Does movement whilst hidden provoke opportunity attacks?

Question

Playing a rogue in my first two D&D Sessions ever thanks to online tabletop (a god send, really!)

However, I've come to learn that it's not an easy task (however, my healer has kept me from death not once, not twice, but three times!) and I have successfully made it to level 2.

Though I have this question:

In the PHB Book (page 183 under 'Gain Combat Advantage') the rogue can take a standard action to make a feint or create a diversion to hide (next listing under).

If the diversion is successful and my character enters stealth, while he was within threaten range of an enemy, and uses a move action does he provoke an Opportunity attack to move away from the enemy?

On the other hand, it seems that if I were to start an encounter in stealth and move past an enemy, so long as I passed my stealth check, he could not gain an Opportunity attack...

Are these scenarios related? What's your take?

Thanks! PHB Citations are very welcome as I learn about this.

Answer 1

First: consult The Rules of Hidden Club for a complete and comprehensive explanation of how stealth & hiding works in 4th Edition. You cannot simply become hidden from an enemy just by creating a diversion to hide.

If the diversion is successful and my character enters stealth, while he was within threaten range of an enemy, and uses a move action does he provoke an Opportunity attack to move away from the enemy?

Hidden creatures never provoke opportunity attacks. From the DDI Compendium (a database of D&D 4e's rules):

Hidden

When a creature is hidden from an enemy, the creature is silent and invisible to that enemy. A creature normally uses the Stealth skill to become hidden. See also invisible.

Invisible

If a creature is invisible, it has several advantages against creatures that can’t see it: It has total concealment against them, it doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks from them, and they grant combat advantage to it.

However, if you simply enter stealth, that's not enough to be hidden. To be hidden, you'll need to stay out of sight - see the First Rule of Hidden Club. That means maintaining Concealment: hiding behind something, or being magically invisible. Your rogue won't just be magically hidden if he tries strolling past someone, any more than you would be.

The Stealth rules have been updated several times since the original Player's Handbook to be more clear and comprehensive. The PHB2 updates them, and the Rules Compendium is probably the most up-to-date book on the matter.

If you want the most recent Stealth Rules, at the time of this writing, they're on page 20 of the Player's Handbook errata, which you can read for free online.