Difference between a concealed and secret door

[0bsolete]

Today I was using the random dungeon generator to throw together something quickly for my group tonight since a couple choices they made in email basically forced me to trash my intended direction with the campaign. Two of the options in the generator are percentage of concealed doors and percentage of secret doors. What is the difference between the two? I also note that in the elf ability description it references passing within 5 feet of a secret of concealed door. I don't have my core books with me (lent them out to a potential player) so I can't look this up.

 

[werk]

A secret door is designed to be unnoticeable...push this rock and a wall panel slides out of the way allowing entrance.

A concealed door is usually just a regular door that has been concealed by placing something in front of it...there is a trap door hidden under the rug.

 

[darthkilmor]

What the SRD says about Secret Doors

Secret Doors

Disguised as a bare patch of wall (or floor, or ceiling), a bookcase, a fireplace, or a fountain, a secret door leads to a secret passage or room. Someone examining the area finds a secret door, if one exists, on a successful Search check (DC 20 for a typical secret door to DC 30 for a well-hidden secret door). Elves have a chance to detect a secret door just by casually looking at an area.

Many secret doors require a special method of opening, such as a hidden button or pressure plate. Secret doors can open like normal doors, or they may pivot, slide, sink, rise, or even lower like a drawbridge to permit access. Builders might put a secret door down low near the floor or high up in a wall, making it difficult to find or reach. Wizards and sorcerers have a spell, phase door, that allows them to create a magic secret door that only they can use.

Whereas I think a concealed door would be like a standard door behind a bookshelf or curtain, a trapdoor under a rug, that kind of thing.

 

[Traken]

Hmm, does the Elf ability make them automatically know something is there, or just give them a check to notice?

 

[werk]

Hmm, does the Elf ability make them automatically know something is there, or just give them a check to notice?

"An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it."

www.d20srd.org

 

[0bsolete]

Thank you, secret door I had down but for some reason the only thing I could think about as a concealed door was a pile of rubble in front of a door making it harder to reach but visible and that just seemed off to me.

 

[Quartz]

Whereas I think a concealed door would be like a standard door behind a bookshelf

Yes, and secret door would be when the bookshelf itself is the door.

 

[Felnar]

common concealed doors i've seen are behind curtains/tapestries or painted to blend in with the wall

 

[irdeggman]

I was thinking that the concealed door got a 20% miss chance when attacked.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

I was thinking that the concealed door got a 20% miss chance when attacked.

And can't be sneak attacked.