D&D 5E (2014) Hiding with spirit guardians

[auburn2]

Do you let players hide or give them a disadvantage if they have spirit guardians active. It would seem the spirits flying around you would give away your location.

 

[Flamestrike]

Depends what they're hiding behind (A large radius of darkness for example would conceal the guardians).

That said, I presume the spirits flying around you aren't exactly quiet (moaning and wailing for fiendish/ necrotic, or accompanied by an angelic choir if radiant/ celestial) so there is also that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

5e hiding rules are quite woolly, but their is no specific rule for spell effects to interfere. Your DM might rule that you need bigger cover to block LoS.

 

[Flamestrike]

5e hiding rules are quite woolly, but their is no specific rule for spell effects to interfere. Your DM might rule that you need bigger cover to block LoS.

Its not really a rule, its a ruling.

Q: Can you hide when surrounded by a 15' radius of wailing spirits.

If your answer is 'Yes' I would like to play hide and seek with you.

There might be corner cases when you could, but personally I wouldn't allow it most cases.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Its not really a rule, its a ruling.

That I agree. There is no rule, so the DM has to make a ruling.

There might be corner cases when you could, but personally I wouldn't allow it most cases.

The DM might allow the player to fluff the spirits as shadows if it fit the theme of the character.

Or it could be a noisy location.

Pass without Trace (cast by someone else) might muffle the sound.

 

[Oofta]

With the possible exception of the PC and the guardians in an area of magical darkness or similar? No. The spirit guardians are very clearly visible because otherwise you wouldn't have a spectral form.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Of course, the PC could be hidden behind an object with the spiritual guardians whizzing and moaning all about. It is entirely possible (though certainly not automatic) that an enemy who hadn’t already perceived the PC may clearly see the guardians but have zero idea what they are — and then be surprised to find that there is a PC at the center of the guardians because both the sight of the PC (by the large enough object) and the sound of the PC (by the noisy spiritual guardians) is obscured.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I might allow the character to hide depending on the circumstances, but there would definitely be no possibility of Surprise for enemies if the spirit guardians are visible.

 

[Umbran]

Say you are in a tavern. Spirit Guardians is up. The character hides behind the bar, which is 15' long.

The spirits' presence indicates that the character is somewhere back there, but not exactly where. I'd say they can remain hidden. It might be different if this is in a bare room with only one wingback chair to hide behind.

Also, note that most viewers probably don't know the details of the spell. There are spirits flitting about. Okay. And? If I don't know the spell, I don't necessarily know the relationship between the spirits and the character, so that the spirits don't indicate anything to those who don't recognize they are from that spell.

So... context dependent, I think.