Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 6865022">Huh.  In my world, both real and imagined, "watching like a hawk" and fighting effectively against other enemies are mutually exclusive.  If you literally never take your eye off the barrel, I'm going to give you Disadvantage on your attacks, and Advantage on attacks against you.The scenario I thought you were going to describe was the guard watching the barrel without any other distractions.  (Or, for example, if you're willing to take the Disadvantage penalty described above.)  This is a tricky one.  If the guard actually approaches the barrel to stab the little bugger, you could argue that he's got to either go one way or the other around it, and that's when the rogue slips away.But what if he just stays 20' and watches the barrel?  The rogue is Hidden, so he can stealth, right?  The sidebar on Hiding is specifically about Hiding, about moving from the Seen to the Not-Seen state, not about using Stealth.  And our rogue is already Not-Seen.On the other hand, it seems rather...improbable...that the rogue can actually sneak away from the barrel while the guard is watching it.What I'd probably rule is that the Rogue gets Disadvantage on his Stealth, and that if he succeeds it means he somehow managed to trick the guard...the old throwing a pebble trick or Jedi Mind Trick or something.  Or maybe have him first roll Deception against the guard's Intelligence, and if he succeeds then roll Stealth with Disadvantage.  Are those odds "realistic"?  Not terribly...but it happens all the freaking time in fiction that we all love, so I'll allow somebody who invests in Stealth to try it, too.I mean, what's the problem?  So he gets a Sneak Attack on the hapless NPC guard and the hero wins against all odds.  Isn't that why we play D&D and read terrible Forgotten Realms novels?I think it comes down to the DM's feelings about stealth and rogues.  If it's a trope that you like in your fiction you'll lean toward the more fictional interpretation.  If you're sick of the rules-lawyering little buggers you're probably going to be more boringly "realistic".</blockquote>

Verification