Hi. I've been thinking about stealth skill recently. Core book says it can be applied as free action during movement. It's an opposed test against enemy's awareness. Here are my concerns:

1. Can it be used while standing still or doing some kind of action? It should, but strangely rulebook doesn't say anything about it.

2. Can it be used after the character using stealth was noticed? For example after disengaging from close combat or while engaged in ranged skirmish? If yes how hard should it be?

As to 1.:

It should probably be even more possible to remain stealthy while standing still or lying on the ground, than while moving. So I think that using the stealth skill should be totally legit free action, that characters should make while performing any action, not only movement.

As to 2.:

I think it's quite common tactic among all the battlefields in our history to hide entire platoons from the enemy, even in the heat of battle and then attack from the flank or something. I think that even regular soldiers should have right to roll for stealth if they're changing compromised position.

I'm also curious about what you think.

One of the big problems I see with Stealth is that it is listed as a Free Action, so somebody could Stealth then Charge 24 meters without anyone seeing him, to get a whopping +50 to hit when they reach their target. The book doesn't provide limits to the movements usable with Stealth, or qualify the skill in any way.

Anyone can roll stealth without being trained in it. They just need to stack the environmental conditions in their favour. In the instance of a stealth charge, I'd apply serious penalties to the stealth roll.

Here is an example of stealthy +50WS charge:

https://youtu.be/YyigAW-14w0?t=36s

My crew usually uses a DnD balancing sense for stealth. You can stealth while standing still so long as you use a half action move or other action with the movement subtype. If you have been perceived, you will need to gain an amount of obscurity or cover prior to re-stealthing (such as a smoke grenade).

When moving, re-test stealth relative to the least cover you have during the move - this means that a Charge will always count as an open-ground stealth unless moving through darkness or smoke. A tactical advance allows you to use the cover you were in when starting the move action.

So, there are the simple means of taking care of it.