I've made this quick image on a method that might be useful, adding a hearing circle and a noise produced ONLY when sneaking.
![[Linked Image from wolkestudio.com.ar]](http://wolkestudio.com.ar/bg/evil-tav.jpg)
If the two circle touch/merge, a stealth roll is made.
If you aren't using armor that gives disadvantage you don't "produce" noise. One could make a system where your dexterity modifier makes your circle smaller, but the general idea is, if you want to go past a enemy, remove your armor and if you want to gank on him with an attack, you at least give up some AC unless you invest some hefty points in dexterity.
I think two circles in an overdesign. I think you either want to have your pc "ping" characters within the vacinity (think: Mark of the Ninja - I think it would be good, if for example different actions were to produce different amount of noise: so smaller ping when walking, larger one when making a jump, perhaps even bigger is casting a spell/attacking.
I think it is too much granuality, and simple enemy hearing range would suffice - if character enters it, they make stealth check - with disadvantage if they are wearing armor. hearing range is shorten then vision cone and isn't hampered by light. That would be distinction enough.
Edit. I would even go so far, as to question what value does vision cone bring to the game. I get what Larian is going for, trying to make stealth more interactible than its heavily abstracted table-top version, but I don't think it's working particularly well. I don't think act of navigating past vision cones is enjoyable - real-time is unresponsive and pathfinding unreliable, in turn based there isn't quite enough reactivity to make it proper stealth turn based experience, and turn-based and real time at the same time completely breaks it, not to mention how unpleasantly messy it is.
If everyone got smaller "detection" circle range would anything of substance was lost? Or perhaps make it like PoE2 where stealthing from the front is just harder (perhaps use lighting system, and just make it part of the circle). I feel like based on what we have seen Larian didn't manage to capitilise on the way they implemented stealth so far, and a simpler, easier to figure out, interact with, and harder to exploit system would be a better fit.
