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Are there official rules for the mechanics of this?

I've always ran it that if you make your prowl roll you are very hard to perceive and the person you are sneaking by requires a 16+ to notice you. If you make your roll by more than half (so if prowl is 60% and you roll 30 or below its better than just making it) the perception target goes up to 18, and if you roll a 1-5% (no matter your prowl %) it requires a 20 to notice you.

I think this is fair but I would like to know if there is a canon reference for opposed rolls for this.

Rifts Ultimate Edition, page 368: Perception Rolls vs Stealth & Concealment Skills.

Glistam wrote:Rifts Ultimate Edition, page 368: Perception Rolls vs Stealth & Concealment Skills.

Was it truly never discussed in canon up til then?!?!? I hate RUE. But thanks a bunch for pointing it out.

Glistam wrote:Rifts Ultimate Edition, page 368: Perception Rolls vs Stealth & Concealment Skills.

Wow, I never read that. While a little clunky not a bad way to do it.

Yeah, prior to RUE, the stealth skill was really a measure of itself. The GM imposed penalties to the check based on the observers and the conditions, but otherwise it was conveniently arbitrary.

Bill wrote:Yeah, prior to RUE, the stealth skill was really a measure of itself. The GM imposed penalties to the check based on the observers and the conditions, but otherwise it was conveniently arbitrary.

Prior to the NightSpawn book (the one transformed into NightBane) where the Perception rules were 1st published, that is how it was yep. I have the NS MB.

It took a while for the PB writers to observing the dicussions here in the boards about how to handle the interactions between the prowl and perception rules. It just happened that RUE was next Main Publication for rifts.
As it was published for rifts the prowl vs perception rule is sticking to the KISS principle while not Nerfing the prowl skill too badly.

Thinyser wrote:

Glistam wrote:Rifts Ultimate Edition, page 368: Perception Rolls vs Stealth & Concealment Skills.

Was it truly never discussed in canon up til then?!?!? I hate RUE. But thanks a bunch for pointing it out.

My third printing of the Nightbane book (March, 2000) also has the rule, on page 66 in the same section where they introduce the Perception mechanic. I cannot answer if it appeared in the earlier editions but it definitely appeared before Rifts Ultimate Edition.

Glistam wrote:

Thinyser wrote:

Glistam wrote:Rifts Ultimate Edition, page 368: Perception Rolls vs Stealth & Concealment Skills.

Was it truly never discussed in canon up til then?!?!? I hate RUE. But thanks a bunch for pointing it out.

My third printing of the Nightbane book (March, 2000) also has the rule, on page 66 in the same section where they introduce the Perception mechanic. I cannot answer if it appeared in the earlier editions but it definitely appeared before Rifts Ultimate Edition.

Thanks man. I think I still like my way better but its good to know canon and when and where it became canon. I'm almost disappointed this wasn't a RUE invention.

In all fairness, I use a similar mechanic to the one you described in your original post. For me though it's go/no-go. If you succeed on your roll (whether it's stealth or hacking or whatever) then it's going to require a very high perception roll to notice you. If you fail, then the perception roll difficulty is significantly easier. If I had to assign numbers to it, I'd make a failed skill roll require a perception of 4, or whatever a "normal" difficulty would be in that situation - which ever is higher. And a successful skill roll will see the users skill divided by 15 and that subsequent bonus added to the 17 for the perception difficulty (so a hacker with a skill of 80% who rolled successfully to infiltrate your systems would require a perception roll of 22 to notice).

Glistam wrote:In all fairness, I use a similar mechanic to the one you described in your original post. For me though it's go/no-go. If you succeed on your roll (whether it's stealth or hacking or whatever) then it's going to require a very high perception roll to notice you. If you fail, then the perception roll difficulty is significantly easier. If I had to assign numbers to it, I'd make a failed skill roll require a perception of 4, or whatever a "normal" difficulty would be in that situation - which ever is higher. And a successful skill roll will see the users skill divided by 15 and that subsequent bonus added to the 17 for the perception difficulty (so a hacker with a skill of 80% who rolled successfully to infiltrate your systems would require a perception roll of 22 to notice).

Yeah I like that.

On a side note I had a GM that rolled for your prowl skill check because try as you might you never really know how well you have hidden yourself. We had a great laugh when a player thought he had succeeded and was sneaking up on a guard and the guard could see him the whole time and it was like an episode of Looney Tunes where the person is sneaking from tree to tree but you can see his entire progress. When he got to the last tree the guard was like "you know I can see you right?..."

Ah good times good times.

I'm gonna have to do this with my players. I forgot how entertaining (and realistic) it can be.

Glistam wrote:In all fairness, I use a similar mechanic to the one you described in your original post. For me though it's go/no-go. If you succeed on your roll (whether it's stealth or hacking or whatever) then it's going to require a very high perception roll to notice you. If you fail, then the perception roll difficulty is significantly easier. If I had to assign numbers to it, I'd make a failed skill roll require a perception of 4, or whatever a "normal" difficulty would be in that situation - which ever is higher. And a successful skill roll will see the users skill divided by 15 and that subsequent bonus added to the 17 for the perception difficulty (so a hacker with a skill of 80% who rolled successfully to infiltrate your systems would require a perception roll of 22 to notice).

This make way more sense then the official rule.