Stealth (action)

As quiet as a mouse

Stealth (aka as Sneaking or Sneak) is both an action and a skill. It is a measure of how quietly the Hero can move. It is a skill native to the Thief only.

General

Having points in Stealth activates the "Sneak" ability. This will allow the Hero to change from his normal walking or running into a crouched and quiet form of movement (see photo). While the Hero moves more slowly like this, there is far less chance of him being detected.

Activating Sneak is done in the following manner:

• In Quest for Glory I (EGA) and Quest for Glory II, type "sneak" into the text parser.
• In Quest for Glory I (VGA), Quest for Glory III, and Quest for Glory IV, click on the Special Menu on the menu bar, then select the picture of the Hero sneaking.
• In Quest for Glory V, the Sneak function is mapped to the K key. Unlike other games, a notice that will not appear that the Hero doesn't know how to sneak, and he will crouch regardless of having a Stealth skill, but his attempts will be ineffective.

Being both an action and a skill means stealing might require a certain Stealth skill threshold even when the actual action of Stealth isn't needed, such as with Tarna's drummer.

Lastly, Stealth is considered a specific Thief skill, so placing points into it as a Hybrid character will allow the character to use the Thief Sign.

Random Encounters

In the first four games, it is possible to use sneaking to avoid random encounters. A message appears stating that, due to the Hero's Stealth, a monster passed by him without seeing him, although he won't actually see this happening. Had he not been sneaking, that encounter would have occurred.

In Quest for Glory V, the Hero still appears to have the normal rate of random encounters, although he sneaks when he enters them, and can easily leave by sneaking towards the exit of area.

Training

Training Stealth is a simple matter of having the sneak function activated and sneaking everywhere. Depending on the game, this can be a very fast or very slow process.

In Quest for Glory I (EGA) training can be done by repeatedly typing sneak and walk and the skill will increase even while standing still, until around level 54. To reach 100, sneak around the woods from screen to screen to evade monsters, preferrably around the screens where monsters most frequently appear (eg. north of the Brigand Fortress). The skill will increase when the message appears that you evaded a monster.

In Quest for Glory 2 it is possible to train stealth just by being in stealth mode, even without moving. The higher the skill, the more slowly it increases.

Like all Abilities and Skills, Stealth can be increased by 50 in Quest for Glory II using the Djinni Wish.

Break-ins

Stealth is also necessary during break-ins, as certain context-sensitive areas will betray the Thief's presence if he is walking normally. This may result either in a death or in the Hero being attacked and having to defend himself. The following situations require sneaking:

Quest for Glory I (both versions)

• Breaking into the Little Old Lady's House
• Breaking into the Sheriff's House
• In the Kobold Cave, not sneaking will awaken him and he will attack.
• Sneaking into the Brigand Fortress, the bush on the left side will shift and alert Toro if not sneaking.

Quest for Glory II

• Breaking into the Metal Worker's House
• Breaking into Khaveen's House

(Note that you don't need stealth at all when breaking into the Weapons Shop)

Quest for Glory III

• Breaking into the Laibon's Hut
• Breaking into the Leopardmen Chief's Hut
• Sneaking past the Demons in the Lost City.

Quest for Glory IV

• Breaking into Nikolai's House, but Stealth is not needed at all there if the break-in only occurs after Nikolai's demise
• Breaking into the Burgomeister's Office
• Sneaking past the Pit Horror in the Dark One's Cave during the finale

Quest for Glory V

• Sneaking around the fishing village during the Rite of Freedom
• Sneaking around the Sifnos Fortress during the Rite of Conquest
• Sneaking around Minos Palace during the attempt to steal the Blackbird or the Rite of Justice.
• Breaking into Ferrari's House

Equipment

In Quest for Glory V, certain equippable items can increase or decrease Stealth. The following items can do so:

• Stealth Charm (+50)
• Chainmail Armor (-60)
• Magic Chainmail Armor (-30)