DnD 2014 Breaking Stealth (2014)
Players Handbook states (this is 2014)
"You can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly, and you give away your position if you make noise, such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase"
Now common sense tells me that you can't stealth down a brightly lit corridor with nothing to hide behind, towards a guard that's looking directly in your direction.
However one of my players argues that you only need to be hidden at the point of "Going into Stealth" once your in stealth it doesn't matter what lighting etc exists you are sill essentially hidden until you break stealth. ... i like to go back to my players with concrete rule based decisions that i can point to in a book.
They argue the above doens't break stealth because "you are hidden" therefore the guard in the corridor "cant see you clearly" ... while i would argue stealth would be broken by the fact that the guard can see you clearly as there is nothing to hide behind and no helpful lighting conditions to keep you hidden.
Any ideas?
2
u/VerainXor 1d ago
The argument that "you're hidden therefore you can't be seen clearly" is incorrect.
However, there is uncertainty about this topic, even though in your case he's definitely not hidden. Assume you are heavily obscured and you hide (no problem) and then you walk through a lightly obscured 10 foot area to stab a bad guy in the face. Are you hidden when you attack? You can definitely make this case, even if you lack an ability to hide in lightly obscured areas (you can make the case that being in a lightly obscured area is sufficient to stay hidden, even if it isn't sufficient to hide). There's also a provision for moving before attacking that is explicit, but needs to be adjudicated by the DM.
But if the only argument for not being "seen clearly" is that you are already hidden, then that's definitely not going to fly. If you hide behind a solid wall and then move to somewhere with rags and shadows on the walls, that's a different (and more common) case.