hmm the easiest way to explain would be example... have a friend stand a good distance behind you and throw a ball at your back ( Not of course a hard one tennis ball will do). Now their has to be some music or other noise so that you don't hear them moving ( cause in game you are far enough from the NPC they should not hear you move). Sun shining in your face, so shadow's don't give you away.

Even though you know they are going to throw a ball at you...can you dodge out of the way...if you have no idea when the ball is coming? The answer is no... for you and the Deer,, IRL... how do I know this... cause I've watched bow hunters taking down deer, hog's, turkey's ...etc. Mostly on video.. some I took myself...

NPC's should not be able to do that...specially if their back is turned,

When I can see that the character is being actively searched for, I don't call it a glitch. But when the eye is fully closed, and "Hidden" appears in the center of the screen, and the mob aimed at dodges? Yep, that's a glitch. I don't really call it a bug - because it IS part of the enemy AI. But it's definitely overdone.

I think it's a glitch due to the speed at which they dodge. This is the only time I see an NPC move this fast. It also has no movement animation associated with it. It is a slide/glide to another spot on the screen. My character has no such move. (I'm just jealous )

Another one to attest that it does happen. Like they suddenly get yanked to the side just before the arrow would hit while using stealth archery. Occasional bandits have done it to me, but most often skeletons. They must have some psychic undead ability

I can't help but wonder if this is mainly due to the terrain being so hilly, rocky, and stuff. 'Cause when my character is running to their destination, often elk / caribou and goats get in my character's path. They run scared right in front of my character going the exact same way he's already traveling. You figure they'd dart off to the side in a different direction

That's the first I've heard of them doing it Then again, I guess I don't often stealth shoot bear and sabrecats.

Well, in this instance we see the player is slightly detected by the second NPC, being on alert after the first one went down. For that I can see it slightly making sense, but the simple shift to the side animation is fairly cheap. Borderlands has AI that does that while exchanging bullets, but at least there you have a decent sway to the side animation that looks a lot more convincing. Also, at least the AI on Borderlands doesn't have spidey sense, dodging an incoming sniper shot (unawares)

The question here then is if a person could actually hear the arrow whistling through the air in time to dodge when on alert looking for the danger that just took out their comrad

If you think that would be cool and looking for good black-and-white-movies, search for Zatōichi. Ok, he don't dodge arrows, but fights Samurai, blind and mostly listening for the whisper of a katana slashed at him.

Besides, in the real world, a human could never sneak behind a wolf. And a normal would would not attack a human. In Skyrim, that's normal. So why not the thing with arrows...

I don't really believe that. Sneaking into bow range against almost anything really isn't all THAT difficult. It depends on a few factors, like wind direction and strength, as well as the skills of the hunter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQZeA78PDAM

Into bow-range, yes.

But in Skyrim, you can do sneak in the attack-range for one-handed weapons, like daggers or the 'Gloves of the Pugilist'

Well, true, but this thread is about people and creatures dodging arrows when the archer is hidden, eh?

In a world where you can sneak behind a wolf and attack him with a dagger, everything is possible!

Did you ever kill the giant Bull Netch using a fork in Morrowind?

No, I did never play Morrowind.

Suddenly, I feel the need...

Looks like the NPC was dodging to me

Maybe a little too effectively

It's a truly GREAT game! Especially if you're on PC and install the graphics enhancers.

This is all fine, except for one little problem...

You can't dodge an arrow. Nobody can react that fast.

Any reasonably powerful hunting-type bow gives an arrow an initial velocity of something like 250 feet per second (about 76 meters per second). That's about 1/4 the speed of a bullet from a handgun. Only if it were a very long shot would you even be able to see it coming and react to it. You might conceivably be able to put up a shield in time to block a long bowshot, but you'd never be able to jump out of the way of it.

I had to watch that video link because I had no idea what people were talking about. I've NEVER seen anything like that, not even once. I've had regular misses when the NPC starts walking on patrol again just at the wrong time, but a super-natural dodge like that? That would piss me off lol.

this one can dodge arrows and spears ......may not do it like the NPC's do but still can avoid hits in combat ...........can post video after video that I do it

its a matter of counting .......and yes some one can be that fast

video 1 the first part is dodging spears from 2 opponents......there is a 2 second count every time I stand still, then I move .........https://youtu.be/b-2IK3j9ZoU

video 2 is dodging arrows from multiply death lords .....the assent to the court yard at the world eaters Eyre done in legendary full frontal assault using ethereal to get into attack position.....again thats all counting ...the count now is one second

yes I take some hits but is dodging arrows from 4 different directions from deathlord archers......whilst in melee combat with 2 deathlords ......in open space ......logic suggests I should not live to tell the tale https://youtu.be/HkIABScmLuI?list=PLxfqb6Acnpjzr_q_P5-ioYuNmdNlZNFgd

There used to be a... well, an act for entertainment purposes. One man would stand still while the other guy drew back a bow and aimed the arrow straight at this head. Then the bowman loosed the arrow and the target guy would catch it with his hand before it killed him. I first saw this act on "America has Talent" or some similar show.

Anyway, it was an incredible act, but I later heard it came to an abrupt end when the arrow catching man died of an arrow in his skull... I guess you just can't catch them all, eh? So, perhaps it would be possible to avoid an arrow if you knew an arrow was coming... At least some of the time. However, to dodge an arrow when you have no idea that an archer is even present would be much more difficult, don't you think?

It's a sound thing... unless you are very close to the bow, you aren't going to hear it. You can google any "Bow Hunting" vid ya want to ... listen to the twwwap of the bow.. It's really not that loud, when you consider how close the camera person is to the hunter. If you know a "long" shot is coming...maybe you can get out of the way... but if that was truly possible at all times... The deadly skill of English longbow man is ( maybe) the reason behind "The Bird"... if it was easy to dodge and arrow.. the French would not have been so... errr afraid of those huge Yew Bows.. cause they all could have just moved out of the way... ( which by the way...is a really funny mental picture, not possible, but funny).

What I;m saying is...IRL it's impossible to dodge an arrow that you don't know is coming... In game... well as we are talking Dragons and Troll's... blindly dodging an arrow by moon-walking obviously isn't impossible.

Leaving "realism" and such behind...

In the game, that move appears nowhere else. I haven't played a lot of detsruction mages, so I don't know if this move happens for spells, too. Nowhere else does an NPC move that fast. If it was a dive to a side, a forward roll (like the sneak ability), or something similar, I'd believe it was "as intended." As it "appears" (key word there for me), it looks like a glitch, mechanics-wise.

Yes, but you're...Sah. Seriously, in the game it's possible to see arrows coming and move in time. If the archery were more realistic, it wouldn't be. In the real world, you would not dodge an arrow. At least you wouldn't if you weren't Sah.

Exactly, and that's why I consider it AI Cheating when an enemy who doesn't even see you can strafe sideways out of the way.

This is not a rare phenomenon to me. I've played quite a few archers in Skyrim. I distinctly remember, on one occasion, I had a bandit at Knifepoint Ridge who jumped out of the way of four consecutive stealth shots, all without the stealth eye ever opening at all. I posted something about it here at the time.

Yes, when it happens, it's never an animated jump or sidestep. It's a sudden relocation of the NPC to a position several feet to the side of where he was standing. But I don't think it's a glitch; I think it's "AI cheating" that is coded into the game. I think it's just sloppy animation coding that causes the NPC to appear to "Moonwalk" to one side; but I think the intent is to thwart stealth snipers, by having the NPC suddenly move just as you release the arrow..

I agree with that assessment.

@ALBQuirky:

Yes it does happen with spells as well. Even if you have the "silent casting" perk.

@ glarrg:

Like Serethil, I agree with your assessment of "AI cheat". Normally, it often happens that loosing an arrow from a medium to long distance results in the target suddenly moving but not with the suddenness and jarring weirdness of that sudden relocation. I can accept that a target walking a patrol pauses, then resumes just as I release, but that other move is pure bull.

What's different about the SPECIAL EDITION of Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, over just the REGULAR Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

?