D&D 5E Moving Stealthily While Traveling

[Hriston]

This is a question about how different DMs handle this.

Under "Activity While Traveling", the Basic Rules have this to say about moving stealthily:

STEALTH​

While traveling at a slow pace, the characters can move stealthily. As long as they’re not in the open, they can try to surprise or sneak by other creatures they encounter. See the rules for hiding in chapter 7.​

I'm interested in how this is handled by DMs, particularly the requirement that characters are "not in the open". For me, this is mostly a matter of terrain, precipitation (thick fog), and light conditions. Forest, woodland, and marsh seem like they'd have ample opportunities for staying out of sight, but what about more "open" terrains like plains and desert? Various features and land-forms may exist that could provide an obstruction, but do you introduce these as needed, by random determination, or some other method?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter!

 

[iserith]

If there is some aspect of the terrain that suggests opportunities for stealthiness are limited, I will tend to spell this out as an exception to the normal expectations for sneaking around. I don't have any set way of doing it. I just try to come up with something interesting that could be reasonably overcome by the PCs and leave it to them to figure out.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Traveling stealthily through plains or desert would seem to be impossible, unless the relevant creatures were all asleep or otherwise distracted, which doesn't really seem plausible over the periods of time involved with overland travel rules. The most likely scenario would be that the opposing party had set up camp somewhere, so I would determine the nearby features based on their ability to find an appropriate location to camp; if there are no features of note in this plain or desert, then the chance of the parties passing within observation distance of each other would be minimal.

 

[Hriston]

If there is some aspect of the terrain that suggests opportunities for stealthiness are limited, I will tend to spell this out as an exception to the normal expectations for sneaking around. I don't have any set way of doing it. I just try to come up with something interesting that could be reasonably overcome by the PCs and leave it to them to figure out.

The normal expectation being that as long as they move at a slow pace they can be stealthy? That seems to be intended, but then it adds the qualifier about not being in the open. This seems to imply there will be a way to stay out of the open in most, if not all, situations, as long as characters take advantage of it by moving slowly. So for instance, if characters are crossing through some farmlands there may be some large hay bales or hedgerows that could provide concealment if time is taken to utilize them. Does that seem reasonable?

 

[iserith]

The normal expectation being that as long as they move at a slow pace they can be stealthy? That seems to be intended, but then it adds the qualifier about not being in the open. This seems to imply there will be a way to stay out of the open in most, if not all, situations, as long as characters take advantage of it by moving slowly. So for instance, if characters are crossing through some farmlands there may be some large hay bales or hedgerows that could provide concealment if time is taken to utilize them. Does that seem reasonable?

The normal expectation is that they can move at a slow pace to be stealthy and that signals there must be some kind of way to remain unseen and unheard in the environment. It's when that's not the case it needs calling out in my view.

 

[Horwath]

You could say that the stealth roll is with disadvantage if there is limited cover.

Or no roll at all. I.E. like a salt flats or some savanah areas.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm interested in how this is handled by DMs, particularly the requirement that characters are "not in the open". For me, this is mostly a matter of terrain, precipitation (thick fog), and light conditions. Forest, woodland, and marsh seem like they'd have ample opportunities for staying out of sight, but what about more "open" terrains like plains and desert? Various features and land-forms may exist that could provide an obstruction, but do you introduce these as needed, by random determination, or some other method?

You just need to be reasonable, think about the situation naturally.

Being in the open might be unavoidable in some cases. Picture a sand desert with dunes here and there, but eventually if there is someone keeping watch, it is simply impossible to walk through it without being seen. The same happens if you have to walk through an illuminated room, door-to-door, and a guard is there. Just because the PC have a Dex score it doesn't mean you are required to always give them a chance at everything, if you say it's impossible, then it's impossible.

I always start from the narrative and think about it in natural terms. If the players asks for a chance at staying hidden, I might give some second thoughts to the situation, and add narrative details. Maybe there are objects that can be used for cover or concealment after all. But I won't force it and I won't ret-con the whole scene just because the players demand to use Stealth. The whole point being, always demanding to use Stealth is actually uncreative, so sometimes featuring a situation where Stealth can't be used forces them to try something different.

 

[Hriston]

The normal expectation is that they can move at a slow pace to be stealthy and that signals there must be some kind of way to remain unseen and unheard in the environment. It's when that's not the case it needs calling out in my view.

I agree. It seems to be an assumption of the game that moving stealthily is possible in most situations. Taking that as a given then, part of the DM's role in describing the environment is to inform the players when the conditions of a particular area won't allow them to go unnoticed should they encounter any creatures. Otherwise a gotcha could result. For example, the DM tells the players there are two ways they can get to the caves. They can take the path through the forest where monsters are known to lurk, or they can take the road through the featureless plain but will be noticed by anyone they happen to meet thereon. I think that seems like a fair trade-off.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Except for things like salt pans, there's rarely terrain that's truly flat. Gullies, dips, etc., exist that can be taken advantage of to move undetected through a lot of 'open' terrain. A dip of just a few feet can be exploited to be invisible. This is even ignoring things like tall grass or other ground vegetation.


Maybe give advantage to adversaries when in 'open' terrain, but I'd allow stealthy non-tactical movement in almost any terrain type, and where I wouldn't, it'd be obvious as to why (again, salt pans would be hard).

 

[aco175]

My question would be what is meant be slow movement? is it 1/2 speed or something slower like 1/4 speed? Typically I allow rogues to move at 1/2 speed and still be hidden, although I think that is a power they get at some point. I would allow other PCs to move at 1/4 unless they are trained in Stealth.