What does Hide do? And how to read and understand the rules.

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Stabbey_TC >>

The Hide action requires you to make an active Stealth check.  That's the only active part of the Hide action. If the Hide action isn't supposed to make you unheard as well as unseen, then how does one become unheard?

Blindness/deafness and silence? DM fiat? There is no actual rule that allows you to become unheard in 2014.

Have you ever been a player or DM in a game where it was required to make separate Stealth checks for both sight and sound? Yes or no.

Also, you're incorrect about there being no actual rule which allows you to become unheard. Right there in the definition of the Stealth skill (same in both 5e and 5.e):

Stealth  | Dexterity  |  Escape notice by moving quietly and hiding behind things.

Quote from sabin76 >>

Quote from kenclary >>

..."Find" is meant to be open-ended (but explicitly includes a successful Search action)...

And yet there are a number of people that argue it isn't; that the Search Action is the only way to "find" a hidden creature. And it's not like they don't have support in the rules. The DMG states that "Noticing a hidden creature is never trivially easy or automatically impossible, so characters can always try Wisdom (Perception) checks to do so." This is strong (not-definitive) evidence for their argument. That's two places in the rules for hiding where the only given way to "find" a creature is with a perception check. Then again, the DM determining whether the conditions exist to be able to hide is strong (not-definitive) evidence that there are other ways to "find" a hidden creature.

The problem is... we don't know. One side says "this is obviously the way". The other says, "No, this is clearly the way." And round and round we go. We don't even know if the conditions for taking the Hide Action are supposed to be conditions for remaining hidden. There is no text on it one way or the other. We simply have inference, and, due to that, we have argument when inferences from one person don't align with inferences from another.

This isn't the case where clearly the intent was for magic users to be able to cast cantrips, even though the RAW prohibit it (cantrips are "known", spellcasters can only cast spells that are "prepared"). We easily hand-wave that as a mistake in the written rules and everyone is in agreement on what they should say. In contrast, the hide rules are convoluted, imprecise, and it's impossible to tell what the designers even intended a hidden creature to be able to do with they way they were written. On top of that, the errata didn't actually change either argument and they are both as strong as ever.

The DM can always make an exception to the rules at their discretion.

Let's say your Halfling with Tavern Brawler hits a Tarrasque with an Unarmed Attack. Can you push it back 5'? RAW, the answer is an unequivocal yes. However, many DMs would be skeptical about a small size creature throwing a Gargantuan Monstrosity around the map by punching it.

When a DM decides to make an exception to the rules to forbid you from tossing that Tarrasque off a cliff, he isn't changing RAW. He's reaffirming RAW by making an exception to it.

This is no different than a DM overruling RAW with regards to Hide. If the DM determines that situation doesn't justify remaining hidden, they are not following the rules but making an exception to them - and that exception proves the rule.

In terms of the rest of it, it's not a matter of "one way or another". RAW involves the rules as written. It does not involve speculating about rules that do not exist. We know that you do not need to remain out of line-of-sight or behind cover to remain Hidden for the simple reason that there is no rule ending the condition based on cover/line-of-sight - only rules for entering the condition. Likewise, we know there are only four ways to stop being Hidden because we only have four situations that end Hidden.

Any other interpretation involves inventing rules that don't exist and is thus not RAW.

Not to mention that if you're trying to introduce the unwritten rules many players seem to want, they make features like Skulker, Supreme Sneak or Naturally Stealthy completely non-sensical because they all confer abilities dependent on those unwritten limitations on Hide not existing.

Quote from Stabbey_TC >>

Have you ever been a player or DM in a game where it was required to make separate Stealth checks for both sight and sound? Yes or no.

Not normally (though it was a thing in 3e), but they're separate effects.

I rest my case...

In all seriousness, though, there is a difference between a codified DM discretion inserted in a rule (the DM determines...) and Rule 0. The former is not the DM ignoring or changing the rules to suit their whims, it's the DM enacting the rules as written. It is also fair game in this subforum where we try to ascertain what the Rules As Written are actually trying to tell us. The latter, which you are referring to in your post, is not only different, it is not productive to any discussion here.

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Stabbey_TC >>

Have you ever been a player or DM in a game where it was required to make separate Stealth checks for both sight and sound? Yes or no.

Not normally (though it was a thing in 3e), but they're separate effects.

The purpose of a stealth check is for one to elude detection or otherwise not be noticed. I cannot fathom interpreting the rules to mean that making a stealth check only represents trying to not be noticed by either sight OR hearing, but NOT both. Nor can I fathom interpreting the rules to mean that a stealth check never represents trying to be quiet and also that the only ways to be quiet are if there's a silence spell or the listener is deaf. 3e did have multiple checks, and there's a reason they changed it.

I interpret the Dungeon Master Guide below as guidelines for when a creature is hidden. Walking in plain sight of enemies after taking the Hide action to me means you don't try to conceal yourself and being stealthy anymore. As DM i don't consider such circumstances are appropriate for hiding.

The thing to do when you want to be stealthy while you encounter enemies is to hide behind something out of view. The other way around where you hide then walking around freely never felt right to me.

Perception & Encounter: If the characters encounter another group of creatures and neither side is being stealthy, the two groups automatically notice each other once they are within sight or hearing range of one another. 

When To Call For A Check: An important time to call for a Wisdom (Perception) check is when another creature is using the Stealth skill to hide. Noticing a hidden creature is never trivially easy or automatically impossible, so characters can always try Wisdom (Perception) checks to do so.