D&D 5E Stealth Sequences

[AverageCitizen]

How do you handle sneaking around in 5e? (Not in combat. Oh, geez, we don't need to talk about that again.) Skill checks, on a map, or something else?

 

[Shiroiken]

I let the player "stealth" however they want. Once they're in a situation to be noticed, then I have them make the roll. It keeps players from meta-gaming their roll (low rolls mean more caution) until it's too late. Otherwise I treat it like normal exploration.

 

[Iosue]

Player says, "I'm going to hide here, and move forward stealthily." I have them roll. Then I use that result for contests until they clearly come out of hiding or hide anew.

 

[Cyan Wisp]

Player says, "I'm going to hide here, and move forward stealthily." I have them roll. Then I use that result for contests until they clearly come out of hiding or hide anew.

Ditto. I kind of like it when PCs act sneaky and do things like spy, gather intelligence and make secret plans. I also like to play characters who do that (i.e. rangers, rogues, wizards).

Was there a particular scenario you had in mind? Or just general play?

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

How do you handle sneaking around in 5e? (Not in combat. Oh, geez, we don't need to talk about that again.) Skill checks, on a map, or something else?

Notionally, I have them roll contests of Stealth vs. passive Perception (or sometimes active Perception), once when they enter the enemy's sensory range and then once again every time they halve the distance to the enemy (max once/round to avoid Xeno's paradox-type issues). In practice I don't strictly measure distance, and in fact I often don't even bother having the players roll because +19 to Stealth simply isn't going to lose to e.g. a Perception score of 13 even if the Stealth roll is a natural 1. But the idea of multiple rolls as you get closer to the target is still my basic rule, and gives me a way to determine how close you can sneak to a target before he detects you.

 

[nomotog]

I go by actions. If the player wants to do something sneaky like. They make a roll and I compare it to anyone who has a reasonable chance to notice them. (Then maybe the guards get an action of their own. Time is played kind of loose.) If I want to get fancy (and I almost always want to) I have a vision cone rule that gives people a + to their passive perception when they pay attention to one thing (- to noticing anything else.) I also try to mix things up with different guards with things like dark vision, sent and other things.

 

[Hriston]

There are two preconditions I use for "trying to hide" while travelling. First, if the characters are travelling at a slow pace, I assume they are attempting to be stealthy. Why else would they choose a slow pace? Second, there must be some form of cover in the environment, objects large enough to get behind, spaced close enough together that the characters can't be considered "out in the open". I determine before-hand if the environment meets this requirement. Then, if both of these have been met, and an encounter is imminent, I have the players roll stealth checks. If their rolls exceed the perception scores of the creatures they are encountering, then they are successfully hidden and may surprise or sneak past the encountered creatures.

 

[Aribar]

If my players are trying to stealth through an area where people aren't actively searching for them, such as sneaking through a house or through a castle courtyard at night when the guards aren't alert, I'd have them describe what they are doing. If it obviously won't get them noticed, they get by. If there's a risk, I have them roll versus passive perception and tell them if their character thinks he or she has been spotted. If it's a situation like the guards are actively looking for the players, then they roll versus their a normal perception check. Also unless the situation drastically changes, I just have them roll once for these checks; rolling multiple times at different "checkpoints" just slows the game down and seems unfair to the players.