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There's this dwarf that might want to sneak up next to a sleeping giant and slay it or steal its coins (from a sack near the giant).

How would you handle this?

Some tools the rules offer: Dexterity attribute, stealth skill. Clearly, successful stealth would be sufficient, but seems to be too difficult, given the giants are sleeping.

After sneaking up on them, should the dwarf be as foolhardy as to attack one, the attack would deal maximum damage. I would also rule that the giants count as automatically surprised, giving the dwarf one extra round to act.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd say sneaking up on sleeping foes is an automatic success for someone with the skill. Trying to do something potentially risky is when I'd have them roll—such as handling clinky coins without taking clever precautions to muffle them. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 5:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie everyone has stealth at 1/6, but only experts may improve it. (Halflings also excel at hiding, which is not relevant.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Tommi
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 6:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd still limit the rolling to when they're committed to a risky action, to find out whether they've chosen their risks poorly and woken them. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 6:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ A sleeping foe seems like the perfect target for a coup de grace, assuming LotFP has those. Rolling to determine if the giant is a light sleeper might be good too. \$\endgroup\$
    – kotekzot
    Commented Jul 23, 2012 at 20:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ @kotekzot: Attacking a helpless foe means automatic hit for maximum damage, IIRC. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tommi
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 9:20

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I would do the following

Ask the player for specifically what preparations they are taking before doing this (this may add pentalies or bouns to any roll example a player may strip naked to rid themselves of any noise coming from items bouncing around. As a player I use this tactic often or aleast down to my under clothes).

Ask the player specially how they are going to approach the giant and steal the bag of coins.

Weight this answers against how deeply the giant is sleeping, the chances for random events such as the giant's wife coming back or the giant having a bad dream.

More or less I would ask for spot and sneak checks every 5 foot with bonuses or penalties based on the last 5 feet. Such as a good spot check may reveal there is a creaky board ahead or a bad one would be kicking a pebble which causes the giant to stir a bit.

Then I would ask for a Dexterity or similar check for the actual act of lifting the bag.

If the Giant awakes, and the thief is close enough then I would rule the thief would get a attack and if it hits would do max damage. Also depending on how deep a sleep the giant was I would assign penalties to his init/attack rolls until he woke up.

As the DM that taught me told me "..Nothing is impossible just assign the right modifiers.."

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Two die rolls every 5 feet. My first reaction is to say that it would be very cumbersome. Otherwise, pretty good ideas. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tommi
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 9:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ Depends on how far, from the question it sounds like the PC was less than 30 foot away to start with. Now if the PC is sneaking the last 500 feet or so then I probably wouldn't do the dual rolls until the last few feet where sneaking would be critical. \$\endgroup\$
    – OrionDarkwood
    Commented Jul 27, 2012 at 14:26

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