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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clark411" data-source="post: 1148877" data-attributes="member: 4768">To sum it up in a few words: Hide is as picky as your DM wishes.If he's into realism, you can't just walk along at 10 ft per round in the darkness to evade sight.  If he's into roleplaying, you may have to do more than just say "I hide... I rolled a 38."  Whatever he is, you'll do best figuring it out and working with it.Generally speaking, hiding is about using the environment to avoid detection... and it being dark is not necessarily sufficient reason for you to be able to hide, nor is the presence of one bit of brush or pole.  Concealment may be enough, but the dark isn't concealment for anything with darkvision, and anything other than total darkness won't be enough for low light vision. For instance, on the pier, lets assume there's some moonlight and there are shadows made, including those by spaced out poles holding sconces/rushlights that often frequent places that risk falling into water or otherwise hurting themselves.  Even if these poles aren't that far apart, there is nothing beyond being invisible that can allow you to negate, from every direction, the detection of movement on the periphery of their vision.  In a sparcely furnished room at night, sure you may be able to find a spot to hide, but again, this is up to your DM.  If you are able to hide, you probably will not be able to move.In the battle, even if you are not the center of attention, you cannot hide if you're currently being observed.  If absolutely no one is looking at you, you're golden.  If someone is after your throat however, you can probably hide in a barrel away from 95% of the people who did not notice, but that person who saw you could easily come up and put his sword through it.Being Good at something, and being Able to Do something are slightly different things that make a big deal of difference in dangerous circumstances.  Unless your score is so epic that you can manipulate the minds of those you hide from to look the other way, or warp space to negate the presense of any bit of light, you'll have to do more than find dark spots and roll.Personally, I'd recommend going about it in a different way from thinking "Darkness means Baldur's Gate Hide In Shadows Action!"  So you're a sneaky rogue moving down a pier... why aren't you brachiating underneath the boards of the pier?  You're in the middle of a battle?  What in blue blazes are you doing trying to hide exactly in the middle of a battle?  Move and find a spot.  Evade people who may follow you, find a nook to slip into.  Sparcely decorated rooms that don't have an escape route are to be AVOIDED, not used for hiding.  Find one with a window, and hide by hanging out of the ledge or sliding up on a roof to avoid direct observation.If you've got the goods and mechanical competance to be extremely sneaky, then you should either come to an agreement with your DM that you'll either attempt to act sneaky (and not depend totally on your rolls, trying to move at half speed in concealed open terrain) or that you'll take penalties for doing such "I deserve to be seen" stuff.</blockquote>

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