoid being seen; like avoiding an Imperial patrol.

Hide is hiding something on your person so it can't be found if you are patted down or searched after being captured; like smuggling a lightsaber past customs.

Again, I like the origional rule as written.
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[Vartax]

I would say hide has to do with anything that is not a PC moving around, and sneak covers the rest. But on the same note, what would you classify Sneak:urban to be? My character specializes in that an recently I had an instance where I was at a large mansion that was in the middle of the jungle. Now another specializations is sneak Jungle. Which one if any would you get to use once you are inside? I used this skill with another character that was a thief starting out and while he was in the city even if said mansion was in the city I could still use it.

[garhkal]

For me, sneak:urban is for when ever inside a building or on the streets of a town/city/village. Possibily even a space port or dock/ship. Jungle would be for when out in the jungle, though as soon as he entered that mansion, he would drop to reg sneak... IMO>
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