D&D 5E Halfling rogue sniping from the the second rank

[Ritorix]

I should also add, a lightfoot halfling doesn't have to be directly behind the larger creature that gives them cover. They could be 60 feet away and still get it.

 

[TDarien]

It's still better to attack with advantage even if you have a -2 cover penalty.

If a fighter is in melee and the halfling is hiding behind it, I would say that halfling is in danger! With the way OAs work now, a monster could just walk around the fighter to where he thinks the halfling is, see him, and attack.

Depending on the situation, getting advantage might still be worth it. And the halfling can break up his movement, so he can hide, fire, then move away to relative safety.

Fair enough. My statement about the situation being moot was not well thought out.

I do want to point out that any creature can get cover from other creatures, not just lightfoot halflings.
Lightfoot halfings can hide behind large creatures, which is what I think you meant.

 

[TDarien]

My interpretation is that the benefit from hiding is predicated on the fact that the creature doesn't know you're there. If it does, it seems like you shouldn't get the benefit of hiding.

The rules don't support that interpretation, however. In order to hide, you need to be unseen and unheard, there is no restriction about a creature knowing where you are

I can even imagine a scenario in which the creature anticipates the actions of a character who tries to hide while under direct observation. That creature could then take action in response based on what it knows, rather than what it sees. For example, it could aim an attack at the location it believe the character will emerge from.

Absolutely it can. However, 1) the hiding creature may not appear when the attacking creature thinks it will. 2) if it does appear in that spot, guess, what, the hiding creature isn't hidden anymore, as it didn't stay out of sight.

 

[Ritorix]

Fair enough. My statement about the situation being moot was not well thought out.

I do want to point out that any creature can get cover from other creatures, not just lightfoot halflings.
Lightfoot halfings can hide behind large creatures, which is what I think you meant.

Right. And really it only matters for characters with Cunning Action so they can take advantage (literally) every round.

I suppose a party of halflings could also do some shenanigans where they all line up behind a human that opens a door, and everyone tosses surprise hand axes and fire bolts and whatnot.

 

[drjones]

In my game I adjudicated it as described, however if the halfling could not reasonably hide behind the other character because of positioning (there are three monsters, one is in melee with the fighter, the other two are on flanks, the halfing can hide from the one in melee but not the others while behind the fighter.

But because combat is chaotic our thief rarely got a chance to do it perfectly, sometimes he ended up hiding at the end of his turn, in which case if the person he is hiding behind moves at all he is left exposed.
It is a decently powerful feature but if the DM is even a little bit tactical about their encounters the thief will not be able to use it every round, every fight.

 

[the Water Temple]

Pretty sure it's a long-standing note that no one is standing still in combat; that's why there's no facing. So sure, maybe hide behind your bigjobs warrior pal, but at a high DC? I guess it depends on whether or not you want this to be a semi-plausible thing, or mystic in nature.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Also, the halfling may not even take the -2 to attack roll from half-cover if the DM allows it to pop out of cover to attack unseen....

BR60 Hiding: 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.

 

[gyor]

By RAW and even RAI the Lightfoot Halfling can hide behind bigger allies, it doesn't say until the monsters figure out where he is.

 

[Evenglare]

If this comes up my ruling would be that it's a one time thing. You can't hide if a creature knows exactly where you are trying to hide. The tactic only would work if you are hidden and the creature doesn't know you are hiding in the first place. Now that being said, I think I would allow the character to move out of line of site then on his next turn try to hide somewhere ELSE behind a fighter or what ever but it would have to be a different place than where he got out of line of sight in the first place. For example, if you were in a densely packed forest you could hide behind a tree and get off a shot but after that if you went back behind the tree you couldn't attempt to hide in that spot again, you would have to be out of line of sight then make a stealth to run behind ANOTHER tree (the enemy wouldn't know where you were) and then you pop off another shot with advantage. It seems completely idiotic to do a pop shoot stealth pop shoot stealth over and over. Of course the monster is going to know exactly where you are hiding, don't be a slave to RAW. You guys gotta use common sense sometimes.

 

[Agamon]

Lightfoot Halflings can attempt to hide behind creatures one size larger than them ("Naturally Stealthy" pg. 17), so yes, I think they can keep doing this every turn.

Attack, Cunning action to hide behind the fighter.

No, EW is correct. Naturally Stealthy lets the halfling hide, true. But if you read Hide, once you attack, your enemies know where you are and you can't attempt to hide again until they lose sight of you.

Basically, to hide you need your enemy unaware of you, or you need full cover or invisibility. Which makes sense; ducking back down to where you were hiding really shouldn't be cause for your foes to lose track of you. Peak-a-boo might fool an infant, but not fully grown beasties.

It's great for the start of a battle though, if the halfling rogue has no real cover or concealment to get a sneak attack in first round before his allies move in.