STEALTH MODE

Learn how to use Stealth mode in Neverwinter! Master Hide and Move Silently skills to avoid detection by enemies. Understand mechanics, opposed checks, and consequences.

Alright, let's talk about becoming a shadow in Neverwinter: Stealth mode. It's all about using your Hide and Move Silently skills to try and stay hidden from everyone. Think of it as a game of cat and mouse, where your skills are pitted against their Spot and Listen checks. They have a tough time spotting you unless they're in Detect mode. You toggle this on and off using the 'Stealth' option from the 'Special Abilities' submenu in your radial menu (that's speed dial 044). Just a heads-up, while you're sneaking, you can't run, and you'll move even slower if you're Encumbered or if they're in detect mode. ### Mechanics Here's a weird one: you don't actually need anything to hide behind! You can go into stealth mode in the middle of an empty room. However, this doesn't make you invisible unless you have Hide in Plain Sight. If someone could see you when you went into stealth, they'll keep seeing you until something blocks their line of sight. When you enter someone's line of sight, opposed Hide and Spot rolls happen periodically. If you're seen, you stay seen by that creature until line-of-sight is broken. If you manage to stay unseen, there are still those opposed Move Silently and Listen rolls that could give you away. Unlike Spot checks, a successful Listen check only lasts until the next check, so you might be heard one round and then undetected the next. These stealth rolls happen every six seconds, but the game checks them more often because of various modifiers. When you're the one detecting, the game checks these rolls five times per second. If a non-player character (NPC) is doing the detecting, they check every four seconds. Stealth mode sticks with you, even if you get Fear or even Petrification. Even if you're down to your last hit point (but not dead yet!), you'll stay in stealth. ### Consequences If both your Hide and Move Silently checks succeed, and no True Seeing is involved, you're completely undetected. For a player character (PC), this means you won't show up on their screen. For an NPC, their AI won't know you're around. If your Hide check fails, you'll appear normally on the player's screen, and the NPC's AI gets an OnPerception event, which usually makes them react. If Hide succeeds but Move Silently fails, you'll appear translucent on the player's screen, and the AI gets an OnPerception event for being heard. NPCs often ignore this, which is good because it stops them from freaking out about sounds through walls. When it's your own PC in stealth, you'll always look translucent. Your companions might too when they first go stealth, but sometimes they might appear normal again if they've been out of sight for a bit. Being partially detected has its own issues. If you're not seen, it's tough for a player to target you with attacks or spells. If you're heard but not seen, you can still be attacked (though with a penalty) and targeted by some spells from a quickslot, but you can't use spells from the radial menu. NPCs, unlike players, can actually target you even when you're undetected. This usually isn't obvious because they don't always take advantage of it. But sometimes, an NPC might react to something other than perception, or they might just keep chasing you if you run around a corner to hide, acting like they can still see you.