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Can a character become hidden without using the hide action?
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<blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 7318087" data-attributes="member: 413"><p>It is just as reasonable that they don't hear anything. You have 5 heavily armed and armored folks waiting on one side of an oak iron bound door while the rogue clinks around with his lock picking tools. Hence the check. Those that do hear it certainly would not automatically know the number and location of 5 witches...</p><p></p><p>The way I narrated it was I told them the PCs that passed could have sworn they heard several female voices chanting in unison just as the door opened but when they looked into the room know one was there....roll initiative. Those of you that didn't hear are surprised.</p><p></p><p>On their turn the unsurprised characters could choose to search to try to locate the witches or guess. The wizard was not surprised. He "guessed" with a fireball spell which ended the encounter...</p><p></p><p>I didn't intend to say the medusa went first. She didn't. The paladin burst into the room looking at the ground. Why should he automatically know her exact location (or whether there was only one opponent!) to attack her? It seems to me that even though she wasn't hiding it would have been fair to allow her a stealth vs pp to see if she could keep her location unknown long enough for him to have to take a moment and use his other senses to locate her. </p><p></p><p>In the end, I think that's what combat stealth checks are for. Not to see if a creature is hidden or can remain hidden. But to see if they can keep their location hidden just long enough to achieve some effect. A party bursts into a room with 5 invisible witches. In the moment that they are looking around to see what is there the witches act. But those that are more perceptive know that there is hidden danger.</p><p></p><p>I think in some cases this does not require a hide action. As was stated above: the hide action allows you to become or remain hidden when you otherwise would not. But that does not mean there are not times where you might become or remain hidden without doing anything at all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Uller, post: 7318087, member: 413"] It is just as reasonable that they don't hear anything. You have 5 heavily armed and armored folks waiting on one side of an oak iron bound door while the rogue clinks around with his lock picking tools. Hence the check. Those that do hear it certainly would not automatically know the number and location of 5 witches... The way I narrated it was I told them the PCs that passed could have sworn they heard several female voices chanting in unison just as the door opened but when they looked into the room know one was there....roll initiative. Those of you that didn't hear are surprised. On their turn the unsurprised characters could choose to search to try to locate the witches or guess. The wizard was not surprised. He "guessed" with a fireball spell which ended the encounter... I didn't intend to say the medusa went first. She didn't. The paladin burst into the room looking at the ground. Why should he automatically know her exact location (or whether there was only one opponent!) to attack her? It seems to me that even though she wasn't hiding it would have been fair to allow her a stealth vs pp to see if she could keep her location unknown long enough for him to have to take a moment and use his other senses to locate her. In the end, I think that's what combat stealth checks are for. Not to see if a creature is hidden or can remain hidden. But to see if they can keep their location hidden just long enough to achieve some effect. A party bursts into a room with 5 invisible witches. In the moment that they are looking around to see what is there the witches act. But those that are more perceptive know that there is hidden danger. I think in some cases this does not require a hide action. As was stated above: the hide action allows you to become or remain hidden when you otherwise would not. But that does not mean there are not times where you might become or remain hidden without doing anything at all. [/QUOTE]
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Can a character become hidden without using the hide action?
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