So last game we had a watch duty in enemy territory and rolled 27 on perception. Managing to see one person trying to sneak up on us. She had already seen me which was okayish untill the dm told me that she wouldnt have seen me if i rolled stealth while on watch. Which i have never heard of at all. Wouldnt it be weird with 3 sleeping ppl, that if the watch person dont get seen, none of the party do? I would understand it a bit more if it was perception vs perception, and if i rolled higher i would have been given the oppertunity to stealth before they saw me. What do you think?
I think it all comes down to what you envision "being on watch" to mean. If it wasn't covered with the DM and the players, each can be picturing a different thing happening. For instance: One person might think of being on watch as being awake, sitting by the campsite, looking around and listening, but not moving. (I'll call this a "passive watch") Another might think of watch as working a 30-60 ft perimeter (stealthily, with a stealth roll), listening for odd sounds, checking the ground for fresh tracks/disturbances, inspecting trip wires set, etc. (I'll call this an "active watch")
On an active watch, there would certainly be an opportunity for the NPC/enemy to see the campsight but not you, since you have already built in a declared stealth action among other things. But on a passive watch, at night, the best that could happen is that you'd each see each other at the limit of darkvision at the same time. If you have a campfire or light source, the approaching person will almost always see your camp before you see them.
Yeah that was a weird statement by your DM. Even on watch, you are still taking a long rest which means you can't do any strenuous activity like sneaking about.
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So last game we had a watch duty in enemy territory and rolled 27 on perception. Managing to see one person trying to sneak up on us. She had already seen me which was okayish untill the dm told me that she wouldnt have seen me if i rolled stealth while on watch. Which i have never heard of at all. Wouldnt it be weird with 3 sleeping ppl, that if the watch person dont get seen, none of the party do? I would understand it a bit more if it was perception vs perception, and if i rolled higher i would have been given the oppertunity to stealth before they saw me. What do you think?
I think it all comes down to what you envision "being on watch" to mean. If it wasn't covered with the DM and the players, each can be picturing a different thing happening. For instance: One person might think of being on watch as being awake, sitting by the campsite, looking around and listening, but not moving. (I'll call this a "passive watch") Another might think of watch as working a 30-60 ft perimeter (stealthily, with a stealth roll), listening for odd sounds, checking the ground for fresh tracks/disturbances, inspecting trip wires set, etc. (I'll call this an "active watch")
On an active watch, there would certainly be an opportunity for the NPC/enemy to see the campsight but not you, since you have already built in a declared stealth action among other things. But on a passive watch, at night, the best that could happen is that you'd each see each other at the limit of darkvision at the same time. If you have a campfire or light source, the approaching person will almost always see your camp before you see them.
Yeah that was a weird statement by your DM. Even on watch, you are still taking a long rest which means you can't do any strenuous activity like sneaking about.