Stealth

Stealth actions deal with noticing important details while not being noticed. An important part of stealth actions is concealment. You roll stealth + skulk to gain concealment, and you may perform any stealth action without losing concealment. Performing any other action immediatly loses you concealment. Champions may expend a shadow point before a roll while concealed. If they succeed on that roll, they maintain concealment. This is useful for assassinating someone, sabotaging, throwing your voice, or casting spells without being noticed.

While concealed, you may perform any stealth action and not lose concealment, unless you fail. You may also use a few other skills from other categories while concealed, such as move or empathy, without losing concealment. However, as a general rule, using a skill from another category means you lose concealment. All spells make you lose concealment unless they specifically state otherwise.

Tracking
Tracking works as an opposed roll. If your tracking roll is higher than the target's skulk or tracking roll, you can track the target through wilderness. Tracking a target through a city is normally not possible.

Tracking also covers the hunting of prey, and unless the prey cannot fight back a tracking roll results in its death. Roll tracking as a work action to get food equal to successes rolled. You may chose to substitute a unit or two of food for hide, bone, or something similar.

Trapping
Trapping works like an attack roll that is made ahead of time. Roll trapping to lay down a number of traps in an hour equal to your skill with trapping (or one trap in two hours if you are untrained in trapping). Their rating is equal to successes rolled. The target will roll perceive against the rating of the trap, and if it does not roll higher it is either immobilized for a number of turns equal to the difference in successes (minimum 1) or damaged depending on how the trap was constructed. Treat that as an attack roll for damage purposes. Immobilized enemies take a -3 to attack and may not leave the vicinity of the trap until they free themselves.

Skulk
The basic skill of stealth, skulk grants concealment. Roll stealth + skulk when you choose to conceal yourself. The successes rolled are your concealment. An opposing character must roll stealth + perceive and get more successes to penetrate this concealment and notice your follower, and may then point you out and ruin your concealment for everyone (or not).

Perceive
The other essential skill of stealth, perceive is noticing important details with eyesight and other senses. It is also used for exploration, moving into new areas and seeing what riches and dangers are there. In general, when you roll perceive, you get a number of details about the surrounding area equal to successes rolled.

As a work action, roll explore to survey a new area or larger tract of land. Successes rolled equal resources you bring back, chosen by the GM, from this new area. You also get a number of facts equal to successes rolled about the area you explored.

Steal
If a follower can roll higher on a steal roll than the target's percieve (or other skill used to protect the item), then the item is stolen. On a tie, the theft occurs but is noticed. Otherwise, it is covert. Steal works in combat to relieve enemies of equipment.

Defeat Security
Locks, traps, doors, and more get in the way of scouts, thieves, and spies. But if they have defeat security as a primary skill, these measured don't get in their way for long. If the follower rolls higher on defeat security than the rating of the amenity or trap, then he overcomes it.

Initiative
When it comes to determining who moves first, it comes down to stealth plus initiative. In cases where 2 or 3 opponents are facing off, and who moves first is of utmost importance, initiative can be rolled with highest roll moving first.