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In the BRB it states that no special rule is cumulative unless specifically stated. Stealth and Shrouded both say they are cumulative, more precisely "Cover save bonuses from the Shrouded and Stealth special rules are cumulative." This can be interpreted in two ways:

1. Stealth is cumulative with Shrouded only and vice versa.

2. Stealth is cumulative with Stealth and/or Shrouded and vice versa.

RAW, which way are we looking at being correct?

Way one. Stealth is cumulative with Shrouded and vice versa, but multiple Instances of Stealth (or Shrouded) don't stack.

Both interpretations have some validity to them, What is interesting is that, if your first suggestion is the correct interpretation, then the sentence itself serves no purpose, since stealth and shrouded were already cumulative as different special rules.

That being said, even under the second interpretation there's no need to mention the other rules in each entry, so whichever reading you go with, the cross mentioning is only ever a clarifying statement reinforcing something already established by the rules.

I think this definitely demands a FAQ, I can't even decide which side I personally lean towards, both seem equally accurate to me.

edit: In hindsight, the wording of "if a unit contains any models with the Stealth special rule" (likewise for Shrouded) would make this question largely irrelevant, Either at least one model in the unit has stealth, or no models in the unit have stealth, even having a second instance of stealth specific to a certain terrain type wouldn't be enough to change that, I don't think there is any way to be entitled to two instances of the stealth special rule, so whether or not the wording allows them to be cumulative seems redundant.

As Drunkspleen said, because both Stealth and Shrouded are worded to be "if a unit contains a model with ..." so it doesn't matter how many times you get Stealth or Shrouded USR, you only benefit from it once.

The problem I ran into during a game was that a unit, say eldar rangers, has Stealth. The first turn of the game was night fighting and any unit beyond 12" has the Stealth special rule. The same rule is conferred twice from different sources. If Stealth is cumulative with Stealth from a different source, the rangers would get and extra bonus to their cover save.

Of course if said Rangers were upgraded to Pathfinders and they were 24-36" away they would get a base cover save of 3+...

Celticwelsh wrote:The problem I ran into during a game was that a unit, say eldar rangers, has Stealth. The first turn of the game was night fighting and any unit beyond 12" has the Stealth special rule. The same rule is conferred twice from different sources. If Stealth is cumulative with Stealth from a different source, the rangers would get and extra bonus to their cover save.

rangers are not a problem, you seem to only get stealth once. but pathfinders get stealth that is more like shrouding and is thus unique. Which opens up a whole nother can or worms

Celticwelsh wrote:The problem I ran into during a game was that a unit, say eldar rangers, has Stealth. The first turn of the game was night fighting and any unit beyond 12" has the Stealth special rule. The same rule is conferred twice from different sources. If Stealth is cumulative with Stealth from a different source, the rangers would get and extra bonus to their cover save.

Doesn't matter, you could have stealth from 100 different sources at the same time, when it comes to applying the rules you would simply check if any model in the unit has stealth, and if they do, you would get a +1 bonus to cover saves, the number of times stealth appears in/on the unit is irrelevant.

Good to know, thanks for the clarification.