[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business

This is a compilation post of the entire Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business series. Feel free to navigate the post that you need to refer from here. Although the post are written and intended to be read in the order I have set here, I try to make sure that whichever parts that are referred to in another post are hyperlinked in each post.

Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business

1. Part 1: Hiding
2. Part 2: Unseen Attackers and Targets
3. Part 3: Invisbility
4. Part 4: Exceptions
5. Part 5: Finding the Hiding
6. Part 6: DM Considerations
7. Part 7: Summary

Last updated: 11/7/2016  

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 7: Summary

This is the 7th part of a running series on Hiding in my new column for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read the previous post here. I will post a complete index of all the posts of the series at the end of the series..

In all my previous posts, I have addressed every known aspect I could find about how Hiding works, according to the rules found in the Basic Rules and Player's Handbook, and from official sources such as the Sage Advice Compendiums and the tweets of the designers. However, the whole picture might still seem disjointed since I addressed each one of them in their own post.

That wouldn't be helpful unless a DM has the full picture and know how to handle it in a proper order. So for this final post on the Hiding series of [D&D RAW], I try to compile all that I've written into this post to make it easier for to look at the Hiding rules as a framework.

1. Circumstances for Hiding

Before a character or monster can hide, it must meet the following conditions:

1. Can't be seen from a creature you are hiding from (e.g. becoming Invisible)
2. The DM decides that are appropriate circumstances to hide (e.g. obscurity and cover)

Some exceptions to the conditions above are:

1. Naturally Stealthy. A Lightfoot Halfling can hide by a creature at least one size larger than the character even if it can be seen.
2. Mask of the Wild. A Wood Elf can hide in natural phenomena that makes him lightly obscured even if it can be seen.
3. Skulker. A character with the Skulker feat can hide under areas that are Lightly Obscured and not seen by the creature it is hiding from.  

2. How to Hide

If the conditions above are met, the character or monster can make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. In combat, this requires an action (unless allowed by a class feature that makes it a Bonus Action) to make the Hide action.

This score should be kept and recorded whenever another creature is trying to look for the hiding character.

Until the hiding character is discovered or the character decides to stop hiding (e.g., approaching an enemy in combat in most cases), the Dexterity (Stealth) check is used as he score to contest against any Wisdom (Perception) checks, passive or not.

A character that has succeeded in hiding (i.e., beats the Passive Perception or Wisdom (Perception) of the creature), gains the benefits of becoming unseen as in the rules for Unseen Attackers and Targets, which are:

• Attackers of an unseen/hiding character has Disadvantage to Attack Rolls.
• Attackers that don't know the location of an unseen/hiding character must guess the location of the unseen/hiding character. A wrong guess results in an automatic miss.
• Unseen/hiding characters have Advantage on their Attack Rolls on targets that can't see them (possibly activating any class features that requires an advantage on attack rolls).

3. Unseen vs Hidden

By default, if a character succeeds on hiding the first time, they are unheard as well, so they are hidden. To remain unheard, I would call for a separate Dexterity (Stealth) if they are moving, or taking an action that would cause noise. This could require the character to make a Hide action, but you may rule otherwise.  

If this new Dexterity (Stealth) check beats the Passive Perception or Wisdom (Perception) of the creature, the hiding character is still hidden, with the benefits of being unseen and no one knows of its location, at the end of whatever action they were doing before.

If this Dexterity (Stealth) check fails, then the hiding character still has the benefits of being unseen, but has revealed its location. This could result a creature to actively search for the hiding character, but make an attack (still with disadvantage for being unseen) at the hiding character without needing to guess the location of the character.

Characters with the Invisible condition already enjoy the benefits of being unseen from the condition (and not from Unseen Attackers and Targets rules), but will still reveal their location if they do not make use a Hide action to make a Dexterity (Stealth) check to hide their noise, i.e., not hidden.

Unless the character has a class feature or feat that states otherwise (e.g, Skulker), attacking from hidden will reveal the character's location, though you are still unseen.

4. Finding the Hiding and the Senses

If that creature is not searching for the hiding character, it should use its Passive Perception to see if it beats that Dexterity (Stealth) check. Otherwise, if the creature is actively searching for the hiding character, it should be allowed to make a Wisdom (Perception) check to beat that Dexterity (Stealth).

Darkvision may disrupt a character's attempt to hide if they are trying to hide in darkness because Darkvision would see them as lightly obscured, instead of Heavily Obscured (unless they have the Skulker feat).

A monster with Tremorsense would always know the location of a hiding character, even though they are hidden, but a character can still be unseen from the monster.

Monsters with Blindsight behaves normally as though they have sight within their blindsight radius, regardless if the hiding character is obscured, but a character can be hidden from them through cover.

References

Here are the rules and sources that I referred throughout this series. If I find any new references, I will add them here. 

1. Hiding (page 60 of Basic Rules, page 177 of Player's Handbook)
2. Unseen Attackers and Targets (page 73 of Basic Rules, page 194-195 of Player's Handbook)
3. Hide (page 72 of Basic Rules, page 192 of Player's Handbook)
4. Stealth (page 60 of Basic Rules, page 177 of Player's Handbook)
5. Invisible (page 105 of Basic Rules, page 291 of Player's Handbook)
6. Vision and Light (Lightly Obscured & Heavily Obscured) (page 65 of Basic Rules, page of 183 of Player's Handbook)
7. Naturally Stealthy (page 17 of Basic Rules, page 28 of Player's Handbook)
8. Mask of the Wild (page 15 of Basic Rules, page 24 of Player's Handbook)
9. Skulker (page 170 of Player's Handbook)
10. Cover (page 74 of Basic Rules, page 196 of Player's Handbook)
11. Blinded (page 105 of Basic Rules, page 290 of Player's Handbook)
12. Darkvision (page 65 of Basic Rules, page 183-184 of Player's Handbook)
13. Tremorsense (page 4 of Dungeon Master's Basic Rules, page 9 of Monster Manual)
14. Blindsight (page 4 of Dungeon Master's Basic Rules, page 8 of Monster Manual)
15. Sage Advice Compendium
16. Sage Advice D&D 

And that's all I have and I hope you've enjoyed this series. Do remember that although I tried my best to find official sources and official answers about hiding, my own rulings that I made here are by no means official. In other words, always check with your DM on how the Hiding rules works in their game (or point them to this series, if they need some references to make up their mind).

For DMs, I would like to hear how do you rule hiding in your game or do you have your own discoveries to share.

Do let me know what you thought about this column, or if there are any rules you would like me to explore as a whole in future series of this column.

Lastly, if there are any questions or you would like to run through any sample scenarios using the framework I have discovered, feel free to post them in the comments and I will try to answer them.

For the complete overview of the series, I will post up another post with the complete series.

Last updated: 10/7/2016   

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 6: DM Considerations

This is the 6th part of a running series on Hiding in my new column for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read the previous post here. I will post a complete index of all the posts of the series at the end of the series.

In the previous post of this series, I looked into some ways that a monster can detect a hiding character (and vice versa) and how their senses could work within the Hiding and Unseen Attackers and Targets rules.

For this post, I'm going to compile all that I've discovered about hiding and give a few notes on what should a DM think about when designing encounters or when handling scenarios when characters want to hide. To go further in this post, I would assume that you have read each prior posts to this one.

Why does a DM need to have these considerations? Well, for starters, the DM's role when it comes to hiding is imperative, as mentioned in the Hiding rules itself:

The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding. Also, the question isn't whether a creature can see you when you're hiding. The question is whether it can see you clearly (Errata V1.1).

Read the emphasis as mine, but it highlights the importance of the DM when it comes to hiding. While most DMs could easily make their own rulings with a hand wave (they are the DM afterall), but hopefully what this series has helped you to think is that hiding can be a complex thing that needs some thought put into it.

So what does a DM need to consider when it comes to hiding? Here are some of my considerations.

Appropriate Hiding

The first thing that I think a DM should consider is whether there are any appropriate circumstances for any character to hide at any given location that the party finds themselves in. That might sound like a simply saying 'yes' or 'no' when a player assumes his character can make a Dexterity (Stealth) to hide, but I think there should be more to it than that when it comes to some of the rules.

If you remember your Hiding rules, the first main condition of whether a character can hide is if they are seen or not. One important thing to note also in the first condition is that the character cannot be seen by the creature he is hiding from, not everyone in the location. It is highly possible to allow a character to hide from someone who can't see the character, but could be seen by someone else.

Therefore, hiding is relative. When a player says they want their character to hide, it's best to ask the player who does the character want to hide from, and taking their perspective to determine if the creature can see the character or not.

Other than that, what else can give appropriate circumstances for hiding?

Obscurity

One of the first ways a character cannot be seen is if they are obscured by the lighting of the location. An example of this can be found in the Vision and Light rules (Page 65 in the Basic Rules or Page 183 in the Player's Handbook), but this is derived from the Invisible condition (Appendix A of the Basic Rules and Player's Handbook).

From the Invisible condition:

• An Invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purpose of Hiding, the creature is Heavily Obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves. 

From the Vision and Light rules on Heavily Obscured:

A heavily obscured area - such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage - blocks vision entirely. A creature in a heavily obscured area effectively suffers from the blinded condition. A heavily obscured area doesn't blind you, but you are effectively blinded when you try to see something obscured by it (Errata V1.1).

Which leads you to the Blinded condition (also in Appendix A of the Basic Rules and Player's Handbook):

• A Blinded creature can't see and automatically fails any Ability Checks that requires sight.

So you can see how these rules and conditions are interrelated and make for appropriate circumstances that lets you hide. So the available lighting of a location where the the party are can help inform whether there are any circumstances for hiding. You can find the different types of lighting that determine the obscurity of an area in the rest of the Vision and Light rules.

Do remember there are features (Mask of the Wild) and feats (Skulker) that doesn't require a character to be heavily obscured in order to hide.

One exception to this I would say is for monsters with Blindsight. They should not be affected by the obscurity of the hiding character, but a character can still hide from them behind another element...

Cover

You might think that obscurity is the only way a character needs to hide (since it has all the rule correlation that comes with it), but it's easy to forget that characters can hide simply just behind Cover (page . 

Although there are no official association that I can find in the Basic Rules and the Player's Handbook between cover and hiding, but if you remember in the previous post, you can see that cover comes into play when it comes to hiding from a monster with Blindsight.  

So this makes another consideration of a DM. If you are trying to encourage or allow hiding in a location, you should be aware of the cover that are available. The question that you will need to decide for yourself is in what degree of cover would you allow a character to make a hide.

Personally, I would only allow a character with Total Cover to try to hide, since they can't be targeted by an attack or spell, but anything less the cover confers bonus to AC and saving throws so that means they can be seen.  

Now that I have pointed out some of the notes that a DM should consider, hopefully it would help you to design better encounters or make better rulings on hiding in your game. Of course, the ones that I mentioned in this post are just those found in the rules, and as a DM you are open to other circumstances to allow a character to hide. If in doubt, remember that the guiding principle of deciding whether there is an appropriate circumstance can be simply asked with one question: "Can the character be seen?"

We're almost there. I think I have covered pretty much the bases when it comes to hiding and how it works out for players and DMs. For my last post of this series, I will be compiling all that I've mentioned in the series thus far into a summary to give you the whole picture for DMs and players about Hiding.

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 7: Summary

Last updated: 9/7/2016   

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 5: Finding the Hiding

This is the 5th part of a running series on Hiding in my new column for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read the previous post here. I will post a complete index of all the posts of the series at the end of the series.

In the previous post of this series, I looked into the exceptions to the Hiding and Unseen Attackers and Targets rules afforded by racial traits, class features and feats. This I think would have most of the bases covered, so it's time to look on the flipside of the Hiding coin; to detect a person in hiding.

This is an equally important set of rules to understand. As DMs, we are more likely to be on the finding end of the stick rather than actually hiding our monsters, because a cautious player (or one playing a Rogue character) are sure to try to make use of Hiding as it benefits their character. So this post is intended more for DMs, but players can benefit in knowing how a DM could make a ruling to detect your character in hiding.

There are several ways to find a hiding character.

Wisdom (Perception)

The most common way to discover a character in hiding is to beat their Dexterity (Stealth) with your monster's Wisdom (Perception) check. While this sounds straightforward, the confusion could arise when deciding to use your monster's Passive Perception or roll a Wisdom (Perception) check.

Looking back at the Hiding rules, it specifically mentions two types of scenarios when you make a Wisdom (Perception) check.

1. Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check's total is contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature that actively search for signs of your presence.
2. When you hide, there's a chance someone will notice you even if they aren't searching. To determine whether such a creature notices you, the DM compares your Dexterity (Stealth) check with that creature's Passive Wisdom (Perception) score, which equals 10 + the creature's Wisdom modifier, as well as any other bonuses or penalties.

For me, the main differentiation between these two scenarios is how actively the searcher is looking for the hiding character. So to put it simply, if the monster is not actively searching (or given good reason not to), they would use their Passive Perception.

On the other hand, if the monster is on alert, they should be entitled to make an active Wisdom (Perception) ability check to find the hiding character. I would rule that a monster can be alerted if a hiding character fails their Dexterity (Stealth) check to be unheard or hidden, but it does not mean that the monster can discover a hiding character immediately. It is only switching from Passive Perception to making active Wisdom (Perception) check, to beat the Dexterity (Stealth) rolled by the hiding character. 

I would also note that the Dexterity (Stealth) score of the hiding character is not changed until they are discovered, or choose to come out of hiding, and hide again. 

Darkvision

On Page 65 of the Basic Rules or Page 183-184 in the Player's Handbook,

Many creatures in the worlds of D&D, especially those that dwell underground, have darkvision. Within a specified range, a creature with darkvision can see in darkness as if the darkness were dim light, so areas of darkness are only lightly obscured as far as the creature is concerned. However, the creature can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

This sense does not have a terribly wide implication on finding hiding characters more than preventing them from hiding in the first place. Since the first condition to be able to hide is to not be seen, a character that would normally be able to hide because they are heavily obscured by darkness, would not be able to in the eyes of someone with Darkvision, since it sees darkness as lightly obscured.

That being said, however, a character with the Skulker feat should still be able to make the Dexterity (Stealth) to hide in the darkness from a monster with Darkvision because it only requires the character to be lightly obscured.

Tremorsense

Another sense that can discover a hiding character is through Tremorsense. The rules for it can be found in Page 4 of the Dungeon Master's Basic Rules or Page 9 of the Monster Manual.

A monster with tremorsense can detect and pinpoint the origin of vibrations within a specific radius, provided that the monster and the source of the vibrations are in contact with the same ground or substance. Tremorsense can't be used to detect flying or incorporeal creatures. Many burrowing creatures, such as Ankhegs and Umber Hulks, have this special sense.

From the description of this sense, it does sound to me like it would be the ultimate bane for all hiding characters, but Chris Perkins rule this differently.

 

Out of all the senses, I was unable to find any solid rules on it and there were few official sources that discussed this sense in relation to hiding. So this makes it an open territory for DMs to adjudicate between extremes. 

A more balanced approach that I might suggest is that while a character can still hide as usual from a monster with Tremorsense to become unseen (and gain its benefits), it can never be unheard or hidden. So a monster with Tremorsense always knows the location of a hiding character, but still needs to make the needed Wisdom (Perception) check to discover the hiding character, or have Disadvantage on its Attack Rolls as it normally would for unseen characters.

Blindsight

I kept this sense for last because it can be a little complicated, compared to the ones previously mentioned. First off, the rules for Blindsight can be found on Page 4 of the Dungeon Master's Basic Rules and Page 8 of the Monster Manual. 

A monster with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius.

Creatures without eyes, such as Grimlocks and Gray Oozes, typically have this special sense, as do creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as Bats and true Dragons. 

If a monster is naturally blind, it has a parenthetical note to this effect, indicating that the radius of its blindsight defines the maximum range of its perception.

Due to the reliance of sight as a condition for a character to hide, a character typically should be able to hide as though the monster is blind. But Mike Mearls still considers a monster with Blindsight to be able to 'see' a character within its radius.



This is also supported by Jeremy Crawford who gives the impression that a monster with Blindsight can perceive normally as long as the creature is within its radius and without cover.



Unlike Tremorsense though, if a hiding character is within its radius and is behind a cover, it still can become hidden, as Jeremy Crawford also supports this with these rulings:





So this helps to narrow down the limitations of Blindsight. For all intents and purposes, a monster with Blindsight behaves normally as a monster with sight, as long as the hiding character is within its radius. However, I would say that monsters with Blindsight should not be affected by obscurity when it comes to decide if the monster 'sees' the character trying to hide.

However, there is another element that can allow a character to hide from a monster with Blindsight, but I will talk about in the next post.




I hope this post would be helpful for DMs to figure out what do they have in their arsenal to discover hiding characters. But as you can see, there is not a lot of official rulings when it comes to these senses, so you may want to take your own time to study them before making your own rulings.

Speaking of making your own rulings, I'm about to bring all that I've learned together and put down a list of things a DM should consider about using the Hiding rules in their games. So see you in the next post!

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 6: DM Considerations

Last updated: 8/7/2016  

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 4: Exceptions

This is the 4th part of a running series on Hiding in my new column for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read the previous post here. I will post a complete index of all the posts of the series at the end of the series.

In the previous post of this series, I addressed how Invisibility works within the framework of the Hiding and Unseen Attackers and Targets rules.

Invisibility, however, is by far not the only exception to the rules. There are many ways that a character could bypass some limitations of the Hiding rules, in one way or another. This could be done through a racial trait, a class feature, or spells and magic items. While I didn't scour for every exception there is, especially for spells and magic items, but I have managed to scout out a few exceptions made through races, classes and feats.

These aren't necessarily difficult to adjudicate once you've got the basics down, but this post is intended to help DMs have some ideas on how they could possibly make their own rulings.

Naturally Stealthy

Let's start with something easy. This racial trait for Lightfoot Halflings can be found in Page 17 of the Basic Rules and Page 28 of the Player's Handbook, which reads:

Naturally Stealthy. You can attempt to hide even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you. 

This just adds a new condition of when a Lightfoot Halfling can hide, which can be behind a creature of Medium size or larger, if the halfling's size remains at Small. This is supported by Mike Mearls.



While it may sound that Mike Mearls is trying to say that all prior conditions in addition to having a creature one size larger must be met (e.g, cannot be seen by the creature you are hiding from), this has been clarified in the Sage Advie Compendium. This trait is an exception to the rule that you cannot be seen first in order to hide, so you are allowed to hide behind a larger creature even when seen.

From the Sage Advice Compendium (Page 2-3 under Racial Traits):

Normally, you can’t hide from someone if you’re in full view. A lightfoot halfling, though, can try to vanish behind a creature that is at least one size larger...

Mask of the Wild

Now onto something a little more challenging. This Wood Elf trait is on Page 15 of the Basic Rules and Page 24 of the Player's Handbook, which says:

Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

Similar to the Lightfoot Halfling's Naturally Stealthy, it gives another condition as to when the Wood Elf can try to hide, as also clarified in the Sage Advice Compendium that this can happen even when the Wood Elf is seen.

From the Sage Advice Compendium (Page 3 under Racial Traits):

...a wood elf can try to hide simply by being in heavy rain, mist, falling snow, foliage, or similar natural phenomena. It’s as if nature itself cloaks a wood elf from prying eyes—even eyes staring right at the elf!

The confusion for this racial trait comes when it comes to reading 'lightly obscured' and the mentioned examples, which includes other 'natural phenomena'. Many have asked does it mean that the condition is only 'lightly obscured' or the source of the obscurity must come from a 'natural' source such as fog or foliage.

If you remember your Vision and Light rules (Page 65 of the Basic Rules and Page 183 of the Player's Handbook) , an obscurity isn't always caused by the brightness of a light source in the surroundings, but can be from other factors as well.

Based on this answer from Jeremy Crawford and the Sage Advice excerpt above, it seems to be the latter.



Is that important to distinguish? Yes, because this brings us to the next exception...

Skulker

Unlike the racial traits above, Skulker is a feat that cannot be found in the Basic Rules, so I cannot put the complete text here. You will find it at Page 170 of the Player's Handbook.

Firstly, the feat lets you hide when you are lightly obscured without mentioning any specific examples (unlike Naturally Stealthy or Mask of the Wild), which could mean that as long as you are lightly obscured by anything, you can attempt to hide. However, this feat hasn't been clarified in the Sage Advice Compendium that it bypasses other conditions for hiding, so it would be safe to say that it needs to meet those conditions as well, in addition to being lightly obscured.  

Although the Skulker feat is still technically better than either of the Lightfoot Halfling's and Wood Elf's racial traits, but remember that it cost a feat to do so. So I would say it has been balanced.

The Skulker feat not only gives new conditions to hide, but it also clearly makes an exception to the Unseen Attackers and Targets rule, when it comes to revealing their location after an attack. 

These are some of the obvious features that have exceptions to the Hiding rules, and I'm sure there are many others that I have missed. So feel free to bring them up so that I can study them within the framework.

In my next post, I will go into the other side of hiding; how to spot when someone is hiding from you.

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 5: Finding the Hiding.

Last updated: 7/7/2016   

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 3: Invisibility

This is the 3rd part of a running series on Hiding in my new column for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read the previous post here. I will post a complete index of all the posts of the series at the end of the series.

In the previous post of this series, I've finally set down the foundation rules of how Hiding rules and what are the benefits and additional conditions of being Unseen Attackers and Targets. That's not all a DM needs to know, because as a game built on exceptions, there are many areas that can work against the fundamentals.

I don't think I have discovered every exception that are in the game when it comes to hiding (individual magic items and spells are the biggest exceptions in the game), but I think I have managed to scratch the surface of the most common exceptions there are when it comes to hiding.

So for this post, I intend to address one common exception that a DM should be prepared for in answering on how to make a ruling.

Invisibility

By far one of the most common scenario that a DM is likely to encounter. An unprepared DM who hasn't worked out how Hiding works in their game is most likely going to make Invisibility overpowered (not to mention even more confusing) than it needs to be.

Perhaps it was intended from the beginning in the design, but in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, Invisibility does not have it own set of rules, and works well in the framework formed by the Hiding and Unseen Attackers and Targets rules. This is because Invisibility and most of the spells that confer it are simply wrapped up in one condition: Invisible.

According to the condition in Appendix A of the Basic Rules (Page 105) and the Player's Handbook (Page 291):

• An Invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purpose of Hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves.
• Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage.
• The creature's attack rolls have advantage.

Recalling back on the post for Hiding, you might remember that a character who is Invisible can Hide at any time, but it gives an additional link between being heavily obscured and hiding.

You may notice that in the Unseen Attackers and Targets rules that it mentions among the ways to be unseen is to be Invisible, but with the Invisible condition, you already enjoy the benefits of being unseen. This double effect of being Invisible and Unseen doesn't cause any clash as advantages and disadvantages do not multiply, but it would be helpful to be aware that being unseen and Invisible are not quite the same thing in a mechanical sense, but effectively similar.

Invisibility & Hiding

A common question that would arise with Invisibility in the context of Hiding, is that since you already gain the effective benefits of being unseen, why do you need to Hide? This is a valid question as asked here:

This is, again, where you can be unseen but still heard unless you are making that Dexterity (Stealth) check to conceal your noise and not reveal your location. You would still need a Hide action to make the Dexterity (Stealth) check, otherwise you would be discovered as your normally would as per those noted in the Hiding rules.

One main benefit of being Invisible, however, is you can always attempt this check at anywhere, as mentioned in the Hiding rules. 

If your Dexterity (Stealth) is successful, I would consider you to be Hidden, as in the Unseen Attackers and Targets rule, but are still subject to revealing your location if you make an attack (even with the Greater Invisibility spell). 

So as you can see, Invisibility is already covered in the rules for Hiding and Unseen Attackers and Targets, although it does require a little study ahead. You would be unable to see how Invisibility works together with these rules without a formative understanding, and hopefully this post has helped you to make better adjudications.

In my next post, I will tackle other exceptions to the rules of Hiding that will help to inform even further on how it works.

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 4: Exceptions.

Last updated: 6/7/2016  

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 2: Unseen Attacker and Target

This is the 2nd part of a running series on Hiding in my new column for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read the previous post here. I will post a complete index of all the posts of the series at the end of the series.

In the previous post of this series, I specifically dealt with he Hiding rules and break it down a little. While it is the main rule that needs to be referred to when it comes to Hiding, it is not the only rules in play when trying to understand it fully.

For this second part, I will introduce the second rule that is often associated with Hiding and where players would pay attention to it; Unseen Attackers and Targets.

Found on Page 73 of the Basic Rules and Page 194-195 of the Player's Handbook, the rules states:

Unseen Attackers and Targets 

Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness. 

When you attack a target that you can’t see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the DM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly. 

When a creature can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it.

If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

You can see how this rule is related to Hiding because it mentions 'hiding' in its first paragraph, but I found its mechanical relation in the Hide action under Combat in Page 72 of the Basic Rules or Page 192 of the Player's Handbook, which states:

When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules in chapter 7 for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and Targets” section later in this chapter.

Becoming Unseen

Based on the Hide action description, you must succeed on the Dexterity (Stealth) check before you can be considered Unseen, and get its benefits. Therefore, before taking the Hide action, I think it should meet to the conditions that were mentioned in my previous post on when can a character try to hide in the first place.

The benefits of being Unseen is found in the second and third paragraph, but the wording is a little muddled, so to make it clearer, I reorgansied it here:

1. The attacker of an Unseen has Disadvantage on their Attack Rolls.
2. An Unseen has Advantage on their Attack Rolls on targets that can't see them (i.e., those that failed their Wisdom (Perception) against the Unseen's Dexterity (Stealth) but that can change as explained later).

The first benefit is always good when being attacked, but the second benefit of granting an Advantage to Attack Rolls is where defining how one becomes Unseen is vital to understand, because this opens up class features that might rely on this condition, most commonly the Rogue's Sneak Attack.

Another important aspect of being unseen from a rules' perspective is also explained in the second paragraph, which is a creature that is attacking an unseen target must guess the location of the unseen, and could automatically miss if this is guess wrongly. This places an importance of knowing the rules of when an Unseen reveals their location at any given point, but can still be unseen. This is where I mentioned in my previous post that if you made noise or are just Invisible, you are not (yet) discovered, but you revealed your location through noise.

Adding on to that, the third paragraph mentions that if you attacked from being unseen (and unheard), you also reveal your location, which still means that you remain unseen (if your Dexterity (Stealth) still beats their Wisdom (Perception), but they would know your location with a Disadvantage to your Attack Roll.

Becoming Hidden

Many could argue that there is a distinction between being simply Unseen, and Unseen and Unheard, otherwise known as being Hidden. I think it's a DM's choice to make it a distinction, but in my case, I do think there can be another layer added on being Unseen and being Hidden.

While I don't think it should grant any additional benefit of being Unseen, but it could help to distinguish an Unseen as being unheard, and this would mean it would not reveal their location through sound (whether invisible or not).

By default, I would say that once a character has successfully won the first Dexterity (Stealth) and Wisdom (Perception) contest, the character can be considered Hidden (unseen and unheard). But I would think it would be fair to call for another Dexterity (Stealth) check from the character if they would want to stay unheard (most likely when trying to tread from spot to another), and depending if their spotter is actively searching for them or not, to use their passive Wisdom (Perception) or make a contest roll.

A likely scenario is when a Hidden character is trying to approach an enemy in combat, where they would ordinarily be spotted immediately (as stated in the last paragraph of the Unseen Attackers and Targets rule), but if they succeeded on their Dexterity (Stealth) check, a DM may reward them by giving them the benefits of being Unseen (i.e., Advantage to Attack Rolls) until the character makes their attack.  

Should that require another Hide action in combat? Mike Mearls seem to think so, but you are free to rule otherwise. By ruling that it requires a Hide action, it benefits class features like the Rogue's Cunning Action to be able to Hide as a bonus action, and still have a spare action to use in the same turn. 

For me, understanding the Hiding and Unseen Attackers and Targets rules together builds the foundation of sneaking around in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Next, I'll look into the exceptions to these rules, and see how they work within the framework I've established.

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 3: Invisibility.

Last updated: 5/7/2016  

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 1: Hiding

Hiding is one of the most commonly used rules in 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and also one of its most confusing. So for this first series in my new planned column for 5E (I would probably write a disclaimer post on this column, and my methods on how I come to write them, but let's not forget the business at hand), I've decided to take a look and break down the rules for Hiding and the other areas it affects play to make sense of it, once and for all.

First off, I'm going to shoot myself in the foot by saying that this examination is futile and there is already an answer to all your Hiding problems, as D&D R&D team Senior Manager Mike Mearls pointed out on Twitter:



Nevertheless, I am still going to do this exercise on Hiding, just as an exploration of the threads in the web of rules and to point out its moving parts. This is to build a framework for DMs to work with, to help inform how we run or make our rulings when faced with these situations. But take heed, as much as my deconstruction of the rules are taken from the closest officials sources I can find, they are not by any means official and is only my interpretation of them.

What is Hiding?

By far probably the simplest question, with the simplest answer in this series. Finding it though, is a little tricky. Hiding doesn't have its own dedicated section anywhere in the books, but it can be found as a sidebar on Page 60 of the Basic Rules or Page 177 of the Player's Handbook. You can read them in full here:

Hiding

When you try to hide, make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check’s total is contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature that actively searches for signs of your presence. 

You can’t hide from a creature that can see you, and if you make noise (such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase), you give away your position. An invisible creature can’t be seen, so it can always try to hide. Signs of its passage might still be noticed, however, and it still has to stay quiet. 

In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you. However, under certain circumstances, the Dungeon Master might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing you to gain advantage on an attack before you are seen. 

The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding. Also the question isn't whether a creature can see you when you're hiding. The question is whether it can see you clearly.

Passive Perception. When you hide, there’s a chance someone will notice you even if they aren’t searching. To determine whether such a creature notices you, the DM compares your Dexterity (Stealth) check with that creature’s passive Wisdom (Perception) score, which equals 10 + the creature’s Wisdom modifier, as well as any other bonuses or penalties. If the creature has advantage, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5. 

For example, if a 1st-level character (with a proficiency bonus of +2) has a Wisdom of 15 (a +2 modifier) and proficiency in Perception, he or she has a passive Wisdom (Perception) of 14. 

What Can You See? One of the main factors in determining whether you can find a hidden creature or object is how well you can see in an area, which might be lightly or heavily obscured, as explained in chapter 8.

That's pretty much all the Hiding rules in a nutshell and the basis of this series would come from here. I would believe that most DMs would have read this as the starting point to interpret how the Hiding rules would work in their games, but why I see it has caused so much confusion is because there are lots of interconnected components in there that needs to be studied to see how it all works together.

If the paragraph on "The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding..." seems new to you, that's because it's from the errata, which may be one of the more important clarification made for the Hiding rules, but let's not get ahead of ourselves yet.

To understand the Hiding rules better, I think it would be helpful to break it down, and frame them as questions. With a little reorganising the order of the information, here's how I broke down what the Hiding rules are saying:

1. When can I hide?
2. How do I hide?
3. How long can I stay hidden?
4. What are the ways I will be discovered when I'm hiding?
5. How can I see if someone is hiding?

All of the questions above can be answered to a certain degree from the Hiding rules alone, but they don't quite give a full picture on how it would turn out in play. Let's try to answer them. 

When can I hide?

Not answered directly, but the Hiding rules does provide several conditions. So that's a useful guide as any. From the Hiding rules:

• You can't hide from a creature that can see you.
• An Invisible creature can't be seen, so it can always try to hide (Invisibility will be covered further in later parts of this series).
• The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding (something I will cover in later parts of the series)

Although the first two conditions are pretty self-explanatory, but I think it is the third condition that DMs need to be aware of. A DM should always be aware whether there are any proper hiding spots, or reasons that a character can hide in every given encounter or location. I'll go further on this in a different post, but know that how powerful the Hiding rules are in your game is highly dependent on the DM, than the player.

How do I hide?

This one has a direct answer and it starts from the first line of the Hiding rules: "When you try to hide, make a Dexterity (Stealth) check.". In combat, you can take the Hide action (Page 72 of Basic Rules and Page 192 of the Player's Handbook) to make the Dexterity (Stealth). 

How long can I stay hidden?

Also another question that seems to have a straightforward answer that follows after the first line: "Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check's total is contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature that actively search for signs of your presence.".

While this first line pretty much gives an answer, its interpretation of it seems to vary wildly among DMs. For me, I think it spells out two separate conditions when a character is no longer considered hiding:

1. Until you are discovered.
2. You stop hiding. 

While this almost sounds like it is entirely up to the player to decide when their character is no longer hiding until they discovered (that will be explained below), but I think a DM can also decide when a character can no longer hide by changing the circumstances of where they are hiding (something I will talk more in later posts).   

What are the ways I will be discovered when I'm hiding?

Here is where some vagueness begins, but let's try to list down the conditions mentioned in the rules:

1. You lose the contest between your Dexterity (Stealth) and Wisdom (Perception), passive or otherwise. 
2. If you make noise, you give away your position.
3. Signs of a Invisible creature might still be noticed, and it still has to stay quiet.
4. In combat, when you come out of hiding and approach a creature, unless your DM allows you to remain hidden.

A note to make is that for conditions 2 and 3, it doesn't mean that you are discovered, which I would expand further in my next post on another rule related to hiding. There is also a 5th condition of when a character reveals their location, but that would be also be explained in the next post. 

How can I see if someone is hiding?

This works in opposite to the previous question and the main way is to win the contest against the hider's Dexterity (Stealth) with your Wisdom (Perception). However, there is still some distinction to be found in the Hiding rules, as to when you can make that Wisdom (Perception) check to find someone hiding.

Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check (the Dexterity (Stealth)) is contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature that actively search for signs of your presence.

Note the emphasis on 'actively search' is mine and I find this is related to what is said under the Passive Perception section that is found later in the Hiding rules.

When you hide, there's a chance someone will notice you even if they aren't searching. 

This could mean that when you are not aware of someone who could be hiding, you would use your Passive Perception to see if you detect someone is hiding. If you have reason to believe that someone is hiding in your vicinity, then your DM may allow you to make a Wisdom (Perception) check.

This is followed by whether you gain Advantage or Disadvantage to your Passive Perception or Wisdom (Perception) check, based on the visibility of the where the hider is hiding in, as explained under the What Can You See? section of the Hiding rules.



Hopefully this would be a good introduction to the Hiding rules, and has helped make it easier for you to understand them. But things are just getting started, and could get more complex from here. Next, I will look into what are the benefits of hiding and its rules.

[D&D RAW] Hiding, Invisibility & Other Sneaky Business, Part 2: Unseen Attackers and Targets.

Last updated: 4/7/2016