I know that size/height effects running speed. But does it effect his ability sneak? A smaller character model should have a better time sneaking in the dark than his larger counterpart.

For example, does a Bosmer have a better time sneaking around than Argonian because he is smaller and thus making it harder for light sources to shine on him?

Size doesn't affect sneaking or speed, it's all down to attributes and skills.

Size does effect speed. This is taken from ues wiki

*Each race's movement speed is multiplied by its Height attribute (under Body Data in the CS). With the same Speed, Athletics, encumbrance, etc., an Altmer will move 10% faster than an Imperial because of the extra Height. Similarly, any race that is smaller than normal, such as a male Wood Elf or female Breton, will move slower than normal.

You are correct. Character size does affect movement speed. I believe this applies to all of Bethesda's games made with the Netimmerse / Gamebryo / Creation engine.

Huh, I've never noticed it myself.

Lets say if a crate is 1.5m high, and an Argonian in sneak mode is 1.7m tall. If an enemy is standing on the otherside of the crate, is he able to see the Argonian?


Now assume a Bosmer is 1.5m tall in sneak mode, is the enemy able to see the Bosmer?

http://i.imgur.com/JNXYmfS.jpg The Breton female is .9 in height, and the little ones are .4. Their speed stat does not change, but their short legs can not keep pace due to the shorter stride.


I've never noticed any variation in sneak detection while playing a .4 height Breton.

What about a 2.0 height breton? Maybe I should test whether or not a 2.0 Breton will be easier to detect...

ok I just tested. Doesn't seem like size and height effects sneak.


NPC could not detect my 2.0 Bosmer hiding behind a crate.

I don't know about taller characters, but for the .4 height ones their "hit box" remains the same size as their race's normal height. Maybe that applies to your tall guy's detect size, also.

Ah ok, interesting. I guess the game handles all character detection using a canonical "detect size". It all make sense now. And yet movement speed is somewhat handled differently... Oh well, thanks for pointing it out.