D&D 5E Hidden Rules D&d 5th

[maritimo80]

Could you please help me with a question please.


A fight in closed forest with trees between a thief and an orc, long distance, with long bow.


The thief gets hidden (stealth rather than passive perception orc) and attacks and hits an arrow.


Immediately after attacking he wants to hide back to behind a tree (half cover, for example), the same or a side. The thief can move, attack and hide with a bonus share (this is not the problem).


The question is ..... He declares his hidden when attacking position (loses stealth). He can hide after attacking? He is in the line of vision of the orc or not? (The book says that the line of sight can not !!) Plus, if it goes to hide, have to be in complete cover (behind a wall for example), or can a tree with half cover ?

 

[lkj]

The best way to answer this question is to ask-- Does it seem reasonable to you as a DM that he'd be able to hide in that situation? If yes, let him do it. If no, don't. And then try to be consistent.

There has been a great deal of debate about the stealth rules, and I'm staying out of that. But as far as I can tell, they are written appealing to your common sense. There seem (to me) to simply be too many corner cases to write a detailed rule that covers every situation. Of course what seems reasonable will vary from table to table. But as long as you are fair, consistent, and willing to hear your players' arguments from time to time, it seems to work just fine. Or so it has for me.

AD

 

[Wrathamon]

the short answer, just as ikj mentions ... "it's up to you as the DM to judge if the orc can see the thief or not for the thief to hide"

For me, the thief gets advantage when he first attacks the orc. The thief then moves back behind a tree to hide again.

When you attack you're no longer hidden, so the orc knows the thief's position. He would be aware that the thief has moved behind a tree.

Is the tree large enough to prevent the orc from seeing the thief? If not, he isnt hidden but probably has cover to his AC, if it is a very large tree, the orc cant see him, but knows that he is probably standing behind the tree. He can move to see him.

He is aware that the thief is there so the next time he pops out to shoot, he wouldnt get advantage imo. Because the orcs will see him as leaves cover before the attack.

But, if the thief moved away and attacked from a different position I might allow it if its a dense forest.

It really depends on the situation and context of the encounter.

Stealth isn't magical, you will need to use common sense when ruling, and yes try to be consistent, or explain why you are ruling the way you are.

 

[Plaguescarred]

The thing to remember is that you can hide from an enemy that can't see you, regardless if he know where you are. So as written, you absolutely can re-hide at the same place over and over if the enemy is unable to see you. Of course the DM can always rule otherwise, declare you can't or impose disadvantage on the check if you do, but as written you fullfill the requirement to hide normally unless DM adjucate differently.

 

[Wrathamon]

Yes he is hidden, until the orc moves next to him and smashes him with his axe because he can now see him. He also is no longer hidden when he reveals himself to try to attack, because the orc is looking right at the tree where he is hiding behind it.

Just cause you are hidden doesnt mean you magically disappear from the game world.

My son is great a hiding, but I know where he is when he goes behind the chair. I also am not surprised when he jumps out and goes boo.

Other DMs, may be okay with letting rogues get advantage every attack if they can hide before hand. Cause its the rogue thing. It probably is okay. Just some might not be as permissive with it.

 

[keterys]

Rogues with Cunning Action rock, yep.

Note that no one else can pull off that trick, though. Yay for Rogues not sucking.

 

[Paraxis]

I use grid maps and as long as the orc doesn't move to a position where he has clear line of sight to the rogue, the rogue remains hidden.

Now a wood elf rogue doing the same thing in a corn field, forest with scrub brush, a rain storm, etc. that doesn't seem to hard to understand but when the elf is only ten feet away from another creature seems pretty powerful.

Then there is the real headscratcher, a lightfoot halfling in a white 30x30 room with a group of enemies in spread all over and the only thing to hide behind our his companions and possibly enemies.

 

[Mistwell]

Mearls answered this question recently with what he would do in this situation, and he felt the rogue should get disadvantage on their hide check to account for the likelihood his target may have seen where they attack came from.

 

[Wrathamon]

That is fine ruling also. I can see the rogue being tricky and turning around to the left this time instead of the right to attack. Orc might be expecting the same side.

 

[Psikerlord#]

DMs call. Just try to make a ruling the whole table is happy with if possible, and then be consistent. This is also a good example of why dms and players should talk before making PC's.