Stealth using total concealment....easier than I thought.

[Stalker0]

I just found a clause on pg. 61 of the DMG. It says that looking through lightly obscured squares (which includes smoke, darkness, etc) you have a -5 to perception rolls. I haven't found this anywhere in the PHB, so I was surprised to find it.

That means a rogue hiding in the shadows has a defacto +5 stealth bonus!! That's....a really big bonus. I guess it pays to hide in the shadows.

 

[the_redbeard]

I just found a clause on pg. 61 of the DMG. It says that looking through lightly obscured squares (which includes smoke, darkness, etc) you have a -5 to perception rolls. I haven't found this anywhere in the PHB, so I was surprised to find it.

That means a rogue hiding in the shadows has a defacto +5 stealth bonus!! That's....a really big bonus. I guess it pays to hide in the shadows.

No amount of lightly obscured squares would amount to the total concealment required to start stealth.

Player's Handbook, 281:
Concealment (–2 Penalty to Attack Rolls): The
target is in a lightly obscured square or in a heavily
obscured square but adjacent to you.
✦ Total Concealment (–5 Penalty to Attack Rolls):
You can’t see the target. The target is invisible, in
a totally obscured square, or in a heavily obscured
square and not adjacent to you.

The new stealth rules from Compendium:
Becoming Hidden: You can make a Stealth check against an enemy only if you have superior cover or total concealment against the enemy or if you’re outside the enemy’s line of sight.

It is true that if you are already hidden, obscured squares make it easy to stay hidden.

 

[Stalker0]

No amount of lightly obscured squares would amount to the total concealment required to start stealth.

It is true that if you are already hidden, obscured squares make it easy to stay hidden.

By the DMG, if you have 5 lightly obscured squares between you and the viewer, you are considered to be in total concealment.

Further, it says the even light concealment gives people a penalty of -5 to their perception rolls.

 

[Syrsuro]

'Shadows' work against creatures that have neither darkvision nor low-light vision.

If they have darkvision, no amount of darkness provides any concealment.

If they have low-light vision, dim lighting (which is going to be present just about any time any character has any form of lighting present) is bright enough to prevent the darkness providing concealment.

So 'shadows' only works in the rare case that the party is fighting something in the darkness/ underground which does not have darkvision or at least low-light vision.

And that isn't very often - many many critters have low-light or darkvision.

But creatures with darkvision will often be able to use it against the party. All it takes is a large underground chamber (15-20 squares) and an opponent with darkvision. They can stand at the far side of the chamber in the darkness (putting at least 5 squares of dim light between them and the extent of the torch radius) and shoot at the party with impunity (they have total concealment -at least from those with normal vision, and the party has none) - at least until the lightbearer decides to run into the room or otherwise gets some light on them.

A more likely use (for the PCs) of the '5 squares of lightly obscured = superior concealment' rule is in a forest where the foliage can count as lightly obscured. That can go both ways depending on who stands where.

Carl