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First off, Let me just say that I am a complete newbie. I have yet to play any DnD, but I am working on a character while me and some friends are getting things together to start our first game.

Now I was working on a gnome rogue, with Cunning Sneak. Obviously being able to gain access to cover and concealment will be important, and I was trying to think of ways to achieve them. (Any tips here or for anything else for that matter would be appreciated)

I was looking at using Mage Hand which I can get from the Fey Trickster perk. Now if i'm not wrong, it seems when I conjure the hand as a minor action, it can slip any item off my persons and hold it as I conjure it. If I were to have it take a cloak or blanket or something along those lines from my pack and hold it up, could I hide behind it and be granted concealment?

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Great question, interesting tactic idea, and welcome to the site! (Edit: And to D&D, for that matter!) – Dan Rasmussen May 12 '12 at 7:26
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I'm a 3.5e guy, but if Mage Hand still has a concentration requirement in 4e, you would have concealment until you stopped concentrating, at which point the cloak would drop to the floor. You would be able to move, but couldn't attack without ceasing concentration. – Dan Rasmussen May 12 '12 at 14:20
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@Dan: Concentration works differently in 4e; a power has to be sustained by spending a specific type of action each round, but the required action for Mage Hand is a minor, so you would still have a move and standard left each turn. – Oblivious Sage May 12 '12 at 15:46
@ObliviousSage Thanks for the clarification! – Dan Rasmussen May 16 '12 at 2:18

1 Answer

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Yes (provided it is light enough to be held by Mage Hand). Just as if you were hiding behind a curtain, the cloak or blanket would grant concealment, regardless of how it's being help up. Of course, it'd be obvious to everyone that someone is hiding behind the cloak/blanket (then again, maybe it's a double bluff?), so don't be surprised if people keep stabbing their swords through it.

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They wouldn't need to keep stabbing through it since the cloak/blanket is unlikely to survive more than 1 or 2 attacks through it, at least not and remain in any state where it can still grant concealment. Also keep in mind it won't automatically follow your character: you have to spend move actions to move the hand. – Oblivious Sage May 12 '12 at 15:40
Agreed. There'd also be issues with holding up loose cloth with one Hand: it'd all hang from one point so wouldn't present a very large area to hide behind. But there are ways around that so ultimately it's workable for concealment, just not easy and not useful in many scenarios. – ioanwigmore May 12 '12 at 15:46
Well many of my rogue standard powers allow me to slide before and after an attack, ending my turn at least one or two spaces away. I'm thinking since Mage Hand has range, I could use it as a minor after a standard attack, and hold it up in front of the enemy rather than myself to grant concealment in a larger area, then as my movement action, I could move from where he last saw me and make a check to hide. Though, in that case if the enemy walked around the screen and gained line of sight on me, would he have to make a check to spot me or would he automatically see me without concealment? – andrew May 12 '12 at 16:29
To quote from hidden club, "If, at ANY TIME, you lack at least Cover or Concealment from an enemy, you lose Hidden against that enemy". Line of sight means no concealment, sorry. – ioanwigmore May 12 '12 at 16:54
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Well yes, essentially the bad guy would only know where you were last seen, which is behind the cloak. Where he would think you went from there would depend on his smarts. – ioanwigmore May 13 '12 at 1:46
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