Opposed checks - group versus individual

[kenjib]

How do most people handle group versus individual checks for opposed rolls? Here is how it seems would be the expected method to me.

1st Situation: The party rogue is trying to hid from a group of ten orcs.

Method: The party rogue makes a hide check. The orcs make a collective spot check with the rogue's result as DC.

2nd Situation: An orc is trying to hide from a party of four.

Method: The orc makes a hide check. The party members each make a spot check with the orc's result as DC.

How many DM's take this kind of shortcut, combining all NPCs into a group check? Doesn't the DMG even suggest this? It presents a tremendous disadvantage to NPCs because they only get one chance to notice the rogue, whereas the party gets several chances to notice the orc and alert all party members to it's presence.

Okay, so let's assume that you avoid this pitfall and roll each of the orcs individually as well. This makes it rather hard to achieve an opposed check against multiple opponents. Is this dynamic a good thing or not? The sheer number of die rolls could be irritating though. If there were at least 20 opponents, should they just be assumed to collectively "take 20" in effect?

 

[Caliber]

It really depends. I think if you use the highest score from the group, and possibly give a bonus for every so many guys, you could achieve roughly the same probability as rolling a million times.

It should be hard to hide from a bunch of guys, I think. After all, why else would you get a search party (aside from covering more ground)?