Hide Skill

Hide (Dex)
Armor Check Penalty
Use this skill to sink back into the shadows and proceed unseen, approach an Imperial guard post under cover of trees and brush, or tail someone through the speeder lanes of busy Coruscant without being noticed.

Check: Your Hide check is opposed by the Spot check of anyone who might see you. You can move up to one-half your normal speed and hide at no penalty. At more than one-half and up to your full speed, you take a -5 penalty. It’s practically impossible (-20 penalty) to hide while running or charging.

For example, Deel Surool has a speed of 10 meters. If he doesn’t want to take a penalty on his Hide check, he can move 5 meters as a move action in the same round when he is trying to hide.

Your check is also modified by your size:

Size Modifier
Fine +16
Diminutive +12
Tiny +8
Small +4
Medium-Size +0
Large -4
Huge -8
Gargantuan -12
Colossal -16

If people are observing you, even casually, you can’t hide. You can run around a corner so that you’re out of sight and then hide, but the others then know at least where you went.

Creating a Diversion to Hide: You can use the Bluff skill to help you hide. A successful Bluff check can give you the momentary diversion you need to attempt a Hide check while people are aware of you. While the others turn their attention from you, you can make a Hide check if you can get to a hiding place of some kind. (As a general guideline, the hiding place has to be within 1 meter for every 3 ranks you have in Hide.) This check, however, is at a -10 penalty because you have to move fast.

Conceal: You can conceal an item in a location where it can’t be easily found. Your Hide check result is opposed by the Search checks of anyone looking for the item, or otherwise searching in the area in question. The GM makes the Hide check for you secretly, so that you’re not sure how well the object is concealed. (This is not the same as disguising an object as something else, which is an application of the Disguise skill, or hiding an item on your person, which is an application of the Sleight of Hand skill.)

Tailing: You can use the Hide skill to avoid notice as you are following someone else. When tailing someone, you make a Hide check opposed by their Spot check whenever the target changes direction or stops. If the target’s Spot check equals or exceeds your Hide check, they become aware of you.

A target aware of being tailed as the option of trying to lose the pursuer, or perhaps to lure the pursuer into a trap. To lose the pursuer, the target can attempt a Hide check opposed by the pursuer’s Spot check. If the target’s Hide check exceeds the pursuer’s Spot check, the pursuer has lost track of the target. (The pursuer can scan the area in hopes of reestablishing pursuit, however-or simply go to where he believes he can locate the target again.)

To lure the pursuer into a trap (which can be anything from an ambush to a pointless chase), the target can attempt a Bluff check as an attack action, opposed by the pursuer’s Sense Motive check. If the pursuer’s check is higher, he realizes that the target is aware of him and is attempting to mislead him, and can react accordingly. The GM should roll both checks in secret; the player should not know if the Sense Motive succeeded or failed (regardless of whether his character is the pursuer or the target).

Sniping: If you’ve already successfully hidden at least 4 meters from your target, you can make one ranged attack (your target will lose his Dexterity bonus for being attacked by an unseen foe, but just for this one attack), then immediately hide again. You take a –20 penalty on your Hide check to conceal yourself after the shot.

Special: You can take 10 when making a Hide check, but you can’t take 20.

A character with the Shadow feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Hide checks.

A character with the Stealthy feat gets a +2 aptitude bonus on Hide checks.

Time: Usually none. Normally, you make a Hide check as a part of movement, so it doesn’t take a separate action. However, hiding after making an attack (see Sniping, above) is a move action.

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