Thorfire Shortankard:
OCC: What is their passive perception, I was hiding behind Celador and rolled an 11 stealth. If that isn't good enough to persuade you, I use my Bardic Inspiration.
So let's hammer this out. If Thorfire is hiding behind Celador, but then has to move 20'
past him (toward the targets) in order to attack, can he stay hidden that whole time? Good question.
Cons:
In this view, a hidden character remains hidden only if he doesn't move. If a character charges into melee, it doesn't make sense that he wouldn't be detected. Per page 177 of the PH, "In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you. However under certain circumstances, the DM might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing you to gain advantage on an attack roll before you are seen."
Pros:
Thorfire possesses certain abilities that make stealthy movement possible. He's not a barbarian charging in with a roar. He's a professional with mastery of the "stealth arts". From a purely meta standpoint: if not granted
some advantage for attacking with stealth, what chance does a lightly armored halfling have? What would be the point of being a stealthy halfling?
Proposed Compromise:
The hooded man and the thing jumping out of the shadows are prepared for battle. As such, they are "in combat" and ready for Thorfire,
so Thorfire gets no surprise/advantage for coming in undetected.
Thorfire's perception roll (thanks to the Bardic inspiration) is high enough to perceive the thing jumping out of the shadows at him, so
no sneak attack for the thing agasinst Thorfire, either.
Thorfire gets his choice on whether he wants to apply his already rolled attack (a roll we're keeping because it's so good!) to the either the thing or continue on toward the hooded man. No additional opportunity attack for the thing if Thorfire proceeds onto the hooded man.
Although advantage wasn't in the cards this time, with Lazaret also following into the fray,
Thorfire can still deal the extra 1d6 because (per PH page 96) "another enemy of the target (Lazaret) is within 5 feet of it."
As a Lightfoot Halfling, Thorfire also has the ability to "attempt to hide even when obscured by a creature that is at least one size larger than you." Furthermore, because he is a 2nd level rogue, he can take the hide action as a bonus action, so his hide roll (an 11, I believe) still applies for the next turn. When in combat, (although the PH page 177 suggests that targets are wary) I'll counter by saying that due to Thorfire's unique race and class,
Thorfire can attempt to hide every combat round, but the opponents can (because they know he's there) make an active perception roll to find him. In the unusual case that he is fighting TWO opponents (Tom and Jerry), he could hide behind Tom, forcing Jerry to make a perception roll to find him. Tom would NOT have to do that because you can't hide from an opponent by standing behind that very opponent. If Thorfire hides behind an ally (say Laz is in the mix, too), then both Tom and Jerry would have to roll successful perception rolls, otherwise they'd attack Thorfire with disadvantage and would be attacked by Thorfire with advantage! Or more likely they would just attack Lazaret because they can see him.
I think this is a fair interpretation, but I could be full of crap. Would be interested to get everyone's take because this will be an important convention applied (knowing how TF loves combat) many times in the future.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:20, Tue 04 July 2017.
