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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 6983428" data-attributes="member: 6775031">Upon spotting the first enemy, you are instantly alerted to the fact that there is danger happening, so you will look in all directions to make sure that nobody sneaks up behind you in combat. Looking around you doesn't require an action of any sort, so they just assume everyone does it all the time once you're in combat. If the game rules didn't make it an automatic assumption whenever someone was in combat, it would force the players to constantly declare that they're looking around, and that would bog down gameplay.Paying attention to your surroundings is a binary state. You are either constantly checking every direction for threats (in combat), or you are just looking in front of you and only passively listening to what's going on (out of combat). If you're actively checking every direction for threats, nobody can sneak up behind you, which is why the game rules say that you can only hide if you have cover. If you are only looking in front of you, then it's possible for someone to sneak up behind you simply by being quiet; that's where DM discretion applies outside of combat - in determining whether the enemy is looking in your direction (and thus stealth is impossible), or looking away (in which case stealth is possible).If you spot one enemy, and you don't know that another enemy is nearby, you won't automatically see them if they are hiding behind something. But they won't be able to surprise you, since you are paying attention to the possibility of enemies nearby; and they won't be able to sneak up behind you, since you will see them coming as soon as they leave cover.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 6983428, member: 6775031"] Upon spotting the first enemy, you are instantly alerted to the fact that there is danger happening, so you will look in all directions to make sure that nobody sneaks up behind you in combat. Looking around you doesn't require an action of any sort, so they just assume everyone does it all the time once you're in combat. If the game rules didn't make it an automatic assumption whenever someone was in combat, it would force the players to constantly declare that they're looking around, and that would bog down gameplay. Paying attention to your surroundings is a binary state. You are either constantly checking every direction for threats (in combat), or you are just looking in front of you and only passively listening to what's going on (out of combat). If you're actively checking every direction for threats, nobody can sneak up behind you, which is why the game rules say that you can only hide if you have cover. If you are only looking in front of you, then it's possible for someone to sneak up behind you simply by being quiet; that's where DM discretion applies outside of combat - in determining whether the enemy is looking in your direction (and thus stealth is impossible), or looking away (in which case stealth is possible). If you spot one enemy, and you don't know that another enemy is nearby, you won't automatically see them [I]if[/I] they are hiding behind something. But they won't be able to surprise you, since you are paying attention to the possibility of enemies nearby; and they won't be able to sneak up behind you, since you will see them coming as soon as they leave cover. [/QUOTE]

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