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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7036347" data-attributes="member: 7006">At the end of the day, all of the Hiding and Stealth rules that game has in place and that everyone on the boards here argues about devolves to a simple equation:Skill check vs passive skill produces Advantage on the attack.That's it.  Regardless of all the description of who is doing what where and what is blocking or not blocking or sound or visions so on and so forth... the actual mechanics is that one creature makes a skill check, and if it is higher than the passive skill check number of another creature, the first creature can attack him with Advantage.That's all we're talking about here.  Getting to make an attack with Advantage.  Something that pretty much every single character and monster has multiple ways to do so anyways.So a DM could basically use ANY skill  for the check and ANY skill for the passive number and then with a die roll determine whether the attack is with Advantage or not.  And that comes down entirely to the in-story situation and which two skills make the most "sense" narratively.  Whether it's...Stealth vs passive Perception when a creature fires on the other while hidden in the bushes...Deception vs passive Insight when a person is disguised as a friend and stabs him in the back...Athletics vs passive Acrobatics when a creature jumps down on someone with a "Death From Above" attack...So on and so on and so on.When I really think about it... I grant Advantage so many times for so many things without a second thought that I find it almost incomprehensible that for some stupid reason Stealth is the one thing that generates thread after thread after thread of discussion and argument.  All over figuring out whether to give a guy Advantage on an attack!  That's it!  Something that happens all the time anyway, we keep arguing and arguing and arguing all of the ridiculous reasons why we shouldn't give it in this one case-- when it involves Stealth.  It's really kind of silly the amount of time we've spent worrying about it when you think about how completely generic the result is.If you are a DM just ask yourself... "Is what is happening in the fiction of the story advantageous for the creature attacking?"  If the answer is 'Yes'... in whatever form the fiction is narratively illustrating it... then give the guy Advantage on the attack.  And stop worrying about parsing the incomprehensible rules on Hiding.  It's not worth your time.  Not when it just grants an extra die roll that you'd probably give the guy for a creative solution or action anyway.  --And on a similar note, it's the same reason why I find all the arguments about whether the Assassin Rogue should get to use their Assassination ability and worrying about rolling initiative and who acts first and can you attack out of combat to gain surprise before initiative, etc. etc. etc... all to figure out whether the Rogue can make a Critical Hit.  An event that occurs every 20th swing of the Rogue's blade anyway.  Giving the Rogue an extra critical hit really isn't worth the amount of time we've all spent arguing about whether it should actually happen.</blockquote>

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