Spotted / heard through walls

[RagingPeace]

I like to spy on people on my hin, because's he's naturally curious. Often I will sneak around in Baldur's gate and eavesdrop, and as such sometimes I will stand behind walls that aren't considered placesables (I think?), usually when I do this people eventually stop talking / go into whisper, because eventually they're going to get a decent roll against my stealth. But, it doesn't really make sense does it? They wouldn't be able to see my character unless they walked over to the wall looked behind it, or my character coughs or makes some silly mistake.

As far as I know it's not possible to spot someone that is not in line of sight? (I may be wrong on this). What is the DMs thought on being spotted/heard through walls at distance?

[DM Golem]

Spot clearly should, in RP, factor in one's actual eyesight. So you are correct, one cannot spot something behind one's head, or behind a wall.

Listen vs Move silently already factors in not moving into its skill roll IIRC, so if you are heard, you are heard. (D&D and NWN2's interpretation requires some mental gymnastics against realism but it is what it is)

I would expect people to RP "I heard an unusual noise behind that wall" rather than "There is someone there, for sure" myself. And then go investigate it to confirm.

[RagingPeace]

But you can in fact spot someone behind a wall in NWN2, can't you? I mean, like the walls you can shoot through. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe this is the case.

So, in fact people can spot you through some walls. But, I guess, it's kind of a stupid question, as there's no way to keep people from spotting you through those walls, whether it's because a player hasn't noticed the PC is standing behind a wall, or he just chooses to use the loophole.

[DM Golem]

Mechanically you can, but thats because a lot of walls are not marked as obstructions so as to save server resources. Which is why you can shoot through rocks and the like often.

RP wise, the walls in place should be respected. I'd consider it metagaming to "spot" someone hidden on the other side of a wall that ICly would conceal someone (but often, given camera angles, fade out and the like, an honest mistake)

[RagingPeace]

Thanks for the answer, all clear to me now