Absolutely shocked they didn't nerf this at all

Quote from Brickhammer04 >>

Absolutely shocked they didn't nerf this at all

 After listening to a crapload of live play podcasts, they kind of nerfed it, but mostly through a simple clarification. Many people interpreted the previous wording from the 2014 PHB to mean that once people had the bonus, they could leave the radius and still maintain the bonus. This new version from the 2024 PHB clearly eliminates that, which I'm happy about. They're were a lot of spells and rules that left too much room for interpretation. I like the attempts to clarify. 🤘

They also neutered surprise, which was the primary combat purpose of taking this spell.

That being said, for a system that is so focused on bounded accuracy, I don't understand why this remained mostly the same.

Quote from Brickhammer04 >>

Absolutely shocked they didn't nerf this at all

 I share your sentiment exactly. As a player I feel somewhat...dirty.... using this spell. It feels like cheating.

I would have changed it to +5 and also with the added effects that you are indetectable by tremorsense or smell while under the effect. 

It doesn't say that those affected don't leave behind traces other than tracks anymore, and it doesn't say that they can only be tracked by magical means either. This is a nerf in my eyes. The bonus in stealth still makes up for that, though, so I suppose it'll matter little unless someone can beat that with an Investigation or Survival check to look for clues of passage other than tracks.

K

 After listening to a crapload of live play podcasts, they kind of nerfed it, but mostly through a simple clarification. Many people interpreted the previous wording from the 2014 PHB to mean that once people had the bonus, they could leave the radius and still maintain the bonus. This new version from the 2024 PHB clearly eliminates that, which I'm happy about. They're were a lot of spells and rules that left too much room for interpretation. I like the attempts to clarify. 🤘

This is how we used to play it (allies only need to be in the aura to gain the bonus, not to retain it) and we basically never did anything without using it and it kind of felt overpowered, this feels more realistic.

Wow

Would a scent trail be considered "leaving tracks"? The spell no longer mentions silence or shadows, just a "concealing aura" with +10 to DEX stealth checks and leaving "no tracks". (I'm leaning toward ruling that a scent trail is a kind of track, but not confident at all.)

Quote from FroggyMoto >>

Would a scent trail be considered "leaving tracks"? The spell no longer mentions silence or shadows, just a "concealing aura" with +10 to DEX stealth checks and leaving "no tracks". (I'm leaning toward ruling that a scent trail is a kind of track, but not confident at all.)

That's not how I would interpret "tracks", but I think it's vague enough that it's reasonable to rule either way.

Have seen and played DnD for a long time now, I can understand why they wouldn't nerf the bonus.  Without this spell it's nigh impossible to ever succeed on a full stealth mission.  One person rolling below a 15 will usually get your party caught, and one you're caught there's very little chance of you recovering.  Unless you have a party full of rogues and bards, this is practically guaranteed to happen within like, 3 checks (usually less).

The difference with this from socially skipping encounters is stealth checks are 90% of the time group checks. Persuasion/deception are usually 1 or 2 people total, and if you choose someone good at it there's a good chance you'll succeed.  Group checks, on the other hand, are extremely difficult to pass, and stealth is one of the most important and most common group checks for being able to approach encounters in fun new ways besides combat. Not to mention, socially you can use typical buffs like enhance ability and guidance, but you'd probably need to do it on like 2 or 3 different people for a group stealth check, which is just not as doable

This ability basically makes stealth viable because you add half the dice roll to everyone's roll.  And even then, I've maybe had a fully successful stealth mission once ever? So I don't think it needed a bonus nerf. Dms have a lot of ways they can make a stealth mission harder (traps, guards, puzzles that force noise). Players have much less. This is something that at least can get them through the doors.