Just to clarify, disadvantage on a passive Perception in 5e is resolved by a -5 to the passive Perception score.Disadvantage on passive Perception seems like the way to go here. If the creature has blindsight (as with a dragon) or perhaps a relevant Keen Sense trait, then give them advantage which offsets disadvantage.
Just to clarify, disadvantage on a passive Perception in 5e is resolved by a -5 to the passive Perception score.
So do coyotes, even while you're chewing your arm off.Dragons are an exception. Sometimes they wake up for no reason at all.
Like this! Use your handy DC chart (5 is very easy, 10 is easy...) and PCs roll against that. PCs get disadvantage if they're walking across treasure, or close to the dragon, or what-have-you.The number is awfully big for 5e (5e would usually just say you can't do something rather than give it that sort of penalty), and I prefer not to break with 5e standards when possible. That means it should probably be handled in terms of absolute yes/possible yes/no, and Advantage/Disadvantage as modifiers within "possible yes" category.
So how would you handle sleeping creatures noticing stealthy characters, taking into account 5e standard operations and the specific details about waking in in XGtE?
The -5 on a passive score for disadvantage is the rule for 5e. PHB, pg 175.This is enough talk about -5s and -10s. Fifth edition people, not third:
As a true in real life take on sleeping and passive perception, when you become a parent you don't need a particularly loud sound to wake you up, just a sound your body hasn't gotten used to and learned to ignore.My alarm clock usually beats my passive perception. When it doesn't I sleep right through it!
Like a lot of stuff in the game, it's an abstraction, so unaware of surroundings might not mean exactly the same thing it does in real life. The phrase "for game purposes" can be considered to be appended to "unaware of its surroundings", as it can for most things. To me, it means (among other things) you don't notice any hidden threats.The test of the "Sleep" spell supports this interpretation, because it causes unconsciousness and it refers to those affected as "sleepers".
However, it is just not 100% true that a sleeping person is totally unaware of their surroundings, or how would alarm clocks work?
Maybe they're unaware of their visual surroundings but, since they are not Deafened, they can still hear?
Activity | Passive Perception |
Awake (conscious), not traveling at a fast pace, and keeping watch | Normal |
Elven trance (semi-conscious) / Traveling at a fast pace and keeping watch | Disadvantage |
Asleep or otherwise Unconscious / Other activities such as navigating, drawing a map, tracking, or foraging | n/a |
Huh. Well, since players don't declare passive checks, I'm not sure why WotC put that in the PHB. It should be in the DMG. Also not sure why there's a "passive" check rule at all in a streamlined game. But that's me, and I'm not in charge of an iconic RPG franchise.The -5 on a passive score for disadvantage is the rule for 5e. PHB, pg 175. . .
Now if you'd rather roll for the dragon than use passive, that's fine too. Anything else isa houserulerule zero.
Also not sure why there's a "passive" check rule at all in a streamlined game.