The Stealth rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5E (2014) were some of the more developed skill rules in the system. Most skills had very little rules text. As hiding is somewhat important to D&D games – especially those with rangers and rogues – you sort of want them in the game.
My main problems with the 2014 rules were that they were scattered throughout the Player’s Handbook and not always clear. This was a known problem with the game. So, obviously, Jeremy Crawford and his team – after many years of experience with the system – was going to clean them up in the 2024 update!
And he did. And I’m finding them more unclear.
What is frustrating is that they got so, so close.
There are two major changes to the rules:
- When you hide, you must hide from every enemy at once. If one of them can see you, you can’t hide.
- There is a flat DC 15 to enter the “hidden” state – which they’ve confusingly named “invisible”, rather than checking against the passive Perception scores of all monsters.
While I don’t like these changes overly much, I can respect their intention of trying to streamline the game and make it easier to adjudicate. Hiding and Stealth are complicated. It’s worth looking at the Pathfinder 2 stealth rules. They’re probably the most comprehensive I’ve seen, and they do what you want, but the explanation is so complicated that many DMs are likely to give up.
But the 2024 update to the rules removes certain passages that cause significant problems with adjudication. And then creates the “Invisible” condition and completely mucks up the Invisibility spell at the same time, causing even more problems.
Let’s start with how you perform the Hide action:
With the Hide action, 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. Make note of your check’s total, which is the DC for a creature to find you with a Wisdom (Perception) check.
This first paragraph has a major problem with it. And it’s this: “you must be out of any enemy’s line of sight”. While that does make sense, it directly contradicts the requirement that you can be between Three-Quarters Cover. Because enemies can see targets behind Three-Quarters Cover. Line of sight is not blocked in those instances.
How would I fix this contradiction? Like this:
With the Hide action, 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 relative to all enemies; if you can see a creature, you can discern whether you can hide from it.
The second major problem comes from what breaks your hiding. Here’s what the text says:
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.
Everything there is clear except for “an enemy finds you”. What does that mean? Well, the previous paragraph explained that your check was the total needed for an enemy to find you with a Wisdom (Perception) check. So, obviously they need to spend an action making that check. This works, until you think about it.
Once “Invisible”, you can walk directly in the open towards a target and if they haven’t made that Perception check, they can’t see you.
Do they get free Perception checks? I have no idea. It’s not stated here – and it’s heavily implied that they don’t. Making a Perception check is an action. But in the 2024 DMG, there’s more implication that the DM can call for Perception checks whenever.
Sigh.
There is a paragraph in Chapter 1 of the Player’s Handbook that the DM decides when it’s appropriate to hide.
Adventurers and monsters often hide, whether to spy on one another, sneak past a guardian, or set an ambush. The Dungeon Master decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding.
This is one of those times when splitting the rules between Chapter 1 and the glossary really works against the clarity of the rules – because most of these rules were listed together in the 2014 rulebook and could be interpreted more clearly due to their proximity.
I’m thinking about how I’d like to phrase the rules to give the DM some agency, but also give players clarity about what’s going on. Expect more soon!
Your points on three quarters cover and vagueness about “an enemy finds you” make sense, but I am pretty sure when they say invisible condition they actually mean the invisible condition as described in the PHB:
Invisible [Condition]
While you have the Invisible condition, you experience the following effects.
Surprise. If you’re Invisible when you roll Initiative, you have Advantage on the roll.
Concealed. You aren’t affected by any effect that requires its target to be seen unless the effect’s creator can somehow see you. Any equipment you are wearing or carrying is also concealed.
Attacks Affected. Attack rolls against you have Disadvantage, and your attack rolls have Advantage. If a creature can somehow see you, you don’t gain this benefit against that creature.
I struggle greatly with the new (and old) stealth rules. Hiding is a key component to the Rogue class, and one of the ways they can guarantee getting a sneak attack in. They don’t get multiple attacks like Fighers and Monks, so they have to make their one attack count.
If my rogue hides behind a bush, rolling a 18 stealth check, but then is seen as soon as they pop out to make a shot (as my current GM rules), then what is the point in hiding? RAW, the rogue is invisible till, he is seen by an enemy actively looking for them, make a sound, attacks or casts a spell.
I do take issue with the way you stated:
“Once “Invisible”, you can walk directly in the open towards a target and if they haven’t made that Perception check, they can’t see you.”
Once hidden, the rogue wouldn’t just walk right up to an enemy, instead it would sneak up to the enemy, using whatever environmental and fog of war combat might provide to get into position.
Every class has a special ability – Druids can wildshape, fighters get extra attacks and can heal with a bonus action, magic users cast spells, Clerics can call upon the gods, but Rogues get sneak attack and they often require stealth to obtain that. Why can’t we think about Rogue hiding as the same a special ability like a Monks Ki, or a Bards ability to buff players in combat?
I’m assuming that “when an enemy finds you” is meant to cover situations like the enemy walking around the corner you’re hiding behind so you are obvious to anyone without making a Perception check, as well as an enemy making another Perception check as an action to see if they can spot you. Is that how you’d rule?
Fun thing: In the DMG it says that finding a hiding character is never trivial or impossible. Does walking around a corner sound trivial to you? 😉
No more hiding behind corners!
No more hiding behind corners!