Li Shenron
Legend
Then rollWhich is a useless score...
Then rollWhich is a useless score...
Good solution is to give advantage on Perception if you are willing to use Action to try to find someone.I agree. Passive perception should be 5 plus modifiers. I can think of almost no occasions when my PCS want to waste an action searching for someone when they have a 45% chance of getting lower than Passive perception.
Or use 10+bonus.Then roll
Most monsters are not that hard to find. I do think there is design space for rebalancing the passive scores. I would say anyone performing any other task while exploring, such as moving stealthily, should be base 5. Not allowing expertise bonuses on passive scores would help, and allowing fighters to perform active checks by sacrificing one attack instead of their whole action, might give them an edge.Good solution is to give advantage on Perception if you are willing to use Action to try to find someone.
Relying on "keywords" requires to be very careful of all the possible consequences. It's best done when designing a game from scratch, because probably the relationships between different rules of the game is still fresh in the designers' minds. In theory it would make sense that after 10 years of an edition, the designers know the rules a lot better, but in practice it might be that each designer has developed their own tunnel vision, and are not thinking enough of all the consequences. Choosing to link the keyword "invisible" to hiding, after the designers themselves have discussed for ages with the gaming community about how much "being hidden" is not the same as "being unseen", is a huge step backward.It might work mechanically sometimes but the wording is a hot mess.
Hiding makes you "invisible" and invisible means you can't been seen .... but to try to hide you need to be fully obnscured which means you can't be seen anyway ....
then breaking cover does not break invisibility .... So RAW I can hide in the bushes in front if the castle, then if I am successful I can just walk out of the bushes and right between the two guard at the font gate, go right through the Parlor and upstairs to the kings room, walking right past his bodyguards, then while the King is signing documents on his desk I can steal his crown off the very same desk and he can't see me do it because after all I am invisible.
The old 2014 stealth rules were not great either, but they were better than what we have.
The change was clearly brought in to overcome the notion that you can be seen by everyone as soon as you break cover rather than allowing the obvious trope of being able to sneak up behind people or past distracted people.It might work mechanically sometimes but the wording is a hot mess.
Hiding makes you "invisible" and invisible means you can't been seen .... but to try to hide you need to be fully obnscured which means you can't be seen anyway ....
then breaking cover does not break invisibility .... So RAW I can hide in the bushes in front if the castle, then if I am successful I can just walk out of the bushes and right between the two guard at the font gate, go right through the Parlor and upstairs to the kings room, walking right past his bodyguards, then while the King is signing documents on his desk I can steal his crown off the very same desk and he can't see me do it because after all I am invisible.
The old 2014 stealth rules were not great either, but they were better than what we have.