I've looked up detection on the wiki, but I don't see what skill or actor value or whatever is used to determine how good the actor is at detecting sneakers. Is it their own sneak skill?

http://www.creationkit.com/Category:Detection
Does this help?

I've just been doing (roughly) the same thing - the opposite way around - Ducey.

I wanted to make a hyper-sensitive character and a deaf-dumb-and-blind character ... but it's very tough to do (I found).

My testing says that there is very little diference between NPC detection-rates (them detecting someone else), unless you gimp a particular character sneak-skill,to make them rubbish. Even then, the linked article confirmed my testing ... it's such a complex formula, with each bit contributing so little to the total, that there is little difference in the end ...

Hmmm. I think rather than using stuff like that I'm going to take a page from the water arrows guy and make spells that disable lights instead. Light and darkness seems to be one of the biggest factors for detection anyhow. Other than sound, but muffle already exists.

Yep. dark/light has a big effect .... if you can come up with a plausible way to make it go dark - when the player needs it - that's the easiest way to make sneaking easier (useless your player is out hunting in broad daylight! ).

Muffle is also very good ... there's a set of nightingale boots that have everything you need (though the scripting is easy, anyway). And works in the daylight!


But all of that other stuff in the Detection-article is also useful ... how firing weapons and similiar effects NPC state ... just so you know why your prey-herd goes all alert when you kill one of them etc.