D&D 5E Stealth & that big Rock!

[spectacle]

As a DM I'm fairly generous when it comes to letting the rouge hide and gain advantage from being hidden repeatedly in combat. Without that the rogue will often be missing with his one attack per round, and that gets boring for the player.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Stealth ...

If you have successfully hidden from your target you get advantage on your attack roll. If you have 2-attacks/round do you get advantage on both, or just the first one?

The corner! Rogue ducks around a corner or a tree in the forest - he hides .. ducks out and shoots ... repeat... how does this work ? or is it just, thats how Stealth works, if you can succeed against the opponents passive perception you are hidden & gain advantage ? A favorite tactic if there is no cover, is minor illusion (big rock) hide / pop up shoot ...

I think it's DM discretion. I dont allow "pop up" attacks to grant adv after the first time. Too... cheesy? cartoonish? I dunno, just not realistic enough for my tastes.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I think it's DM discretion. I dont allow "pop up" attacks to grant adv after the first time. Too... cheesy? cartoonish? I dunno, just not realistic enough for my tastes.

I do, but if the character is doing it in the same place/way, I give advantage to perception after the first time. Keep ducking in and out behind that tree? Works great the first time, gets harder after that. Run to a different tree? Works great, gets harder after that. If the hider at least tries to vary his approach (even popping out from different sides of a larger obstacle like a 10' wall or large fallen tree trunk), I let it work. If the rogue keeps doing the same thing, it gets harder.

Also, if it's only the rogue against the bad guys, and they know it, they automatically get advantage to perception because they are keenly looking out for that one guy hiding around here somewhere. If there are others providing distractions, they don't. Rogues like chaotic situations.

 

[slaughterj]

It depends on whether you're in combat or not.

If your target is in combat, and knows that it's in combat (such as if it's being attacked by your barbarian friend), then it's automatically paying attention to its surroundings and will instantly spot you when you come out from behind the rock. In this case, you don't get advantage on anything, because you're not actually hidden.

How does is or out of combat matter under rules on this? If the PC is stealthed and hidden behind the rock, illusion or not, the PC can maintain partial cover behind the rock and target its foe, getting advantage on the attack (presuming stealth beat perception).

 

[slaughterj]

The orcs are aware that enemies are at hand, and are actively looking in all directions. If your rogue runs around a corner and spends an action (probably a bonus action) to make a Stealth check, then the orcs won't know where he is (aside from the fact that he went off around that corner, and whatever they can guess based on that).

When he ducks back out from around the corner, all of the orcs immediately see where he is (since he no longer has concealment) and none of them are surprised. Once combat starts and your target is alert, you cannot get advantage from hiding unless you have some way of gaining concealment without making yourself visible, such as Invisibility.

Presumably the Rogue continually slips back around the cover, using a bonus action to Stealth, and resets the hidden status and does it repeatedly every round to get advantage on the attack (presuming stealth beats perception).

 

[slaughterj]

There seems to be some confusion in language in this thread.

Sure, if someone is hidden but then fully emerges from their (appropriate) cover/concealment, they will generally be noticed. But most of the time, the Rogue will not fully emerge, but rather instead retain partial cover/concealment where they can still be hidden and attack from that point.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

How does in or out of combat matter under rules on this? If the PC is stealthed and hidden behind the rock, illusion or not, the PC can maintain partial cover behind the rock and target its foe, getting advantage on the attack (presuming stealth beat perception).

If the orc is in combat, then it's continually looking in all directions and will spot the PC as soon as it tries to attack. You cannot hide from something that can see you. You can't target a foe while you hide behind the rock, because the rock is in the way. If you can see the orc, then you're not fully hidden behind the rock, so the orc can see you just as easily as you can see it.

Partial obscurement isn't enough to hide behind, unless you're a halfling or an elf and the partial cover is coming from an ally or a natural phenomenon (respectively).

 

[Noctem]

How does is or out of combat matter under rules on this? If the PC is stealthed and hidden behind the rock, illusion or not, the PC can maintain partial cover behind the rock and target its foe, getting advantage on the attack (presuming stealth beat perception).

Because the rules specify that creatures in combat are paying attention to their surroundings. This is used to justify that if someone comes out of hiding, they get spotted unless the DM rules that the observer is distracted. If that's the case, the hidden character can come out of hiding and even walk up to the observer to attack in melee before losing hidden. But that's DM fiat.

 

[slaughterj]

If the orc is in combat, then it's continually looking in all directions and will spot the PC as soon as it tries to attack. You cannot hide from something that can see you. You can't target a foe while you hide behind the rock, because the rock is in the way. If you can see the orc, then you're not fully hidden behind the rock, so the orc can see you just as easily as you can see it.

Partial obscurement isn't enough to hide behind, unless you're a halfling or an elf and the partial cover is coming from an ally or a natural phenomenon (respectively).

So how does a Rogue ever get to sneak attack? Taking that strict interpretation would suggest that a Rogue could never be hidden and sneak attack unless able to attack through full cover or while fully obscured. Obviously the feature is meant to be reasonably useful, so something more much be possible.

In our games, the Rogue becomes hidden typically by taking full cover (usually full concealment isn't available, but running around a wall is), stealthing, then creeping back to the edge where they have something less than full cover (i.e., partial cover, else if still full cover, they would not be able to see or target their foe), and attacking while hidden from that position. Are you saying that does not work? If that does not work, please be explicit when stealthing for hidden to be able to sneak attack does work.

 

[slaughterj]

Because the rules specify that creatures in combat are paying attention to their surroundings. This is used to justify that if someone comes out of hiding, they get spotted unless the DM rules that the observer is distracted. If that's the case, the hidden character can come out of hiding and even walk up to the observer to attack in melee before losing hidden. But that's DM fiat.

But my point is that people seem to be overly focusing on coming out of cover/concealment removing hidden (duh) versus when you can maintain some cover and still be able to attack while hidden.