Rules FAQ How Does Stealth Work in D&D 5E?

Stealth is a complex skill. The rules can be found in the Player’s Handbook, largely on page 177. On the surface, it seems simple: it is a Dexterity (Stealth) check opposed by a Wisdom (Perception) check. But, there is more to it than that.

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This is the part of a weekly series of articles by a team of designers answering D&D questions for beginners. Feel free to discuss the article and add your insights or comments!

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So let’s break it down step by step. Using stealth generally means using the Hide action. Hiding is a 4 step process:

1. Are you sufficiently obscured from the creatures you're hiding from?
2. Use Hide action; this could be a bonus action if you have certain abilities, like the rogue’s Cunning Action or the Ranger’s Vanish.
3. Compare Dexterity (Stealth) check to the passive perception scores of any creature you are hiding from and against any active Wisdom (perception) checks to search for you
4. While you remain hidden, use the same Dexterity (Stealth) result until you are detected or are no longer hiding.

While Hidden
When you are hidden (which means you have used the Hide action and a creature has not noticed you with passive or active perception):

• You have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that can’t see you.
• When you make your attack, though, you reveal your position and are no longer hidden, whether the attack hits or misses.
• If a creature tries to attack you while you are hidden (and is able to guess the space you are in), it makes its attack roll with disadvantage.

Staying Hidden
You remain hidden until you are discovered, you stop hiding, circumstances no longer allow you to hide, or you make a noise or otherwise alert others to your presence.

You do not need to continually use the Hide action every round to remain hidden, but you will need to use it again to hide once you become detected or stop hiding (this could be complex to track, as being hidden is relative to each creature).

When Can I Hide?
According to the Player’s Handbook, you “can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly”. The complicating factor is the line "The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding”.

• The book reminds DMs that they might allow a player character to sneak up on a distracted creature, even leaving their concealment to do so, if circumstances allow it.
• It goes on to say "An invisible creature can always try to hide", noting that being unseen does not mean you are undetected.
• The Player's Handbook reminds us that the "Lightly obscured' and "heavily obscured" lighting affect what one can see. Being lightly obscured imposes a -5 penalty on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, while being heavily obscured effectively blinds creatures to things in the obscured area and makes Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight automatically fail.

We still do not have a definition for “clearly”; it is left up to DM interpretation in this context.

• We know that being invisible counts. Being invisible makes one heavily obscured "for the purposes of hiding", so heavily obscured also counts.
• Full cover is not mentioned, but since it fully blocks line of sight, it is safe to assume full cover for an opaque object would be sufficient to hide behind.

This leaves the question "Can I hide when I am only lightly obscured" or "Can I use half or 3/4ths cover to hide?" The answer seems to be left up to the DM, as there are special abilities which interact with creatures who are lightly obscured.

• The skulker feat allows you to try to hide when you are lightly obscured" implying you couldn't otherwise do this.
• Wood Elves have the mask of the wild ability that lets them use the hide action "when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena''.
• Lightfoot halflings have the naturally stealthy ability, which lets them hide "even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you".

There are two ways to read this. The strict interpretation would be that you need these abilities in order to hide within lightly obscured areas. The loose way to interpret would be that these abilities allow you to use stealth to Hide in certain kinds of light obscurement even while being observed. As the Hide rules state you "can't hide from a creature that can't see you clearly" it depends on how the DM interprets “clearly. And, if a DM is going to allow lightly obscured areas to count as “not seen clearly”, then they may allow half cover or three-quarters cover as well.

Be sure to discuss with your DM how they intend to interpret when a creature can and cannot see you clearly.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

The biggest issue with the stealth rules is the presumption that they must be rolled and some condition determined whenever someone wants to be sneaky.

Half the time my players want to ‘sneak up’ somewhere I simply let them.
The stealth check comes in when and if someone might encounter them.

“I roll to sneak up on the campfire… “
“Don’t roll. You sneak up to the fire.”
“Ok… I listen to the orcs”
“They’re talking about how they’re gonna cook the prisoners tonight. Right after the biggest orc goes number 1 in the bushes… he stands up and turns your way! “
“Oh shucks! I dive behind a tree trunk”
“Stealth check”

Yes.

I require us to roll Stealth checks only when and if it's needed, rather than when we decide to be sneaky. This helps to preserve the tension rather than knowing if we are well hidden (high roll) versus not well hidden (low roll).

In fact, depending on the circumstances, I always consider us to be sneaking to some degree when moving through a dangerous landscape (dungeon, lava pit, giant's entrails). The difference between movement at a Slow Pace versus a Normal Pace just doesn't matter most of the time. We are not typically keeping track of how many hundreds of feet we're moving per minute. If the circumstances require that we do know, then we'll decide if we're going to be stealthy or not; but most of the time it's not an issue.

Ya' know, I feel there is a strong desire to end debates with rules, I feel it too, but I believe this latest iteration of the game recognizes that that is not achievable while still having a game we can play without a computer.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Stealth is a complex skill. The rules can be found in the Player’s Handbook, largely on page 177. On the surface, it seems simple: it is a Dexterity (Stealth) check opposed by a Wisdom (Perception) check. But, there is more to it than that.

---

This is the part of a weekly series of articles by a team of designers answering D&D questions for beginners. Feel free to discuss the article and add your insights or comments!

---

So let’s break it down step by step. Using stealth generally means using the Hide action. Hiding is a 4 step process:

1. Are you sufficiently obscured from the creatures you're hiding from?
2. Use Hide action; this could be a bonus action if you have certain abilities, like the rogue’s Cunning Action or the Ranger’s Vanish.
3. Compare Dexterity (Stealth) check to the passive perception scores of any creature you are hiding from and against any active Wisdom (perception) checks to search for you
4. While you remain hidden, use the same Dexterity (Stealth) result until you are detected or are no longer hiding.

View attachment 141177​

While Hidden
When you are hidden (which means you have used the Hide action and a creature has not noticed you with passive or active perception):

• You have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that can’t see you.
• When you make your attack, though, you reveal your position and are no longer hidden, whether the attack hits or misses.
• If a creature tries to attack you while you are hidden (and is able to guess the space you are in), it makes its attack roll with disadvantage.

Staying Hidden
You remain hidden until you are discovered, you stop hiding, circumstances no longer allow you to hide, or you make a noise or otherwise alert others to your presence.

You do not need to continually use the Hide action every round to remain hidden, but you will need to use it again to hide once you become detected or stop hiding (this could be complex to track, as being hidden is relative to each creature).

When Can I Hide?
According to the Player’s Handbook, you “can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly”. The complicating factor is the line "The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding”.

• The book reminds DMs that they might allow a player character to sneak up on a distracted creature, even leaving their concealment to do so, if circumstances allow it.
• It goes on to say "An invisible creature can always try to hide", noting that being unseen does not mean you are undetected.
• The Player's Handbook reminds us that the "Lightly obscured' and "heavily obscured" lighting affect what one can see. Being lightly obscured imposes a -5 penalty on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, while being heavily obscured effectively blinds creatures to things in the obscured area and makes Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight automatically fail.

We still do not have a definition for “clearly”; it is left up to DM interpretation in this context.

• We know that being invisible counts. Being invisible makes one heavily obscured "for the purposes of hiding", so heavily obscured also counts.
• Full cover is not mentioned, but since it fully blocks line of sight, it is safe to assume full cover for an opaque object would be sufficient to hide behind.

This leaves the question "Can I hide when I am only lightly obscured" or "Can I use half or 3/4ths cover to hide?" The answer seems to be left up to the DM, as there are special abilities which interact with creatures who are lightly obscured.

• The skulker feat allows you to try to hide when you are lightly obscured" implying you couldn't otherwise do this.
• Wood Elves have the mask of the wild ability that lets them use the hide action "when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena''.
• Lightfoot halflings have the naturally stealthy ability, which lets them hide "even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you".

There are two ways to read this. The strict interpretation would be that you need these abilities in order to hide within lightly obscured areas. The loose way to interpret would be that these abilities allow you to use stealth to Hide in certain kinds of light obscurement even while being observed. As the Hide rules state you "can't hide from a creature that can't see you clearly" it depends on how the DM interprets “clearly. And, if a DM is going to allow lightly obscured areas to count as “not seen clearly”, then they may allow half cover or three-quarters cover as well.

Be sure to discuss with your DM how they intend to interpret when a creature can and cannot see you clearly.

I found another page of rules that you may have not included. They concern movement rates and stealth on pages 182-183 of the Players Handbook. Perhaps you could include them in an edit. Or not, it's no big deal. I'm trying to be helpful, not critical.

 

[OptionalRule]

The biggest issue with the stealth rules is the presumption that they must be rolled and some condition determined whenever someone wants to be sneaky.

Half the time my players want to ‘sneak up’ somewhere I simply let them.
The stealth check comes in when and if someone might encounter them.

“I roll to sneak up on the campfire… “
“Don’t roll. You sneak up to the fire.”
“Ok… I listen to the orcs”
“They’re talking about how they’re gonna cook the prisoners tonight. Right after the biggest orc goes number 1 in the bushes… he stands up and turns your way! “
“Oh shucks! I dive behind a tree trunk”
“Stealth check”

This seems reasonable to me. I generally try to vary techniques depending on the needs of the particular session, setup, etc.

One technique I often use in a situation like this is give the player a choice between what they want to risk. So rolling with this example I might say something like:

"Okay, sneaking toward the camp isn't terribly hard but it depend on how close you want to get and how much you want to hear. I'll give you a choice, you can sneak up without them noticing but have to make a perception check to see how much you hear. Alternatively, you can hear it all but need to roll a sneak check to see if they catch you at the end. Which is it?"

 

[Hurin70]

I have to admit, and not to open an edition warry can of worms, but, 4e has the clearest, easiest hiding rules in D&D. If you are invisible, or other wise can't be seen, you are unseen, but, once you use the stealth action, then you are Hidden, which is a specific condition in 4e that has specific rules. The addition, and subsequent removal, of the Hidden condition was a mistake AFAIC. They should have kept it in there and all the vagueness around stealth, hiding, invisibility and whatnot goes away.

This was another one of 4e's babies that 5e threw out with the bathwater. The mess we have now in 5e is the result.

I enjoy these ENWorld 5e rules articles because they help clarify much of the ambiguity that is inherent in the new system. I would much rather have rules rather than vague and unhelpful statements such as 'it is up to the DM to decide'. This is a perfect example of why.

 

[Stalker0]

My only remaining beef with 5e stealth is invisibility. The idea that a pixie can go invisible, move 30 feet, and the players know exactly where it is…just doesn’t work for me.

So I allow an automatic stealth check for Invis if you move 10 or more feet. That covered me biggest gap

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

My only remaining beef with 5e stealth is invisibility. The idea that a pixie can go invisible, move 30 feet, and the players know exactly where it is…just doesn’t work for me.

What? How does that happen?

 

[Oofta]

Personally I like the stealth rules in 5E and prefer them over the rules from 4E. They do require a DM to be fairly clear in descriptions while also giving the PCs proper feedback, but I greatly prefer flexibility to trying to hard code it because to me that never seem to really work. There are just too many variables. That, and I like the flexibility to set the tone and style of the game.

I also don't find the rules that hard to understand, although of course you do have to have a decent understanding of some basic rules. D&D is a somewhat complex game, but I don't think it's too much of a burden to look up what obscurement is.

In my session 0 with new players I explain how I run stealth and that it's okay to ask, I'll try to set up environments that allow for stealth, but it really depends on how I envision the setting. That, and being hidden doesn't make people forget you exist. Oh, and I do follow a "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Basically in most cases you can pop out of hiding once and get advantage but doing it a second time from the same location and they know to look for you. You can get advantage multiple turns in a row, you just have to work for it a little bit.

 

[MarkB]

My only remaining beef with 5e stealth is invisibility. The idea that a pixie can go invisible, move 30 feet, and the players know exactly where it is…just doesn’t work for me.

So I allow an automatic stealth check for Invis if you move 10 or more feet. That covered me biggest gap

That seems like a reasonable houserule. Maybe just give invisible creatures the rogue's "hide as a bonus action" ability.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Okay, I think I get it now.

Well, live by rules, die by the rules.

 

[Reynard]

One thing that is super important is to double check abilities that require you SEE a target. Sometimes you can target something you are aware of otherwise, but many things -- including opportunity attacks -- require you actually see the target. This is important for those Scent empowered creatures, etc.