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Author: Eamon Caddigan <eamon.caddigan@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2025 21:32:24 -0700
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+---
+title: "Hiding in D&D (2024)"
+date: 2025-04-02T21:23:44-07:00
+draft: false
+categories:
+- TTRPGs
+---
+
+{{< aside >}}
+
+This post is a major departure from what I usually write. I’m feeling inspired
+to branch out by the [April Cools’ Club](https://www.aprilcools.club) (which I
+learned about one day late), but I also want to be less precious about what I
+post here in general. I played D&D online with friends during the Covid
+lockdowns, and since moving I’ve picked up playing---and more recently
+DMing---at a game shop in my neighborhood.
+
+{{< /aside >}}
+
+The new version of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook changes the way
+that hiding is handled, and some dungeon masters (DMs) and players I’ve talked
+with expressed confusion at the rewritten rules. Here I discuss the rules as
+written (RAW), the way I think they were intended to be played, and suggest
+some variations to the rules that other DMs may want to try at their tables.
+I’ll quote and link to the [D&D Free Rules
+(2024)](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules), but nothing in the
+published books contradicts what I have here.
+
+First, let’s see what the rules actually say about hiding:
+
+> With the [Hide
+> action](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#HideAction),
+> you try to conceal yourself. To do so, you must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity
+> (Stealth) check while you’re Heavily Obscured or behind Three-Quarters Cover
+> or Total Cover, and you must be out of any enemy’s line of sight; if you can
+> see a creature, you can discern whether it can see you.
+>
+> On a successful check, you have the [Invisible
+> condition](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#InvisibleCondition).
+> Make note of your check’s total, which is the DC for a creature to find you
+> with a Wisdom (Perception) check.
+>
+> The condition ends on you immediately after any of the following occurs: you
+> make a sound louder than a whisper, an enemy finds you, you make an attack
+> roll, or you cast a spell with a Verbal component.
+
+This tells us:
+
+- Hiding is an action[^bonus]
+- A character must have cover and be out of sight to hide[^cover]
+- Success is determined by rolling against a fixed DC
+- Successfully hiding grants the Invisible _condition_, but doesn’t literally
+make a character invisible
+- The Invisible condition ends, immediately, if any of the following occurs:
+ - A character makes a sound “louder than a whisper” (which includes casting a
+ spell with a Verbal component)
+ - An enemy finds the character by making a Wisom (Perception) check against
+ the initial Dexterity (Stealth) check[^dc]; notably, only _one_ enemy needs
+ to find the character for the condition to stop affecting _all_ enemies
+ - The character makes an attack roll
+
+*Are you saying that you can hide, walk out into the open, and still be as good
+as invisible? Even with no cover? That makes no sense!*
+
+Well, whether or not it makese sense in our “fantasy world of monsters and
+magic” is subjective, but under RAW, the answer---I argue---is yes!
+
+The rules list things that would cause a player to lose the Invisible
+condition, and leaving cover is not listed there[^list]. I think this is
+intentional; I _believe_ that the intent is to allow characters to hide and subsequently benefit from their hidden state, for instance, by gaining
+[Advantage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#Advantage)
+on an attack---even when that means leaving cover.
+
+Judging by the number of discussions I’ve gotten into about this rule, this is
+not clear, and I agree that there are points of ambiguity. For instance, does a
+monster need to use the [Search
+action](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#SearchAction)
+on its turn to find a hidden player, or can they make the Perception check
+whenever they choose to? Can an enterprising thief “hide” first thing in the
+morning, and invisibly walk into a treasure vault later in the day?
+
+Since the rule is currently unclear[^unclear], I think some degree of
+home-ruling will be required to play the game. Here are options I’ve considered
+myself or heard in conversation:
+
+## Invisibility ends when a character leaves cover
+
+I think this is the worst choice, but it’s the one I hear the most.
+
+If this was the intent of the rule, it would have been easy to include this
+condition in the wording for the Hide action. Again, I believe the rule was
+written the way it was so that (e.g.) a rogue could duck behind cover, hide,
+and then jump out and stab a monster. This is the sort of thing that people who
+like playing rogues like doing in the game, and I hope not too many DMs take
+players’ fun away by nerfing the Hide action.
+
+## Finding is a “free action”
+
+The text for the Hide action specifies the DC for finding a hidden character,
+but not that it requires one of the limited actions that can be performed during
+a turn. Finding can be a “free action” that enemies take at the beginning of
+their turn to spot a hidden player character.
+
+This feels like a departure from the rules, and it might slow down combat. That
+being said, there are already places in D&D where there’s a grey area around
+whether _doing something_ requires an action or not. For example (with emphasis
+added):
+
+> ...The DM **might** require you to take the Utilize action to open a stuck
+> door or turn a crank to lower a drawbridge.
+
+This doesn’t seem as bad as nerfing the Hide action by requiring constant cover,
+but I don’t think I’ll run games this way; nobody likes it when the DM rolls the
+dice too much.
+
+## Contest out-of-cover invisibility using passive perception
+
+Players’ characters and their enemies have Passive Perception scores, which
+“[reflect] a creature’s general awareness of its surroundings”. When a hidden
+player leaves cover, it seems reasonable that their more perceptive enemies
+would be most likely to spot them automatically---this could be handled testing
+the Dexterity (Stealth) roll against opponents’ Passive Perception scores.
+
+I like this better than the two previous options. It still feels like an
+explicit departure from RAW, which require enemies to roll checks to find
+players’ characters.
+
+## Invisibility has a time limit
+
+DMs could also give the invisibility conferred by a successful Hide action a
+time limit, ending (for example) at the end of the hidden character’s next turn
+(assuming that it wasn’t already ended by one of the conditions explicitly
+listed). This approach would let characters attack from hiding, but not stand
+out in the open for multiple rounds.
+
+This feels like a reasonable compromise---it lets players do what they actually
+want, and prevents shenanigans that certainly stretch the intent behind the
+rules.
+
+For example, in a game following a literal interpretation of the rule and
+eschewing the workarounds I dismissed above, a player could argue that their
+character’s animal companion, after successfully hiding in the first round of
+combat, would be able to maintain its Invisible condition while performing the
+[Help
+Action](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/rules-glossary#HelpAction)
+on every subsequent round, or until one of the enemies spends at least one
+action finding it. I haven’t seen anybody try this strategy, but it could get
+annoying.
+
+## Use RAW in combat, handle hiding outside of combat separately
+
+Overall, I think it’s fine to follow a fairly literal interpretation of the
+hiding rules for combat encounters, and that’s what I intend to do when I
+DM[^fornow].
+
+Sure, a player could take their character out of combat for a few rounds to
+prolong their invisibility, but characters built to hide well also tend to be
+“strikers” who deal a lot of damage per round. A rogue who stays invisible for
+multiple rounds to get positioned for the perfect attack is giving the DM’s
+monsters more time to beat up on everyone else. Seems like a fair trade.
+
+Outside of combat, I’d avoid the “invisible all day” loophole by treating each
+new “scene” as a new opportunity to hide. As a character scouts a dungeon, ask
+the player to roll a new Stealth check any any time they become aware of a new
+enemy. If they (improbably) pass multiple checks, it will happen against a
+background of mounting tension and rising stakes, and should provide a lot of
+fun for the table.
+
+## Just be consistent
+
+Whatever approach a DM takes, the most important thing is to apply the rule
+consistently to all characters and enemies alike. Everyone wants to have fun,
+and that’s facilitated by keeping the surprises confined to the story and rolls
+of the dice.
+
+[^bonus]: Although some characters and monsters have abilities that let them
+ hide as a “bonus action”---most famously, the Rogue class gains this ability
+at Level 2.
+
+[^cover]: There are also abilities that change this.
+
+[^dc]: Since the enemy is making a D20 test, they only must meet or exceed the
+ stealth roll to find the character.
+
+[^list]: It’s reasonable to treat this list as exhaustive. For example, the
+ [Invisibility](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2619116-invisibility) spell
+has conditions that end the condition that are similar to those listed under
+the Hide action, but the more powerful [Greater
+Invisibility](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules/spell-descriptions#GreaterInvisibility)
+spell doesn’t.
+
+[^unclear]: I was taught in grad school that you can’t really argue with
+ somebody who tells you (in good faith) that something is unclear to them.
+
+[^fornow]: For now, anyway. I might change my mind after playing or running
+ enough games.
