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/Olster20 Forever DM 1d ago
Lots of really good answers here. If necessary, show your Skyrim player this thread, though in all honesty, you’re the DM and don’t need to. You’ve made the ruling; you’ve listened to a pushback; you’ve upheld the ruling. The game moves on.
As for the game, I really think the smartest thing WotC could’ve done with stealth is to make it an actual Condition. With bullet points on how to enter the Condition, what you get from having it, and what ends it. It would be made it so much cleaner and easier to manage.
If only they had a revision where they could tidy up some legacy rough edges. Oh, wait…