I’m a new DM and having trouble understanding what is meant by making a Dexterity (stealth) check. Does that mean the character needs to roll against a DC determined by the DM for difficulty of hiding at that time? Or does it mean the player wanting to hide simply rolls a d20, adds his Dexterity attribute bonus, then his proficiency bonus of +2 since he is first level? And that d20 roll plus bonuses is what npc’s use for passive perception DC?
There's no set DC for making a Stealth check. A character who wishes to do so rolls a D20 and adds their Dexterity score, and their proficiency score if they're proficient.
The result they get is compared to the Passive Perception score or NPCs they're trying to hide from. If a character is actively trying to look for hidden characters (by spending their action), they can make a Perception check. If the first character's Stealth check beats the second PC's Passive Perception (or Perception check), then the first character is Hidden.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I’m sorry to sound so novice, but by Dexterity score do you mean the attribute bonus number or the actual Dexterity attribute score? For example a character wants to hide, I would ask him to roll a d20. If his result was a 13 in the dice, and he had a Dexterity of 16, then adds a +3 for the Dexterity and additional +2 for being proficient in Stealth, for a total result of 18 to be applied to enemies passive perception?
Or does it mean the player wanting to hide simply rolls a d20, adds his Dexterity attribute bonus, then his proficiency bonus of +2 since he is first level?
It might not be obvious to a new DM so I just want to point out here that you would only add that proficiency bonus if the character actually has the skill proficiency for the Stealth skill. If not, then they only get the Dexterity modifier bonus.
The DM doesn't really determine the difficulty of Hiding. But he does determine if you can attempt to Hide or you cannot in the given situation (potentially applying advantage / disadvantage if relevant), both for the purpose of remaining Hidden in one place or for attempting to sneak from one place to another, depending on what the player says they are trying to do.
Here is one way to run it:
The player says that their character is planning to sneak past some guards who he knows will be patrolling an area up ahead by moving quietly behind a treeline off of the road. Confirm that such trees exist and that this is a reasonable situation to apply the Hide mechanic, but do not ask for the stealth roll yet. Wait for the player to declare that the character is trying to sneak past the guard and you can go ahead and describe the scene of the character sneaking past the guards and be sure that the player is on board that the character is actually doing so. Then, roll for stealth as the guard tries to spot them in the act. That way, the player can't roll low and say, oh, never mind I guess I won't try it.
I’m sorry to sound so novice, but by Dexterity score do you mean the attribute bonus number or the actual Dexterity attribute score? For example a character wants to hide, I would ask him to roll a d20. If his result was a 13 in the dice, and he had a Dexterity of 16, then adds a +3 for the Dexterity and additional +2 for being proficient in Stealth, for a total result of 18 to be applied to enemies passive perception?
Yup, that's exactly right. I should have said Dexterity modifier rather than Dexterity score, that's on me.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I wanted to touch base and give BIG thanks to you guys! I ran my first storyline with just one player two days ago, she's playing a thief pre-made character and this clarification made the scenario go as smooth as silk! That would not have happened without you guys breaking it down for me like you did!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I’m a new DM and having trouble understanding what is meant by making a Dexterity (stealth) check. Does that mean the character needs to roll against a DC determined by the DM for difficulty of hiding at that time? Or does it mean the player wanting to hide simply rolls a d20, adds his Dexterity attribute bonus, then his proficiency bonus of +2 since he is first level? And that d20 roll plus bonuses is what npc’s use for passive perception DC?
There's no set DC for making a Stealth check. A character who wishes to do so rolls a D20 and adds their Dexterity score, and their proficiency score if they're proficient.
The result they get is compared to the Passive Perception score or NPCs they're trying to hide from. If a character is actively trying to look for hidden characters (by spending their action), they can make a Perception check. If the first character's Stealth check beats the second PC's Passive Perception (or Perception check), then the first character is Hidden.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I’m sorry to sound so novice, but by Dexterity score do you mean the attribute bonus number or the actual Dexterity attribute score? For example a character wants to hide, I would ask him to roll a d20. If his result was a 13 in the dice, and he had a Dexterity of 16, then adds a +3 for the Dexterity and additional +2 for being proficient in Stealth, for a total result of 18 to be applied to enemies passive perception?
It might not be obvious to a new DM so I just want to point out here that you would only add that proficiency bonus if the character actually has the skill proficiency for the Stealth skill. If not, then they only get the Dexterity modifier bonus.
The DM doesn't really determine the difficulty of Hiding. But he does determine if you can attempt to Hide or you cannot in the given situation (potentially applying advantage / disadvantage if relevant), both for the purpose of remaining Hidden in one place or for attempting to sneak from one place to another, depending on what the player says they are trying to do.
Here is one way to run it:
The player says that their character is planning to sneak past some guards who he knows will be patrolling an area up ahead by moving quietly behind a treeline off of the road. Confirm that such trees exist and that this is a reasonable situation to apply the Hide mechanic, but do not ask for the stealth roll yet. Wait for the player to declare that the character is trying to sneak past the guard and you can go ahead and describe the scene of the character sneaking past the guards and be sure that the player is on board that the character is actually doing so. Then, roll for stealth as the guard tries to spot them in the act. That way, the player can't roll low and say, oh, never mind I guess I won't try it.
Yup, that's exactly right. I should have said Dexterity modifier rather than Dexterity score, that's on me.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I wanted to touch base and give BIG thanks to you guys! I ran my first storyline with just one player two days ago, she's playing a thief pre-made character and this clarification made the scenario go as smooth as silk! That would not have happened without you guys breaking it down for me like you did!