I've never been a theif, or a stealther.
Thinking back, I recall the obnoxious nature of stealthers at different points in time. Swarms of stealth archers, or other classes that relied on stealthing. Sounds reasonable off hand, but the reality was they were obnoxious, so much so that I would have labled it as a serious balance issue. A single stealther should -not- be able to avoid detection and or combat at will unless the -environment- supports it.
As such;
Passive -and- active reveal should only work with LOS.
Passive reveal, combined with LOS should be fairly high, say 25% per step, and only while standing still, it should also have a steadying aspect. IE player stops, and has a 5% chance per step. After say, every second they stand still, they gain an aditional 5% in reveal, upto the max 25%.
Passive detects range is 1 tile at 0 detect hidden, 2 tiles at 50, and 3 tiles at GM. (It would be hard if not impossible, and should be, to stealth around someone with detect hidden. Stealthing should be about avoidance.
Active detecting hidden should be a similar setup to Passive. Player must be walking, starting the skill reveals 1 tile, then an additional tile per 10 skill per second. There should be a residual reveal effect past the 10 seconds, of say, 10 seconds if walking, and 30 seconds if standing still. Mounted players recieve a 50% penalty to all aspects. (1 tile per 20 skill, per 2 seconds. So they only reveal max 5 tiles, in 10 seconds, with a lasting effect of 5 and 15 respectivly)
Anyone, regardless of skill should be able to activly reveal someone hidden within 1 tile.
Detect hidden skill should have a delay of say, 15 seconds.
Exceptions;
Monsters should only have a 5% chance to passivly detect a stealther within 1 tile. Active and passive detect also works at twice the range for stealthers running.
I'm sure there's a couple more tweaks, and number adjustments, namely with tracking and such. But the general idea is this;
It should -not- be possible to walk right by someone and not be noticed.
It should be possible to be stealthy (by avoidance) and remain hidden.
Stealthing is about being stealthy. If I know you are there (by tripping on you, or the fact that, say, I WATCHED YOU HIDE, you are, by definition, failing at being sneaky. There is no reason I cannot walk upto where you are, look for, and find you. There is also no reason for you to be able to push your way through a doorway (that I'm standing in), or say cross a bridge I'm standing on, and not be noticed.
Stealthing should be a powerfull skill, that, like many other skills, relies on using it accordingly. If you are stealthing, you need to be trying to be sneaky. BE sneaky, use LOS rules, use ridges, etc to keep yourself hidden. If you see 5 people running down the hallway, stop. You are trying to avoid being seen, and carrying on like they are not there is how and why the skill has been abused in the past.
26 Dex = totals 126 -
why don't we all agree on a solution instead of taking turns pointing out problems. we all know what the problems are. now, let's get about 3 or 4 solutions on the table and put it to a vote.
well... 
