[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