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I'm a sniper, and like to stay hidden during the fight to use my sneak attack, and bravely slay my enemies from afar.

Stupid question:

My party is about to slay a T-Rex from an aerostat. If I'm hidden on the dirigible, can I still sneak attack the beast?

(Precision: our team leader wants to attack the T-Rex safely from the aerostat, so we should be hovering next to his occupied space and a little over his reach to be safe. But we will be in range for distant attacks such as fireball, sneak-attack crossbow, etc... About 12m diagonnaly sounds good, judging different ranges.)

RAW, I think it's the case, but since I'm on a big ship floating just above the enemy, I thought it would be worth asking.

What I'm interested in is the mechanic concerning sneak attack on consecutive turns.

From the d20pfsrd site, skill "Stealth":

Sniping

If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth again. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location.

To sneak attack, I need to be hidden at the beginning of the turn. Once I shoot, I need to succeed a Stealth roll to keep my position concealed. With a feat and a bunch of points in Stealth, I've got a bonus on this roll of +6. In the meantime, my opponent takes a penalty due to the fight ongoing with my party, so I'm likely to succeed the roll repeatedly.

My question is: the creature knows that the crossbow bolts are coming from the aerostat. The aerostat is not hidden. I am, but on the aerostat. Can I stay hidden (with succeeding throw) on a thing particularly visible?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I made a few grammar and spelling corrections, and changed the wording of a few things in order to improve readability. Feel free to revert my changes if you think they've modified the intent of your post. \$\endgroup\$
    – LegendaryDude
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 13:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you for your edit. It does help the readability without altering the intent :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Nyakouai
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 13:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ As for your bonus question, that should be asked in a separate post. We have a general one-question-per-post policy here. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – LegendaryDude
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 13:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ Precision added. For the bonus question, after re reading the rules, I think there is no contradiction. So I might as well remove it, as the answer is RAW. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nyakouai
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 14:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ Keep in mind, ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet. \$\endgroup\$
    – Maximillian
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 16:48

2 Answers 2

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If the enemy fails to spot you, they won't even know your general location at all.

The Stealth rules say clearly :

Sniping

If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth again. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location.

This means that as long as you succeed, your general location remains unknown, only failing this check reveals it. Success is highly improbable without a very specialized build due to the -20 penalty, making hiding after taking a potshot at your enemy very hard, but a true master in this art won't give a single clue about his location.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Ok, I wasn't sure that this rule functionned this way :) For what's worth, I've got a feat that I can't locate on the d20, but basically, my penalty is only of -10 when I'm prone, and I have +16 in Stealth. So I'm rolling with +6, and I think that I read somewhere that you suffer a penalty to Detection check when you're in combat. So I should succeed fairly often \$\endgroup\$
    – Nyakouai
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 14:56
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As long as you disappear completely from vieww, when you come back, you are considered hidden for that first attack (not first attack that hits). So yes, in theory you can walk between sides of the ship to get off one sneak attack each round.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Could you support your answer by qutotations please? What I found RAW seems to contradict what you say. I'll try to make my question clearer so there is no ambiguity \$\endgroup\$
    – Nyakouai
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 12:30

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