Hide in Shadows vs. Move Silently

[Aerich]

Which is more important? What is the game effect of each of these?

Say, hypothetically , that someone made a character with low Int, so low that this character got only 1 skill point upon levelling up. Should that character focus on one of HS and MS, or try to go 50/50?

[ZFR]

Move silently is more important.
In fact you dont need HiS that much if you use rings and potions of invisibility.

[shadowolf03]

You get quite alot of items (particularly boots) that boost Hide and Move Silently. However, why would you want Move silently unless you are going to hide?
Even with an Invisibility potion, the Move Silently skill is not needed.

[Marty4]

I believe the way it works is Hide is the skill checked when you are actually entering the shadows, and Move Silently is the skill checked if you move anywhere.

[ZFR]

Originally posted by Marty4: I believe the way it works is Hide is the skill checked when you are actually entering the shadows, and Move Silently is the skill checked if you move anywhere.

Exactly. And since you hide in shadows outside enemy sight you can just try again if you fail. That's why I think MS is more important because when you move silently you can be within enemy sight. HiS is impoortant too though.
In the hypothetical situation I would take 2 points in MS for every 1 point in HiS.

[Aerich]

Thanks, guys, that cleared up the question. 2:1 ratio of MS to HiS it is. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Vassago]

Wait a minute. You're saying that if you have a high enough MS that you can be in sight of enemies and they won't attack you? I've had characters with an equal balance between Hide & MS and never was I undected unless I was hid. How is it determined how much MS you need to not be detected when in enemy's sight?

Ok, I found this forumla, but it still doesn't tell me what it's compared against to see whether or not it is a successful roll.

1d20 + skill modifier (Skill modifier = skill rank + ability modifier + miscellaneous modifiers)

[ 02-01-2005, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: Vassago ]

[ZFR]

Originally posted by Vassago: Wait a minute. You're saying that if you have a high enough MS that you can be in sight of enemies and they won't attack you?

Yes well, but you need to hide in shadows first.

[Vassago]

@ZFR
That's what I thought. I must have mis-read your post, b/c it sounded like you were saying that you be undetected even if you were not hid. My bad.

It is interesting to see how in IWD2 they split up some of the skills, thus requiring you to think a little bit on point distrubtion.

I'm still curious as to what your roll is compared against to see if you save or fail for both Hide and Move Silently.

[Karrde]

Since both skills are taken from pen & paper D&D, they both are extremely important for stealthy heroes, such as rogues, assassins, rangers.

As already mentioned, there are (in p&p and in IWD2) 2 skill checks:

First, you must make a check if you can hide successfully.. => Hide in Shadow

Afterwards, you must make a check if you STILL stay hidden (which means: out of sight for enemies) => Move silently

Considering pure pen & paper rules, the enemy NPCs make a spot check vs your hide check and later a listen and/or spot check vs. your move silently.

So in p&p, you should ALWAYS maximize those skills if you want to keep stealthy and backstab people.

Unfortunately, there are none of those skill checks vs NPC's skills in IWD2.

Mayhap you want to sneak in and kill with a scouting rogue..
Then you also should maximize both skills.
A rogue can REALLY be nasty with multiple sneak attacks.
Invis potions are always nice if u have no place to hide, but since your rogue should be pretty fast, he can move quickly behind walls and use his hide in shadow skill again - even if the battle already started.

Therefore i think that rogues are very underrated in IWD2 (especially if you read all those threads with heavy spellcaster parties shown).