Shattered Kingdoms

How can a scout know they are successfully sneaking ("You no longer feel stealthy") but not know when they are successfully camouflaged?

... which leads to the somewhat absurd situation where a would-be camouflaged scout orders their pet to nudge them to test the success of the camouflage.
(let's face it, the pet would know where the order came from)

If the answer is that they know they're not stealthy because they hear their own footsteps, then why can't a would-be camouflaged scout simply look down at themselves to check the validity of their cover?

This question has come up many times. I will let someone else explain the actual reasons behind it, since I am on a phone right now. However I have always found it absurd that scouts can check their stealthiness by ordering their pets to poke them. The order command should probably be knocking people out of stealth and camouflage mode.

You don't know if you are successfully sneaking: You know if you "were" successfully sneaking. If you sneak twice, you get the "you no longer feel stealthy" echo becaused you -stopped- sneaking before you tried to sneak again.

Protip: You can check to see if you are currently sneaking (as a scout) without typing sneak a second time. It does require the camo skill (and obviously the need to be outdoors), however.

Step 1: Sneak
Step 2: Camo (and verify camo through your pet) (Please Dulrik, don't change this. Scouts don't need wimping.)
Step 3: Walk a room in the wilderness (same terrain type).

If you break out of camo, you weren't sneaking. If your camo holds, you are currently sneaking.

The same with the "hide" skill. Of course, if any other PCs are with you, they can tell whether or not you are sneaking.

This is the situation I was referring to with the 'sneak' ability:

Fail:

>sneak
You attempt to move silently.
You no longer feel stealthy.

[HP 100%] [ME 100%] [PE 96%] 7pm
>

Success:

>sneak
You attempt to move silently.

[HP 100%] [ME 100%] [PE 95%] 7pm
>

Right, but what you probably aren't understanding is how sneak works.

If you use the "sneak" command, you get the "you attempt to move silently message." You do not, however, get to see for certain whether or not you are sneaking. The only way to tell if you don't have other PCs to tell you is if you can also hide as talked of above.

If you have snuck successfully, then you are given the "sneaking" status, which is a status effect that does not appear on the affects list. Sneak wears off either A) after a certain period of time, B) if you flee, or C) if you try to sneak again.

The first example you have there is you trying to sneak while already sneaking, and as a result you are actually -losing- your sneak that you had beforehand, it's just that the messages are inverted. In other words, it should logically read in this order:

>sneak
You no longer feel stealthy. (You were sneaking before you tried to sneak just now, and lost it as a result of trying to sneak again)
You attempt to move silently. (You have now attempted to sneak again, and you do not know whether or not you succeeded).


Sneaking is determined by your mastery of sneak, the number of humming items that you are wearing, and maybe whether or not you are over half carrying capacity. In my experience if you have sneak mastered and aren't wearing any humming items, you can rest in the knowledge that you will sneak every time you use the command. In fact, if you have sneak mastered it isn't a bad idea just to sneak every five minutes or so to reapply it so it doesn't wear off without you noticing.

Thank you.

Fixed order of messages for next update.

But then what will the new players have to be confused over? Maaaaaaaaaan