Got ya. Didn’t realize that.
That’s just it, I don’t think it is in 2024.
The way the guard example is supposed to work. You take the hide action and succeed. As you try to sneak past him the passive perception is checked vs the result of your hide (stealth) check. If the guard is actively looking he makes a perception check per the search skill against the stealth check you rolled by hiding as the dc. If the guard succeeds in either case he sees you.
‘I was hiding from my wife as I approached her while she was distracted’. Perfectly fine grammatically and semantically
Are you suggesting this is how it works or is this a fix to the rules?
The last example is based on my fix to the rule, that movement while hidden breaks the invisible condition at the end of your turn. But it's also my logical reading of the action. I'm giving the benefit of having successfully hid until the end of your turn when you move for ease of play and abstraction of a chaotic scene, so that every time someone hides in combat, we don't need to track facing, where people are, etc. Once hidden, you can come out of cover and move up to someone on your turn while still having the invisible condition. Maybe you wated for the perfect moment for them to turn their head, maybe you climbed up on the wall and dropped on their head, players can describe it however they want, but the mechanical effect is the same. Once you've moved though, you loose the inviible condition at the end of your turn.
DMs can absolutely ask for an ability check anytime they want in 2024. It's in the first page of how to play the game. The specific list of actions that PCs can take are just that, specific rules that override the general and give players options to 'ask' for a roll when they want one, as opposed to waiting for the DM to ask for it. Again, if my players aren't in combat and want to sneak past guards, I'll ask for a Dex (Stealth) check against a DC that I set to succeed at the task (assuming the outcome is uncertain). Furthermore, if a Paladin wearing full plate armor succeeds at Hiding, and then wants to move 20 feet to take a swipe at a monster, I might ask for a Dex (Stealth) check to see if she can do so without making a noise above a whisper (DC20, likely), but I might instead just give the passive check of the monster advantage (+5) due to the circumstance and use the original Hide check (probably a case by case basis). If instead she shoots from behind cover, I wouldn't ask for the check.
So if you move you need to spend an action and reroll?
So..
no hiding and dashing.
And walking further is more likely to be found.
And if your hidden behind a tree, waiting in ambush you can still run out and stab someone with advantage.
I'll have to think about it some more, but that might work.
Well, you could hide, then take the dash action on your turn (or the next one) to get down the hallway without an opportunity attack even if you walk right by a guard, but then be visible after. The advantage then being that they might have to dash to catch up with you, and so couldn't get a melee attack. They could shoot you after moving, but then if you dash again you might be able to slip away. I really think a lot get's fixed if you change the rule to have the invisible condition go away at the end of a turn in which you move (assuming you didn't hide again during that turn, which would reset it).