Dungeons & Dragonsjust clarified its rules about hiding in combat, but is it enough to keep players from arguing with their DMs? This week, Wizards of the Coast released a set of errata forDungeons & Dragons’newest core rulebooks, closing some loopholes and making minor tweaks to certain spells and monsters. Most of these changes were minor in nature, but one set of revisions addresses the game’s rules on hiding in combat.
The 2024 revisions to Fifth Edition laid out explicit rules for hiding in combat and what benefits it could provide to players. Instead of making a Dexterity (Stealth) check against a DC of a player’s choosing, the new Hide Action set forth specific parameters that had to be met, with players gaining the benefits of being Invisible while they remained hidden. However,the 2024Player’s Handbookhad some ambiguity in its Hiding rules,which some players tried to push in ways that weren’t how the rules intended.
What D&D’s New Hiding Rules Say
New Rules Explicitly State How A Player Character Stops Being Hidden
In the 2024 version of Dungeons & Dragons, the Hide action allows players to make a Dexterity (Stealth) check with a fixed DC of 15 to become hidden. In order for the Hide action to work,they need to meet or beat the check DC and meet the following conditions:
If all these conditions are met,players gain the Invisible condition while hidden, allowing them advantage on attack rolls, disadvantage on attack rolls made against them, and granting them advantage on Intitiative rolls. However, the Invisible condition granted from being hidden ends if one of the following occurs:
The new clarifications to these rules can be found onD&D Beyond, along with some other errata. The language tweaks more clearly define when the Invisible condition is available and when it ends.
Why People Were Confused About Hiding in D&D 2024
Under the new rules, some players argued that, once successfully hidden, they could rush out into the open and not be seen by opponents. The Hide action requires players to be either heavily obscured or behind cover,but the rules as written do not state that players need to remain under cover to stay hidden. While some players argued that hiding ended once a player character was in plain sight, others argued that the rules as written meant that a creature would have to burn their Action on a Search action in order to find a hidden creature.
These new hiding rules now explicitly state that the latter category is the case.Players remain hidden until an enemy character explicitly “finds” the player character,which seems to indicate that they’d have to make an active Search action. So, a hidden character could rush into an open space without consequence thanks to the Invisible condition, even though there’s nothing stopping a creature from seeing them at the start of their turn.
The common-sense answer to this is for DMs to utilize Passive Perception scoresto determine whether an enemy can see a hidden character at the start of a turn. If acreature’s Passive Perceptionis higher than the character’s initial Hide check, I would rule that enemy can see them at the start of their turn if they’re out in the open. However, that’s solely my judgment and not how the rules are written in the new Player’s Handbook.
Will The Hiding Arguments Now End in D&D?
Unfortunately, The Hiding Arguments Have Only Just Begun
Although the rules are a bit more explicit, I feel like the arguments over Hiding inDungeons & Dragonshave just begun.The new rules seem to fly in the face of common sense,as a player who ends their turn feet away from an enemy with no cover or other obscuring ability shouldn’t be hidden.
While one could argue that astealthyD&Dcharactercan sneak past the notice of an enemy during the din of combat, we need an explicit explanation as to whether a creature needs to Search to find a hidden character or if they can just use their Passive Perception to see a character at the start of their turn. Hiding is a lot more useful in the 2024 version ofDungeons & Dragons, butthere’s still too much ambiguity for my liking.
This new errata might clear up some questions about hiding, but I feel these rulings go against common-sense rulings. Still, we now know whatDungeons & Dragonsintended the Hide action to do. The real question is whether any DMs or players will actually go along with those rulings without arguing about them.
