110
The roll represents an attempt to do something; the result of that roll, the result of that attempt. (See PHB p.6, "How to Play.")
As such, you can't choose not to attempt to open the door: you've already made the attempt.
I don't know how to say this without sounding snarky, but I do mean it in a helpful manner: there are plenty of roleplaying games where ...
96
Your DM is wrong
PHB p.177:
Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check’s total is
contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature
that actively searches for signs of your presence.
Hiding (as a verb) means "To keep oneself out of sight or notice" - it is not inherent in this definition that you cannot move or take any other ...
78
I'm just going to rip the band-aid off: Find a new GM.
This is weird, off-putting, more than a little creepy ("What's your fixation with stealing our clothes, dude?"), borderline abusive, and probably more descriptors in that vein.
A lot of the ways players and GMs can get crosswise with each other involve mis-calibrating or misunderstanding what the ...
77
Don't allow Stealth checks until there is a chance of failure
This is the solution that is mentioned in your post-script.
If a player is just trying to stealth in an empty field with no enemies nearby, then they just automatically succeed, because they are hiding from nothing.
If a player is attempting to "conceal themselves from enemies, slink past ...
75
You have a few options.
Don't change your stealth missions at all.
Instead provide a scenario in which the Druid is the only one that can do something with any reasonable chance of success, while at the same time the scouting has be done. In this case the Druid gets to shine and the Rogue does their sneaky bit, which can be resolved at the same time. This ...
72
The only rule for this that I'm aware of is the one you're already using: you can make a listen check at a -10 penalty and you wake up if you succeed.
My group, and most other groups, interpret this rule to mean that you make this listen check to wake up in response to noise. If something jostles you, you still automatically wake up regardless of what you ...
64
No, and the DM can help weave this into the narrative by saying something like this:
A: "I stealthily open the door."
DM: "Okay, you stealthily open the door. There's an orc in there. Roll Stealth to see if you're stealthy enough that he doesn't notice you."
This is a good policy in general: you don't roll to "enter stealth mode", you roll when you'...
58
You're missing the most important part of the Hiding rules.
The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding.
The players can propose hiding in a particular way but the DM has discretion to say whether it will work.
So here's how to adjudicate this. If you have someone else helping you hide by standing some distance away and telling you if ...
57
Depending on the context of the encounter, the following quote from the PHB, page 189, might be relevant:
Surprise
If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends.
So if the Rogue's sneaky stabby is the start of the combat and the Wizard wasn't expecting him, he isn'...
52
Two options, but first, something to understand...
Acquiring Stealth in combat means your opponent lost track of where you are right now, it does not mean that your previous location was erased from their mind. Nor does Stealth make you invisible.
Physically Go Looking For Them
Remember that Stealth stops working if it makes sense that it stopped working. If ...
48
You've already stated the key point:
1 reaction, which you take when you are hit by an attack or targeted by the magic missile spell.
So what you need to understand here is that the Shield spell involves time travel. No, really, it does. You can cast Shield when you're hit by an attack. Not when you're targeted, or when someone tries to attack you, but ...
48
Best to go back to the source on this; italics are my emphasis.
PHB p.177
Stealth. Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you
attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past
guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on
someone without being seen or heard.
PHB p.177
Hiding
When you try to hide, make a Dexterity (Stealth) ...
48
Create scenarios that require resource management
Your players are right that a wild-shaped druid is a lot better at infiltration than a rogue. However, don't forget that a druid at your party's level only gets 2 wild shapes per long/short rest. A druid using a wild shape to do infiltration does not have that wild shape for any other future purpose, like ...
46
Talk to your GM. Directly and clearly.
Tell him that over the last five game sessions you've only been able to use Stealth, your character defining ability, once.
The Wizard has gotten to cast more than one spell that worked completely.
The Fighter has gotten to stab more than one foe to death.
But your sneaky character has only gotten to actually sneak ...
45
Tremorsense doesn't negate Pass without Trace
Pass without Trace can help in stealth checks against the perception of a creature with Tremorsense.
Is stealth useful against Tremorsense?
The rules of Tremorsense only serve to state that a creature with that ability perceives the world through ground vibrations. What it doesn't do is give it a supernatural ...
45
"Unfair" is the wrong way to look at it. The right way to look at it is that the players and the DM want to play different games, and you need to stop,and talk, and come to an agreement on what kind of a game you're going to play.
Specifically, the DM wants to play a game where he gets to dump on the PCs at whim with no real justification, taking their ...
43
Yes
The beneficiary of a nondetection spell:
Can’t be targeted by any divination magic, and
Can't be perceived through magical scrying sensors.
There are only two spells in the PHB that create magical scrying sensors: clairvoyance and scrying. These are obviously covered by Item 2.
It's reasonable to assume that the remaining 28 spells from the ...
43
No, this doesn't work in melee.
At least not the important second half.
Yes, they can duck behind the corner and hide. All they need to do to be allowed to hide is break line of sight.
No, they can't just pop back out and sneak attack. To sneak attack, they need advantage, and to get that from being unseen they have to still be unseen when they attack (PHB,...
43
You most likely have forgotten to apply modifiers to sneaking and hiding. Consider your example of Wood Elves in trees. The Elves should have proficiency bonus to stealth, and a bonus from dexterity as well, giving them roughly +6 to their stealth rolls.
Furthermore, they are hiding in trees, and hence are protected by foliage which either blocks sight ...
39
Yes, Nondetection does block the Trueseeing spell. This was addressed in Sage Advice. It does beat True Seeing:
The nondetection spell hides you from divination magic. True seeing is a divination spell.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) October 13, 2016
39
There are several options, some more devastating than others.
I'll list my three favorite ones here:
Chase the Rogue
As Guildsbounty mentioned, a hidden Rogue isn't invisible: it just means their enemies have lost track of where they are. But their enemies still know where they were. You can run behind the last object you saw the Rogue go behind. Unless ...
39
There is such a thing, but it's not because of cushioning. It's called Mithral armor.
Mithral is a light, flexible metal. A mithral chain shirt or breastplate can be worn under normal clothes. If the armor normally imposes disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks or has a Strength requirement, the mithral version of the armor doesn't.
It can be found ...
39
This will probably work
The Zone of Truth spell's text is fairly unambiguous on the knowledge gained by the caster (PHB p. 289, bold added):
Until the spell ends, a creature that enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a Charisma saving throw. [...] You know whether each creature succeeds or fails on its ...
36
RAW the Rogue does receive the benefits of Expertise to his passive.
A passive check is a special kind of ability check that
doesn’t involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent
the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as
searching for secret doors over and over again, or can
be used when the DM wants to secretly determine
...
answered Feb 13 '15 at 15:42
Joshua Aslan Smith
39.6k13 gold badges127 silver badges210 bronze badges
36
Consult the Chart of Behavioral Problem Resolution
As cheesy as it is it's a great tool†.
1. Talk to the GM about it.
Don't be confrontational or angry going into the conversation, you will likely say things that will make them get defensive and angry with you and make matters worse in that case. Instead, with a calm mindset and clear understanding of what ...
35
No, you can't use spells that target creatures on vehicles. A vehicle is not a creature.
33
There is no Hidden Club in 5e
Hidden Club was invented to explain the tightly-interlocking mechanics that determined whether a D&D 4e character had the Hidden status. The very first premise of 4e's Rules of Hidden Club is the all-caps and repeated statement that everyone always knows where everyone else is. It's repeated and text-shouted because it's ...
33
Ok, crazy thing about the difference between hidden and invisible...there isn't much of one.
The big difference between the two is the ability to be attacked directly. If you are hidden, your enemy doesn't know your location, and thus cannot target you directly. They have to guess (DM should use some kind of randomization here), and may or may not actually ...
33
PHB, page 175:
Passive Checks
...
Here's how to determine a character's total for a passive check:
10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the check.
If the character has advantage on the check, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5.
Since dim light gives you disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks, a character without darkvision would subtract 5 from ...
32
What mechanics and strategies am I missing that make stealth work?
This one (PHB p.175):
Group Checks
When a number of individuals are trying to accomplish
something as a group, the DM might ask for a group
ability check. In such a situation, the characters who are
skilled at a particular task help cover those who aren't.
To make a group ...
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