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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 6643743" data-attributes="member: 6787503">My initial reaction to the errata on hiding (see my post up-thread) was that it wouldn't change how I run stealth in the slightest. I already knew, after all, that the DM had full discretion as to what constituted the proper conditions for hiding, and I saw the word "clearly" as a relative term that could serve the DM when comparing different circumstances as to their suitability for hiding. We already knew about remaining hidden when approaching a distracted creature in combat, for example. It isn't much of a stretch to acknowledge that you could probably also go into hiding in the presence of the same creature, as long as it was distracted when you did so.After reading over the revised rules, however, I have decide to change the way I run stealth, and in particular how I regard areas that are lightly obscured.First of all, under what circumstances can you see something clearly? I would argue that you can do so only in unobscured areas of bright light. If the area is obscured at all, that means that you can no longer see clearly. That's why you have disadvantage on sight-based perception in a lightly obscured area. Obscured = can't see clearly. Even lightly obscured areas inhibit vision to the extent that you cannot see clearly.Does this mean that just anyone can hide when only lightly obscured? Obviously not. The existence of features like Mask of the Wild and Skulker tells us that this is normally not the case. The implication of those features is that most characters need to be heavily obscured to be hidden. Of course this makes sense because to be hidden is to be unseen, (as well as unheard), not just to be not seen clearly.What this does mean, however, and the way it is changing my game, is that a creature whose location is known, because it has already been noticed by an opponent, can still attempt to hide behind an object that provides total cover, thus rendering the creature heavily obscured, as long as the object is in a lightly obscured area. This works even when the opponent is not momentarily distracted. The creature cannot be seen clearly and its opponent may lose sight of it when it tries to hide.Mask of the Wild and Skulker simply allow a character to take full advantage of this aspect of a lightly obscured area by using not being seen clearly to elude any observer's gaze, and hiding within the lightly obscured area itself.</blockquote>

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