D&D 5E Invisible+Gaseous Form+Stealth---How would you run it?

ezo

Hero
Note: 2014 rules! (I mean no 2024 material, not that 2014 is "awesome." :) )

Scenario: A Rogue (Arcane Trickster) casts invisibility on himself and then drinks a potion of gaseous form.

Both effects last 1 hour. Invisibility requires his concentration, the potion does not.
Since the potion grants the effects of the gaseous form spell, but he is not actually casting it, both work.
His speed is 10 feet (fly only) due to the potion.
He has resistance to nonmagical damage due to the potion.
He has advantage on Concentration checks (i.e. CON saves) due to the potion.
He is heavily obscured and can Hide due to the invisibility

Question 1: Can he use his Bonus action to Dash via Cunning Action?

Question 2: Does he gain any benefit while attempting to Hide?

Question 3: Would he have to spent each round taking the Hide action if others Search for him?

Question 4: How fast can he move while trying to maintain stealth?

Hmm... I guess that's it for now. I know what I would do but I am curious how other DMs would run this.
 

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Note: 2014 rules! (I mean no 2024 material, not that 2014 is "awesome." :) )

Scenario: A Rogue (Arcane Trickster) casts invisibility on himself and then drinks a potion of gaseous form.

Both effects last 1 hour. Invisibility requires his concentration, the potion does not.
Since the potion grants the effects of the gaseous form spell, but he is not actually casting it, both work.
His speed is 10 feet (fly only) due to the potion.
He has resistance to nonmagical damage due to the potion.
He has advantage on Concentration checks (i.e. CON saves) due to the potion.
He is heavily obscured and can Hide due to the invisibility

Question 1: Can he use his Bonus action to Dash via Cunning Action?

Question 2: Does he gain any benefit while attempting to Hide?

Question 3: Would he have to spent each round taking the Hide action if others Search for him?

Question 4: How fast can he move while trying to maintain stealth?

Hmm... I guess that's it for now. I know what I would do but I am curious how other DMs would run this.
1) Yes, he'll move 10 ft (flying) though. Dashing though, would probably break Stealth though I can't find any specifics about this.

2) Because of the invisibility, he can't be detected by sight. A mist is water vapor in the air, so he might possibly make a faint sound (like a faint "hissing steam" or "wind" sound that facilitates the rolling fog effect) or could be felt as water vapor if passing through or adjacent to someone's space.

3) Yes, as he could be detected from residue water vapor or possibly other interactions with surrounding objects. The big question is, are those searching for him aware he's become mist or know what they are searching for? An "invisible, humid breeze" might not be something someone associates with being a danger or a transformed entity.

4) He has to move at a "slow pace" as per the Movement Rules in the PHB; the Travel Pace table assumes a 30 ft. base movement rate @ 200 ft. / minute which equates to about 20 ft. per round (2/3 movement). So I assume that means 6 ft. (5 ft. rounded to nearest square) a round.
 

Note: 2014 rules! (I mean no 2024 material, not that 2014 is "awesome." :) )

Scenario: A Rogue (Arcane Trickster) casts invisibility on himself and then drinks a potion of gaseous form.

Both effects last 1 hour. Invisibility requires his concentration, the potion does not.
Since the potion grants the effects of the gaseous form spell, but he is not actually casting it, both work.
His speed is 10 feet (fly only) due to the potion.
He has resistance to nonmagical damage due to the potion.
He has advantage on Concentration checks (i.e. CON saves) due to the potion.
He is heavily obscured and can Hide due to the invisibility

Question 1: Can he use his Bonus action to Dash via Cunning Action?
Yes. The character's speed is 10, all the other rules apply.
Question 2: Does he gain any benefit while attempting to Hide?
No because the best you can do with Hide is gain the Invisible condition.
Question 3: Would he have to spent each round taking the Hide action if others Search for him?
No, he is already invisible. see previous answer.
Question 4: How fast can he move while trying to maintain stealth?
His speed is 10.
Hmm... I guess that's it for now. I know what I would do but I am curious how other DMs would run this.
 


Question 1: Can he use his Bonus action to Dash via Cunning Action?

Sure. Fly speed of 10 feet, so pretty slow regardless.

Question 2: Does he gain any benefit while attempting to Hide?

Stealth rules being the ambiguous mess they are, this is somewhat up to DM judgement, but I wouldn't give any extra advantage that being invisible and being a cloud don't already confer. I could probably be talked into Advantage if the player wants to advocate for it, but I don't think there's anything that would grant that by RAW. The gaseous form spell doesn't make one any stealthier than normal (which seems a little odd, but maybe the spell itself is a little noisy while in effect).

Question 3: Would he have to spent each round taking the Hide action if others Search for him?

Ambiguous Stealth Rules caveat again, but I'd typically say that once you take the Hide action, you don't need to take it again to remain hidden. 2014 text states "Until you are discovered or you stop hiding...", so I don't think you need to repeat the check. You can take it again if you want to try to roll higher, but as long as you aren't discovered and you don't stop hiding, you can let that one Stealth check ride indefinitely.

Question 4: How fast can he move while trying to maintain stealth?

Ambiguous Stealth Rules caveat. Usually, you can move without hinderance as long as you don't come out of hiding, so I'd say that applies here. As long as "the conditions are appropriate for hiding" (DM's call), you can stay hidden. Floating 20 ft. as an invisible cloud doesn't seem like coming out of hiding to me, so I'd let 'em move around without having to repeat the check (for as long as the invisibility lasts, anyway).
 

Off the cuff here.

1. Sure, go for it.
2. I would just not even ask for stealth checks if his pursuers aren't looking specifically for an invisible cloud. If they are, then no.
3. Yes, if they are looking for an invisible cloud of gas, otherwise no.
4. Full speed 10'.
 

For me it'd be a simple "What's the story?"

The story of this situation... the reason why this rogue has taken a potion of gaseous form and gone invisible and what they are hoping to accomplish now that they are both... would be my flags to follow on what is going on and how I might rule anything (if indeed ruling anything is actually necessary.)

If the rogue is doing this to scout... then they scout. I won't bother with checks, I won't bother worrying about "finding" the PC, I won't take any sort of antagonistic position to the character as it does what it does. There's no reason to. The character scouts. Fine. No big deal. They see what is ahead of them. Why would I feel the need to try and stop them from getting that information? Especially when they've spent two separate resources in order to do so? Just let them do it and not even concern myself in trying to determine or figure out the "proper rules" for this scenario.

And if it's for some other reason besides scouting... the answer is probably still pretty much the same. Why try and throw up unnecessary roadblocks to this player trying to accomplish something? There are so many other roadblocks PCs run into every single game that worrying about how to best "rule" this one specific incident is a waste of my time.

This is another place where 'Rulings, Not Rules' makes things so much easier-- because the Ruling can simply be "Don't worry about the rules at all."
 


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