D&D 5E HotDQ, question about stealth & perception (possible SPOILER)

[wwanno]

Spoiler

In more than one situation, the text of the adventure states that the enemies are in hiding, waiting to ambush the party.

When this happens the text of the adventure imposes Wisdom (perception) checks on the party members, giving them advantage if they declare that they are searching for.....

Spoiler

.....possible enemies, like in the 2nd encounter of chapter 2

Shouldn't those trying to hide roll a Dexterity (Stealth) check and beat the passive perception of those looking for them?

Is this a choice of the designers of HotDQ, or an error due to the adventure being written when PHB was not released yet?

 

[Wrathamon]

Spoiler

In more than one situation, the text of the adventure states that the enemies are in hiding, waiting to ambush the party.

When this happens the text of the adventure imposes Wisdom (perception) checks on the party members, giving them advantage if they declare that they are searching for.....

Spoiler

.....possible enemies, like in the 2nd encounter of chapter 2

Shouldn't those trying to hide roll a Dexterity (Stealth) check and beat the passive perception of those looking for them?

Is this a choice of the designers of HotDQ, or an error due to the adventure being written when PHB was not released yet?

I think its probably legacy rules since this adventure was finished before all the rules were solidified, so its possible that they have some strange rules for things like this.

They are in ambush ... so yes they need to have a DC to be seen, but I wouldn't roll for each creatures dex check to see how well hidden they are. I would just set it as a DC that the party needs to beat. They took time to setup an ambush. I would set it to DC 15, so only a few passives automatically succeed.

I would check passives first and if the players have set someone as a look out, then I would give that player a roll to see if they see the ambush. Advantage? sure, if that is what the adventure says. Do what works for you.

 

[Tormyr]

If setting a stealth check without rolling (so as to not tip off the players) it makes sense to have a passive stealth check just be 10 + Stealth modifier. If we are thinking of the same creature, the DC would then be 16. If you want more "chance" to be involved have the hiding creatures roll stealth and use passive perception of party members. Or if a character asks for a perception roll, let them.

 

[wwanno]

I think I could give advantage to them becouse they had time to set the ambush.
The PG roll if they declare they are searching, and they get advantage if they were told of the spot.

It seems fair to me, your opinion?

My players won't suspect anyting if I make some rolls. . . I always roll dices

 

[DEFCON 1]

Is this a choice of the designers of HotDQ, or an error due to the adventure being written when PHB was not released yet?

I believe Steve Winter mentioned in his blog/response(?) column that the rules were always constantly in flux so they did the best they could to get as many of the rules as consistent as they could... but that some probably slipped through. How Stealth and Perception worked was one of those things.

Having read through the module it seems like yeah... the calls for checks or the use of Passive Perception is kind of all over the place. For myself... I plan to convert them all to the PH rules, which means I'll roll Stealth checks for every enemy who is Hiding, and will put it up against the Passive Perceptions of the PCs (and their active Perception checks if they use their Actions to search.) All these Stealth DCs I'll probably roll for prior to the sessions starting so that the numbers are all set.

As far as those enemies who get the time to set up ambushes... I figure I'll either let them all roll their Stealth checks with Advantage (due to the time they get to prep everything), roll them together as a group as one Stealth check (for ease-of-use), or if I really want to get creative and mean roll 1d10+10 rather than a d20 (then add in their skill mod).

 

[Tony Vargas]

The DM is free to call for whatever rolls at whatever difficulty he feels is right for the given situation. 5e makes this very clear. The writers of adventures have similar latitude. Even if they weren't dealing with rules in flux as they were writing, they could have decided that calling for rolls from the PCs made more sense than making secret checks vs their passive perceptions for some reason.