Hiding

Hiding is the foundational stealth skill — every rogue, ninja, thief, and stealth-archer template starts here. Unlike the Magery Invisibility spell, Hiding does not wear off; once a character is hidden, they remain so until they perform a revealing action. The skill also gates Stealth, which permits movement while concealed (Hiding alone breaks on a step).

Mechanics

The chance to successfully hide is directly equal to the Hiding skill as a percentage. A 75 Hiding character succeeds 75% of the time on a hide attempt; a GM Hiding character succeeds 100% of the time outside of combat-distance restrictions.

The skill is contested only by hostile creature proximity, not friendly NPCs or unaggro'd monsters. The hide attempt fails if a hostile creature is within a skill-derived distance:

A GM hider can drop into hiding 8 tiles from an actively hostile boss; a brand-new character must run further out to break engagement before a hide attempt will succeed. Neutral creatures (passive monsters, fauna, NPCs) do not block hide attempts at any distance.

What does and doesn't break Hiding

The hidden state breaks on certain actions but not others — the rules are precise and well-known.

Does NOT break Hiding:

• Equipping or unequipping items.
• Looting your own corpse.
• Moving objects within your backpack.
• Party or guild chat.
• Public speech in some contexts (mostly safe — guild/party preferred).
• Eating food.
• Fire Horn activation — the bard instrument fires while hidden without revealing.

DOES break Hiding:

• Movement (a single step). Stealth circumvents this.
• Casting any spell (the spell-cast animation reveals).
• Attacking any target (entering war mode + swinging).
• Activating most skills (Snooping, Stealing).
• Using a runebook or recall.
• Being directly hit by damage (interrupt-on-hit).

Reveal mechanics

Powerful magic-using monsters that have lost line-of-sight on a hidden character will pause and cast Reveal on the character's last visible tile. Reveal is a Magery spell that uncovers any hidden character within an area-of-effect centered on the cast tile.

The behavioral pattern is consistent enough to plan around: once a magic monster's target is missing, it stops moving and prepares Reveal. A skilled stealth character uses the cast window to reposition out of the AoE, returning the monster to its standard chase pattern.

The Detect Hidden skill can also reveal hidden characters at close range. Detect Hidden is a counter-stealth skill that sees through Hiding and Stealth based on a contested-roll between detector skill and (Hiding + Stealth) — see the Detect Hidden article for the details.

House protection

Hiding is always successful inside a player-owned or co-owned house. The ownership tag automatically pumps the hide check to 100% regardless of skill level — useful for low-skill rogues training Stealth. The auto-success works for owners and co-owners of the structure; non-co-owned characters use the standard skill check.

Skill gain rolls still fire normally on house hides; the auto-success doesn't bypass training, only reliability. This is the foundation of most Stealth training routines (covered in the Stealth article).

Smoke Bomb — Ninjitsu hide-in-combat

The Ninjitsu Smoke Bomb is the only mechanism that lets a character hide while in active combat. Throwing a smoke bomb instantly drops the user into the hidden state, bypassing both the proximity check and the can't-hide-while-being-hit rule. Smoke bombs are reagent-cost tools (require Ninjitsu skill to throw) and have a short cooldown — but they are the build-defining tool for any combat-stealth template that needs to break engagement mid-fight.

Training

Hiding is one of the fastest skills to train to GM thanks to the in-house auto-success rule.

The hide+stealth alternation is the fastest published method. Stealth has its own gain check that fires on each step; hiding inside the house auto-succeeds; cycling between them rolls gain on both skills simultaneously and breaks the cooldown faster than passively waiting between hides.

Build context

• Stealth Archer. 80+ Hiding + 80+ Stealth + Archery + Tactics + Anatomy. Opens with a Mortal Strike from concealment, re-hides between shots. PvP gank specialist.
• Stealth Mage. Hiding + Stealth + Magery + Eval Int + Resist. Drops Magic Arrow / Energy Bolt openers without exposing the caster's position.
• Ninja. 100 Hiding + 100 Stealth + 100 Ninjitsu + 100 Wrestling/Fencing + Tactics + Anatomy. Smoke Bomb for combat hide; Mirror Image for decoy; Animal Form for travel.
• Thief. 100 Hiding + 100 Stealth + 100 Stealing + 100 Snooping + Wrestling. Steals from PCs in Felucca.
• Stealth Tamer. Hiding + Stealth + Animal Taming + Lore + Vet — niche but works for ambush-style pet drops.

Strategy notes

• Hide before combat, not during. Hiding while taking damage fails — the interrupt-on-hit rule blocks the cast. A stealth combatant must break engagement (run out of detection range) before attempting to hide. The Smoke Bomb is the only way around this.
• GM Hiding caps the distance at 8 tiles. Below GM, hostile creatures must be further away. Plan engagement openings accordingly — 8-tile range is roughly an Archery shot's distance.
• House hide is a save point. Run home, hide, regroup. The auto-success means no character is ever truly trapped — a low-skill thief can always retreat to a house if they reach one.
• Reveal bait. Aggro a high-Magery monster, run to a corner, hide. The monster casts Reveal on the visible-last tile; reposition before the AoE detonates.
• Burglar's Bandana grants +Snooping but does not help Hiding. Don't conflate the two — separate item bonuses cover each thievery skill.

See also

Stealth, Detect Hidden, Ninjitsu, Smoke Bomb, Mirror Image, Animal Form, Stealing, Snooping, Reveal, Invisibility, Lockpicking, Fire Horn, New Haven Ninja Dojo, Chiyo, Stealth Archer.