Skill Name
Stealth
Short Description
Throughout history there have been those who have walked the soundless step. Within the shadows of the city thieves’ prowl the night, silent and swift as they claim what was not theirs. Across the open plains and deep within the forest hunters stalk for days a prey oblivious to their presence. Scouts trail armies, slipping in and out of hazards every painful mile. Spies ever watchful come and go as they please in the noon day sun. Each of these men, whose duties so differ share but one thing in common, the need for silence, the need for indiscretion, the need for stealth.
Background
The art behind Stealth is so defined as an act of moving, proceeding, or acting in a covert way. Over time its applications have varied, hailing as a decisive factor in numerous military campaigns, numerous political maneuverings, and all too common in back-alley skullduggery. While there is no single true practitioner of stealth, it has often been used by scouts, spies, thieves and murderers (both hired and freebooting), diplomats and politicians, rangers, and countless others.
Aspects of stealth can indeed be found in many various skills to one extent or another, both Arcanic and mundane. Numerous Magi from nearly any sphere of Arcana have oft shown an apt for creating spells that often mimic, or enhance the usage of stealth by producing various ranges of invisibility through shadow, perception, or even changing the way light falls on an object. Even within the Martial systems we find these aspects, most notably the unarmed form K’tesh.
As in all things however, it should be noted that those who specialize will always be superior in this pursuit as any of these quasi-practitioners.
Tools of the Trade
Movement: While each may come in a variety of designs, made of various materials, and have other uses not necessarily listed each of the following are items designed to aide the sneak in overcoming obstacles in getting from one point to another.
- Grapple Hook: The grapple hook, or grappling hook, is a simple tool commonly made of iron. Generally one end will be shaped into three prongs curved back in on them selves to give it the look of an upside-down fish hook connected to a sturdy shaft that ends in a ring for attaching a rope. The grapple hooks primary function is to be used as a means to facilitate climbing, or swinging though it has also been known as a worthy weapon due to the sharpened ends of the prongs.
- Leopard claws: Of kemite design, the leopard claw is made of a simple thin metal plate with three to four angular, or curved metal protrusions directed toward the wrist set into a leather strap that wraps around the hands or the feet. Primarily used to aide in scaling objects such as trees, these claws when worn on the hands require the sneak be able to gain some form of purchase with the metal protrusions and so are ineffectual in scaling flat surfaces in many instances. Interesting enough, these have as well served as a fairly effectual weapon when used to swipe or claw at an enemy. Note however that movement becomes awkward and difficult when left on the feet.
- Rope: A length of braided material, the rope is often seen as one of the most easily overlooked tools a sneak may have and often left sitting on a shelf. That is until it is direly needed, at which point it is severely missed in the last few moments a sneak has. Primarily the rope is used in conjunction with another item such as a grappling hook as a means to facilitate movement by spanning a distance either vertical or horizontal. Incidentally it also has uses in subduing an enemy either through force, or through binding.
- Tack: Tack is more an unusual substance than a tool in the technical sense. It was originally designed by dwarven loggers who are not known far and wide for their exceptional ability to climb trees. It is as such that they designed a resin like substance that when combined creates a highly sticky, goo-like material that is then rubbed into a pair of gloves and on ones boots to aide in ones ability to climb, or merely to help one maintain balance on objects spanning a gap. Note however that given the nature of the goo-like substance, not only is a residue often left behind, but it is not easy removed from ones gloves or boots. It is advised to always carry spares in such cases specifically for this purpose.
- Reed tube: The reed tube is an unusual device used while submerged. By hollowing out any sort of cylinder, the most common being a reed, one can in effect remain under water for any amount of time given that the tube is neither cracked or that one end is not submerged or plugged in any way. By laying on ones back just under the surface and using the arms to propel them forward or back, one can easily move unseen through rivers and streams.
- Soft Soled Boots: The staple of any sneak, the soft soled boot is made of a pliable material that softens the impact of foot falls by absorbing and dampening the sound.
Distraction: Such devices as these generally fall under three general rules – natural, alchemical, or arcanic. While they may each bring about the same conclusion, their production and worth vary.
- Smokers: Be it an enchantment or alchemic reaction, a smoker is often a small spherical device that when activated produces a hazy, thick smoke to mask, hide, or distract from the sneaks presence.
- Flashers: Sometimes an enemy who can not see is the easiest to evade. As such, through the use of a flasher an enemy can be temporarily blinded through the production of a sudden, intense flash of brilliant white light.
- Crackers: So named because of the varied strength of an audible crack produced when this device is activated it is often used to distract an enemy, though it may out right deafen him temporarily depending on the strength of the alchemical reaction or arcanic power imbued.
Impediment: These devices are often simple in make and employment, their sole purpose stemming at hampering the ability of others to follow.
- Wire: Not that unlike rope, wire is a thinner variant made of differing material wound very tight, or even of metal hammered very thin. Wire has many usages that range as an impediment when ran at ankle height, to a possible means of massive trauma when ran at the approximate height of a horseman’s neck.
- Caltrops: small, sharpened metal spikes designed so that no matter how they land, one sharp end will always face upwards, caltrops are the bane to the pursuer’s feet as they are often overlooked yet may cause moderate discomfort to serious pain while halting further progression temporarily.
- Net: Unlike the nets used by others, the sneak uses a light weight net not unlike that used by some fishermen. While its thin material is light weight and therefore easily cut, the proper usage of this device can tangle up far easier than thicker nets, making movement increasingly more difficult as one struggles within it.
- Eye Closers: Used to temporarily, or sometimes permanently, blind the enemy. Hollowed out egg shells, paper bags and short bamboo tubes were filled with a combination of sand, metal filings and pepper and were used to attack the eyes of an enemy. Egg shells and paper bags were used by throwing the fragile containers at the opponent's face, causing it to break on impact and scatter the contents across the face and into the eyes. Bamboo tubes were sealed with paper or wax and, when the seal was broken, the tube was flung in the direction of the opponent, sending the contents into the face, blinding him.
Skill Tree
The 5 aspects of stealth:
Novice: The Body
In this proficiency, the able bodied practitioner first begins to learn how to properly control their movements so as to create as little noise as possible within their environment. The core techniques at this proficiency circle around the following:
Stance: The foremost is the stance one takes and how it correlates to movement while standing.
- High: A high stance has a slight bend at the hips and knees. The body is only partially crouched and the arms are kept low and only slightly rock with each motion. The practitioner’s height is only slightly reduced.
- Pros - Increased rate of movement, ability to burst-react quicker
- Cons - higher visibility and less sound dampening as legs absorb less shock
- Mid: A mid stance is much the same as the high, though the bend at the knees and the bodies crouch is greater, placing the persons height just under two-thirds of actual height. The arms are raised slightly higher to correlate with the hips and move to aid with balance.
- Pros - Moderate rate of movement, good sound dampening to greater shock absorption with legs, easiest to change between stances.
- Cons - Moderate visibility, average reaction times, more difficult to maintain over longer periods of time or when remaining motionless.
- Low: A low stance puts the practitioner at such that they are nearly sitting on their heels, or are bent nearly double with an almost ninety-degree angle to the knees. The arms are raised nearly shoulder level and are used to offset the awkwardness of moving in such an unnatural way.
- Pros - Low visibility, most steady/best weight disbursement do to center of gravity, ability to stop-react quicker do to slower movement speed
- Cons -slowest movement speed, inability to burst-react effectively without properly setting up for it.
The Cats Paw: Also known as Kattapaw depending on where in the empire you are training. This technique focuses on using the ball of the foot as the primary contact surface much the way a feline does. Through a proper stance where the knees are slightly bent, the legs tensed, and the body crouched slightly, the practitioner can use the technique when both silence and relative swiftness are required.
Rolling: Also known as peeling in some circles is a means of placing your foot in a heel-to-toe motion in which your entire foot rolls slowly from initially setting your heal, full foot placement, then a gentle peeling of your foot from the ground. At no time however is the motions for one foot started until those of the previous have found secure placement. Through a proper stance where the knees are bent, the legs tensed, and the body crouched low, the practitioner can use this technique when silence is key and swiftness is not a priority.
Feather Weight: This while more an understanding of principals than a technique, this deals with proper weight distribution in how it correlates to motion. When moving, it is always best to have as large a surface as possible to disperse the practitioner’s weight. When on the balls of ones feet, much of the weight is focused in those small points as opposed to the use of the full foot. When one is crouched, weight is more evenly spaced than standing and the usage of ones hands when moving can further decrease noise in certain instances.
Crawls: The following are means of movement while in a prone position.
- Bear crawl: The bear crawl puts the sneak in a position where their bodies remain off the ground, but movement consists of the usage of both hands and the toes of both feet in a loping fashion. This method of crawl is used when a low profile is still desired, but speed is of more importance as opposed to silence.
- Pros - increased rate of movement while maintaining a roughly low profile in comparison to standing.
- Cons - increased visibility due to higher movement speed and greater profile in comparison to other crawls
- High crawl: The high crawl is often the standard in crawls. This technique is employed by holding the arms close to the chest and using the elbows/forearms and knees to push the sneak forward. This method of crawl is employed when the combination of speed and stealth are necessary.
- Pros - Moderate speed while maintaining a low profile
- Cons - Moderate visibility due to constant movement and slightly raised torso and head.
- Low Crawl: The low crawl is employed by laying flat to the ground with the arms slightly raised over a head that his turned to the side. Movement is maintained by using the forearms to pull in conjunction with the tips of the toes to push the body forward with long pauses in between movements. This method of crawl is employed when stealth out weighs the need for speed.
- Pros - Extremely low profile as the body is fully flat to the ground with only slight raises of the head for direction.
- Cons - Slow and ponderous movement speed that can make short distance stretch for extended periods of time.
- Worm Crawl: The worm crawl is so named by the manner in which the body moves while employed. Like the low crawl, the body is flat to the ground, though the arms are to the side of the body and the forearms raised upwards. The buttock is then raised by using the toes to push it slightly upward and then in a worm like fashion, the torso undulates forward, using the forearms with long pauses in between movements. This method of crawl is extremely slow and used when the need for stealth in areas heavily guarded is required.
- Pros - Extremely low profile employed with very little movement as the bodies movements are slight
- Cons - Extremely slow in that the entire movement from start to finish can last from a few seconds to several minutes depending on the situation. Like the low crawl, the movement can make even a short walking distances drag on for several candle marks to several days.
Intermediate: The Environment
In this proficiency the practitioner begins to learn the proper employment of the previous techniques in the environment he is working. As such there is improvement on the basics while new ground is covered in employing the environment to aid the practitioner.
Cover and Concealment: To begin, the practitioner learns how to best use his environment by quickly identifying the aspects within that can best benefit him in maintaining his covert nature. While shadow and darkness are well and common to many environments, they are just the building blocks of which a proficient sneak works with.
- Urban: Be it crouched on top a roof, hidden behind crates and barrels, slipping into a shadowed alley, or even blending into a crowd the urban sneak learns to hide by manipulating the objects common to cities and towns of any size.
- Rural: Hidden within the boughs of trees, crouched behind a tangle of brushwood, wading through a murky pool of water, or crawling through high grass the rural sneak learns to use what is natural and how to maintain it so as to keep that appearance even under the most direct scrutiny.
- Interior/Exterior: The able bodied sneak learns how to properly hide within the common trappings of buildings, both interior and exterior. This includes the use of rafters and crawlspaces, large furniture and tapestries, and even fountains and hedges as a means of moving undeterred.
Camouflage (rural): The is the first of two techniques used in order to aid the sneak in rendering his person as close to invisible as non-arcanic means will allow. This first aspect focuses around the color and the shape of the practitioner.
- Through the application of dull make-up, the practitioner can alter the coloring of their face, neck, and hands to fit the environment (browns and greens, striping, or even just coal).
- Through the wise choice in clothing shades and the use of foreign material properly adhered to the clothing, the practitioner can then further blend into his surroundings by disrupting the readily identifiable solid colorings and distinct shape that man sized creatures share.
Disguise: While in no ways as proficient in disguise as those who solely study in this aspect, the sneak no less learns how to minutely alter his stature by altering his clothing, the way he speaks, or how he is perceived through small changes. This could be anything from walking with a slight limp or hump, to a change or alteration of ones wardrobe and basic look to better suit the situation.
Shadow Step: The sneak now learns the technique shadow step, which is little more than a means to cover the more overt signs of their passing by covering and backtracking their tracks.
Advanced: Tools
In this proficiency we begin learning how to properly include the usage of tools to aide in times when silence and shadows are not enough. These items range in use and how they are deployed, but each in effect gives the able bodied sneak that slight advantage needed when a situation calls for methods sometimes outside the physical abilities of the practitioner. As before, with the progression comes further ability in previous techniques and knowledge as much has been put to practical use.
- Distraction: The first such devices are labeled as distractions and their sole purpose is to draw the attention away from the sneak or the object in question a sneak seeks to procure. These devices tend toward simple noise makers (be it those whom make noise on impact, or those whose impact make noise) and smokers (chemical mixtures that when released to the air begin to create a hazy smoke) though anything that in effect causes the distraction may well fit.
- Impediment: These devices are solely designed to facilitate the escape of the sneak more often than not, and as such are often viewed as “traps” whose usage primarily is derived to hamper the ability to follow, or continue with a specific route. Such items range from spiked caltrops that injure the feet when dropped, to poisoned darts, or even wires or nets designed to halt progress by tripping or ensnaring those who’d follow.
- Movement: While impeding another’s movements may help, the sneak must himself be able to move unhindered. It is here that the proper method of use for such things as grapple hooks, knotted rope, tiger claws, and other devices used for climbing, scaling, or crossing distance comes in.
Dead Eye: The able bodied sneak now begins to learn how to properly judge distance, aim, and the force necessary to make a throw with various devices in his arsenal. While this does not equate to things such as knife throwing, it does give the sneak some degree of accuracy in throwing objects.
Traps: Having spent an exhaustive amount of time studying the environment and its natural appearances, the experienced sneak has come to have an intimate knowledge of what is natural and what is out of place. This knowledge is built primarily on the sneaks own experiences.[list][*]In rural environments this can be anything from unusual brush build up, or sparseness, to minute changes that would otherwise seem natural to the untrained eye such as slight discoloration of moved foliage or that which is not common to the area.[*]In urban environments this can range from unusual or slight discoloration or wear, to telling marks such as scratches, rents, or other oddity out of place. [/lst]
Master: The Mind
Within this proficiency the able bodied sneak begins moves beyond the aspects of the physically covert and into the realm of masking ones thoughts from Mystic resources. While improvements are again made to the sneak’s ability to move undetected, the focus of this proficiency is on the means to go undetected through Mystic guarded areas.
Counting: So named by a thief enamored with a dice game based on number combinations, he came to find that his obsession with running the numbers during the game had an unintended result. Those who had sought to use Mysticism as a means to garner useful information often found little more of his thoughts than constantly recurring number sequences filling the cracks they tried to latch on to. While this means by no way full proof, it will hamper all but the most truly determined or powerful from cracking the sneaks mind.
Splitting: The following is a technique in which the able minded sneak learns to mask his intent by splitting his thoughts in a way that allows him to disguise his mind as that of a guard, a foppish noble, or any other figure. This in effect will allow the sneak passage through most any area not under the strictest Mystic security. While effective when unseen, the ability still maintains a flaw in that if the sneak is spotted by a Mystic in any means cause for suspect, the ability will only further incriminate him.
Blurring: In this technique a sneak learns the means in which to hide his presence from those that seek out the Auras of would be infiltrators. Through manipulation of the natural essences of objects near at hand, the sneak actually pulls the Ara of objects through his own Vis, creating a blurring effect of his aura. While effective at distance, or in areas dense with differing Ara (such as a forest), this technique can not completely hide the sneaks aura at a close proximity to the Mage, nor can it be maintained to useful effect at speeds greater than a leisurely walk.
Essence Sense: In much the same way that a sneak comes to know something is amiss in his surrounds, keeping him from stepping unaware into the traps of wood, wire, metal, or machine so to does he come to recognize when the Ara about him has been altered. (not finished)
Grandmaster: The Shade
The final proficiency is simply known as The Shade, a means in which the sneak’s abilities are said to be so great that he has become little more than a specter in the flesh. It is at this proficiency that all aspects of the four previous are culminated into a sneak of unimaginable ability.
The Body: Through great practice and use, the sneak now has an almost inhuman control of his body, allowing for silence in even the most physically demanding of movement. This often allows the sneak to run, jump, and otherwise move at an accelerated pace while maintaining absolute silence.
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Ambient Suppression: There are those among creatures, both man or beast that can taste the scent of a man on the very air, see the heat of his veins, or hear the thump of his heart beat beneath his breast. It is against these that the sneak has learned to control his body to such an extent that his heart may beat but once between the space of many moments so softly that even the keenest may not hear, his temperature gradually decrease to appear as little more than tree or rock, and the scent of his cooled body contained within his pores despite his exertion.
The Environment: Trough trial and error the sneak has learned much in the way of his environment and how to properly use it to his benefit. Trough extensive training, the sneaks body is now far more elastic than normal, allowing for him to contort in ways that would be highly uncomfortable, if not out right impossible for all but the most limber of species.
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Trackless: The sneak knows his environment in ways that few people know even their own homes. Weight distribution no longer seems to matter as his movements are of such practiced grace and fluidity that no longer does he leave telling signs of his passing to any but the greatest of trackers, and even they must know where to look.
The Tools: While still unable to make all but the simplest tools, the sneak’s ability to employ them has advanced so far that his accuracy with such can control the physical outcome of in order to incapacitate or to be deadly when used directly on an individual.
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Control: No longer are they tools, but indeed an extension of the sneak himself. With a flick of his wrist what was once a secure rope and grapple will dislodge and fall. Tools that once only disoriented or distracted can be employed with such effect that the will of the sneak be met so that their effects may be timed within the space between beats of a heart and the outcome vary between distraction to death and anything in between.
The Mind: Where before the sneak used methods to mask or confuse, they are so well at controlling their thoughts that can completely hide them in a technique dubbed The Void. Through its usage, the sneak completely shuts out his conscious mind, acting solely at a subconscious level able to slip by all but the strongest of Mystics or their guards. However, this ability is still flawed in the sense that if spotted by the Mystic, they will further incriminate themselves by having no apparent mental thought.
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Masking: Masking is in effect a technique that builds upon the previous, Blurring. The primary difference however is that while blurring mixed the Ara surround a sneak with his own Vis to hide him, Masking in effect completely suppress the sneaks Vis and then draws the Ara surrounding him, giving those in a state of Clara the mistaken view that the object before them is merely one natural to the scenery. This in effect could lead a Mage in Clara to believe that what is before him is little more than a wall, or tree though in fact it a sneak remains motionless against the object.
Notes
Draft Stage.
![[Draft Two] Stealth](http://cdn.aelyria.com/forums/iconimages/skills-forge/draft-two-stealth_ltr.gif)
Linear Mode
