Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 7221801" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya!Ahh....got it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The thing is, I don't have a 'set list' of absolutes (or even nigh-absolutes). I think what this is going to boil down to is "group experience"...as in the group of people sitting around the table are all experienced in RP'ing with each other, the campaign setting, and me, Mr.Dres...er..the DM.My group (which is, unfortunately, down to a mere *2* players!; hasn't been this low in decades...literally [RL stuff all kinda punched everyone in the donkey snacks]), has/had been playing together for at least 15 years, upwards of 30+ for a couple. So when an "appropriate circumstance" shows up, everyone kinda just knows that, yeah, you can try and hide.For example:DM: It's a thick, foggy morning, cold and damp. A few glowing spots of yellow-orange can be seen bobbing around down the streets you know are there. Horses clip-clop down the cobblestone, slowly, and the coach driver calls out ever few seconds to clear the way. Hide: Yes. There is visibility issues, points of light to distract onlookers, noises they hear but can't tell what made them due to the people milling about with candle-lanterns and torches. Hide with Advantage.DM: It's a thick foggy morning, cold and damp. The streets are eerily silent as people wisely decided to wait for the fog to lift. Soft, warm yellow-orange glowing balls of light from the fancy gas light-posts that line the cobblestone street. Hide: Yes. There are visibility issues, but it is almost dead silent. Hide with Advantage, but any movement will need another check at Disadvantage to remain HiddenDM: It's a normal morning. A bit cool, with dew clinging to the shadows and metalic objects like the unlit gas light-posts. A few early risers are milling about, greeting each other and starting the days business. A two-horse cart noisily makes its way down the cobblestone street. Traders and shopkeepers slowly set up their stands or open their shutters. Hide: Yes, but the person hiding is at Disadvantage.So, for the first two...we have "obscured vision" from the fog as well as the "obscured hearing"; I'd treat "detecting" a person trying to hide here as primarily using their hearing rather than vision. This is why the first example is easy; vision and hearing, with distracting highlights to which the persons trying to detect would have their attention (vision and hearing) drawn. The second example, the vision is the same as the first, but it's really quiet. In this case the fog may actually work a bit against the Hider - if nothing is 'moving', people tend to not notice and so their vision will sort of 'shift into secondary mode', and their hearing will start to take focus. In the last example, vision isn't obscured much, but the amount of busy-body's in the area, all moving around, and the noises, and probably smells and even tastes are all sort of "evening out". The person trying to Hide may have to quickly duck behind an apple cart to stay out of the line of site from the person trying to find him...but the apple vendor is likely to stop placing apples, turn his head and look down at this weirdo who just hunkered down next to his cart...and he'll probably ask/talk to the would be Hider ("Uh, excuse me sir? Can I help you?"...SSssshhh! I'm trying to hide!...).So, I can't say "light obscurement" as a simple "if you have it, you can hide". My game doesn't work that way. Everything in the situation is looked at, and I then simply decide if "appropriate circumstances" are viable.In a MUCH shorter way of saying it: I use the examples in the book (obscurement, cover, etc), but only as a bare-bones starting, and frequently ignore them if circumstances dictate.^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

Verification