In last night's game, my druid shifted into a spider to better explore the dungeon from the top of the hallways rather than the floor. Specifically (land druid here) a Giant Wolf Spider. I noted to the DM that this is a medium creature, but he apparently didn't quite catch it, and later, when I said I wanted to go across the top of a room and climb down behind the bad guy caster, he said "oh, you don't even need to roll stealth". It turns out that he thought I meant "medium-sized, for a real spider", not "horrifyingly the size of a large dog".
Anyway, though, the funny thing is that if he had made me roll, a Tiny spider has Stealth +4 — but the seemingly much, much more obvious Giant Wolf Spider or even Large-sized Giant Spider have Stealth +7.
I know that by the rules there's supposed to be a lot of DM discretion here, and "you're tiny so you don't have to roll" is the right way to deal with this, but it still feels a little silly.
You could use stealthy if you are trained and if your dm allows ua feats. With pass without trace, a level 4 and an 18 dex, you could have a +18 to stealth before rolling lol
Size can be represented by not calling for a roll (as you note) or advantage on the roll (or disadvantage on the opposed Perception check).
Your problem is kind of an artefact of a progression-based system: in general, numbers get bigger as creatures get more powerful, and ought not to be better for weaker creatures. It's better to use this system because it is also borked if you do it the other way: if you give a very small creature a huge Stealth bonus, you also have to give them a huge Perception bonus (or they'd never be able to find other very small creatures). Likewise, a giant doesn't get penalties to Stealth just because their feet shake the ground, because other giants might actually not notice their approach (even though smaller creatures could hardly ignore their passing).
Skill modifiers are representations of how good you are at something relative to other similar creatures; the die roll is a representation of the confluence of events and luck; and advantage/disadvantage or calling for a roll at all are determined by the weight of circumstances, including size.
I'm with ratwhowouldbeking on it's just a roll. I mean who the hell is going to notice a spider?! I like that Cranium rats are immune to mind magic, which could be useful.
I mean don't get me wrong, if I see a spider in my bathroom, I have Advantage on the roll to see it, but in a normal environment a spider is impossible to see. On top of that, they wouldn't even fall under "threat" for what an adventurer is even looking for.
I'm actually now toying with a city druid. Take Urchin background, possibly take "Underdark" as the Land Druid to represent a "city". You'd be one amazing their... think of what a spider and a Bag of Holding can run away with! I'd just have to have a reason to play a Shadowrun character in a D&D game.
It might be interesting to play Druid that isn't a Moon.
In last night's game, my druid shifted into a spider to better explore the dungeon from the top of the hallways rather than the floor. Specifically (land druid here) a Giant Wolf Spider. I noted to the DM that this is a medium creature, but he apparently didn't quite catch it, and later, when I said I wanted to go across the top of a room and climb down behind the bad guy caster, he said "oh, you don't even need to roll stealth". It turns out that he thought I meant "medium-sized, for a real spider", not "horrifyingly the size of a large dog".
Anyway, though, the funny thing is that if he had made me roll, a Tiny spider has Stealth +4 — but the seemingly much, much more obvious Giant Wolf Spider or even Large-sized Giant Spider have Stealth +7.
I know that by the rules there's supposed to be a lot of DM discretion here, and "you're tiny so you don't have to roll" is the right way to deal with this, but it still feels a little silly.
You could use stealthy if you are trained and if your dm allows ua feats. With pass without trace, a level 4 and an 18 dex, you could have a +18 to stealth before rolling lol
Let the Mists surround you...
Size can be represented by not calling for a roll (as you note) or advantage on the roll (or disadvantage on the opposed Perception check).
Your problem is kind of an artefact of a progression-based system: in general, numbers get bigger as creatures get more powerful, and ought not to be better for weaker creatures. It's better to use this system because it is also borked if you do it the other way: if you give a very small creature a huge Stealth bonus, you also have to give them a huge Perception bonus (or they'd never be able to find other very small creatures). Likewise, a giant doesn't get penalties to Stealth just because their feet shake the ground, because other giants might actually not notice their approach (even though smaller creatures could hardly ignore their passing).
Skill modifiers are representations of how good you are at something relative to other similar creatures; the die roll is a representation of the confluence of events and luck; and advantage/disadvantage or calling for a roll at all are determined by the weight of circumstances, including size.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
I'm with ratwhowouldbeking on it's just a roll. I mean who the hell is going to notice a spider?! I like that Cranium rats are immune to mind magic, which could be useful.
I mean don't get me wrong, if I see a spider in my bathroom, I have Advantage on the roll to see it, but in a normal environment a spider is impossible to see. On top of that, they wouldn't even fall under "threat" for what an adventurer is even looking for.
I'm actually now toying with a city druid. Take Urchin background, possibly take "Underdark" as the Land Druid to represent a "city". You'd be one amazing their... think of what a spider and a Bag of Holding can run away with! I'd just have to have a reason to play a Shadowrun character in a D&D game.
It might be interesting to play Druid that isn't a Moon.