Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 8692821" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Actually, it does. They're in the Activity While Traveling section on pages 182 and 183 of the PHB. Basically, if you're "on the lookout", then your passive Perception score is used to determine if you notice a hidden threat and avoid being surprised. If your attention is otherwise occupied and not focused on watching for danger, then stealthy creatures will surprise you automatically.Actually, individual members of the party can be surprised even if the other members aren't.That's pretty much how it works, especially with groups of bad guys. It's not easy to get surprise.I agree. It's similar to the person-hiding-behind-a-five-foot-wide-box-in-the-middle-of-the-room problem. Where I come down on this is if observers see the person go behind the box, and the person stays behind the box once out of sight, then the person cannot be hidden because such circumstances are inappropriate for hiding. However, if the person is already behind the box when observers arrive on the scene, I would allow an attempt at hiding because the observers don't know the person is there. I think the mimic resembles the latter rather than the former.</blockquote>